Here's a sneak peek of Robin.
Chapter 1: A Cruel Fate
August 31st
Williamsburg County Private School
Kingstree, SC
THREE Years Later…
Listening to my English teacher talk about Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet brought up the memories of how my greed caused everything to cave in around me. It had been three years since my crew and I robbed Magnolia Mall and I still hadn’t forgiven myself for the trouble I caused my friends. Out of everyone involved, Dizzy took the biggest hit. He sacrificed himself to save us all, but especially me. I couldn’t forget what he said to me that day. Remember… you my Juliet, Rob. I would never do nutt’n to betray you. No matter wuh nobody says. I got yo’, back forever, I heard him say as I drowned out my teacher’s voice. Maybe that was the problem. Juliet was Romeo’s kryptonite like I was Dizzy’s and vice versa. That’s why our story ended in tragedy just like theirs. We had pulled off that job perfectly, but I just had to let my addiction to stealing cause trouble for us. Being a kleptomaniac was a burden on those around me more than it was on me. Although I knew it was an illness, I enjoyed stealing, no matter how small the thing was. I got a rush from it and it was the only thing that intrigued me because it was a challenge. Having the intellect I had in a place where nothing was challenging often made me feel out of place. It was like I was on an island alone, and the people around me were the body of water, and the only person that could understand me completely had been taken away from me. I zoned out as I replayed the images of Dizzy and Remy getting hauled off in the back of the police car. Watching them pay for my greed made me feel like crap, even until this day.
After everything came crashing down around my friends and me that day, my parents made me move to the country with my grandparents and they sent Rem and me to private school. Since Remy was underage, he didn’t get sent off to the juvenile detention center in Columbia like Dizzy did. They did place him in a boy’s home in Rock Hill for a month though. I knew my parents were disappointed in me after that since they immediately got me out of the way by sending me to live with my dad’s mama and daddy in Salters where my dad’s family was originally from. I have been depressed ever since. It took me a while to accept my consequences, especially being sent to this racist school. When I first came to Williamsburg County Private School, they had to drag me in there kicking and screaming. The first thing I did was go on a stealing spree. When that got boring, I started getting into fights with the students. The last fight I had was so brutal that I was in danger of getting expelled. I didn’t care since it was what I wanted anyway. However, my grandparents pulled some strings for me to stay there. To punish me for giving them a tough time after they stuck their necks out for me, they kept me away from my friends and my brothers. I was a few miles away from my family and hadn’t seen my brothers in over a year. Jazz’s parents moved her to Charleston to keep her away from me. She claimed they moved because they were offered better jobs, but I knew better than that. City visited me some weekends and my mama would bring Deuce whenever she came by. I was happy she had finally forgiven me for getting Remy in trouble. I may not have acted like it, but disappointing my parents broke my heart the most. Before this, I was their pride and joy, and they spoiled me since I was their only daughter. I knew it hurt them to have to punish me as severely as they did because they loved me, but I had finally accepted the consequences of my actions. However, it didn’t make me any less depressed.
I exhaled deeply as I zoned back into reality. “In Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare's messages is that nothing is purely good or evil; everything contains elements of both. Shakespeare also demonstrates how fate was responsible for how things ended for them. Some may believe that Romeo and Juliet caused their tragedy, but it was fate that decided their love story would end in sorrow," Mr. McIntosh lectured to a class of students who didn’t understand what he was talking about. However, what he said got my attention. Was it fate that caused my crew’s last job to go wrong, or was it my fault for having an addiction to taking what didn’t belong to me? I pondered that thought for a few seconds. Then, I raised my hand to pose a question of my own.
“Yes, Ms. Wylly,” Mr. McIntosh said. I lowered my hand.
“Does fate have the power we give it or is that just another excuse humans use to escape accountability for the shi…,” my voice trailed off. I wasn’t trying to disrespect the only teacher I liked at this school, so I had to catch myself. “I mean, for the wrong things we do,” I inquired. Mr. McIntosh’s thin pink lips stretched into a smirk and his small nostrils flared excitedly.
“Well… I like to think both things can be true at the same time. While we do hold some responsibility for the decisions we make, we can’t escape our fates. In Romeo and Juliet’s case, their fates were sealed the moment their families were at odds.”
“So, you’re saying before the two of them were even born, they were destined to fall in love with each other, and then suffer because of it?”
“I guess you can think of it that way,” he replied. I paused for a few seconds to analyze his answer. I couldn’t help but think of Dizzy and me. Maybe the two of us were doomed when our parents’ relationship changed, or maybe my teacher was full of it.
“But what about the fact that Juliet fakes her death at first, causing Romeo to drink poison, hoping to join her in death? Only for Juliet to wake up, find Romeo dead, and stab herself as a result? Did fate play a part in how their lives ended,” I questioned. I could hear some of my classmates sigh and others sucked their teeth at me for having questions about the lesson. I didn’t care because I was used to it. This is what made me different from them. I was the only student who cared about school. I may have rather been at Kingstree Senior High with my friends and family, but I took my work seriously since it was the only thing that challenged me. Even still, I was in private school and felt out of place since these students weren’t on my level intellectually either. They were just here because their parents thought they were too good for the public school system.
“Fate led them to suffer because of their family’s beef, but they chose how they suffered,” Mr. McIntosh responded with a warm smile. I knew he found pleasure in my interest in his lectures since the other kids couldn’t care less about school. I had to admit that I enjoyed our back-and-forths as well since it was the only exercise my brain got. I couldn’t help but relate Romeo and Juliet’s story to Dizzy and my situation since we were the real-life versions of them. I was haunted by the fact that my actions caused Dizzy to get locked up.
“Do you have any more questions Ms. Wylly,” Mr. McIntosh asked me, interrupting my intrusive thoughts.
“Can we move on already? It’s almost lunchtime and I don’t want to be held up because Ms. Know It All over here won’t shut up,” my classmate Todd remarked. I swiftly turned my attention towards him.
“If you want me to shut up, come shut me up yourself,” I spat as we had a stare-down.
“Oooo,” the class sang in harmony, instigating a fight. Todd pursed his thin lips like he was blocking his true feelings from coming out. I knew he didn’t want any problems with me since Rem and I jumped him the last time he called himself checking me. He still had the scar on his butt chin from when I fed his fat behind a two-piece and a side of slaw. He looked like the kid from Matilda who was forced to eat that whole chocolate cake in front of the school. I couldn’t stand him. Food was all he cared about when he needed to stay far away from it.
“That’s enough class. Quiet down. Ms. Wylly, if you don’t have any more questions, we can move on now,” my teacher said. I turned back toward the front of the class and nodded at him to permit him to continue with the lessons. This was usually my experience in school, whether I was attending KSH or WCPS. Although I wasn’t the only student who liked school, I was the best at it. I had the intellect to attend college at fourteen, but my parents felt I should stay in high school with kids my age. I didn’t need to go to class to pass, but I did it because I needed mental stimulation to keep my mind off stealing. My parents made me promise that I would try to fight against the addiction. They put me in therapy and everything to help me find other ways to cope. It had been over a year since I stole anything, and although I was depressed, I had to admit that I was proud of myself. I just wished I had done this before I caused Dizzy and the rest of my crew the trouble, we all had to deal with for the past three years.
I couldn’t believe it had been three years since I saw Dizzy. I wanted to visit him while he was there, but our parents wouldn’t allow it. They acted as if I was going to break him out of there if I had to be faced with him being locked up because of me. I was capable of breaking him out of there without a trace. However, I was already guilt-ridden from causing the trouble that put him in there in the first place. The only communication I had with Dizzy was the letters he wrote me every week, but because I was punishing myself for causing him to lose his freedom for three years, I didn’t have it in me to write back. I just read and collected the letters, and even though I hadn’t written back to him yet, Dizzy continued to write me. I didn’t deserve his loyalty at all, but for some reason, he thought I was important enough for him not to give up on me. City would visit him every month and she gave me updates on him. Every month, Dizzy told her to remind me that I was still his Juliet no matter what. I hated myself for avoiding him, but I didn’t know how to handle my feelings about the situation. If that weren’t bad enough, Dizzy would get out in two weeks, and I wasn’t sure how I would face him after abandoning him for all these years.
Bzzzzzzz, the school bell rang, interrupting my thoughts. The students began packing their bags and clearing out of the classroom. I took my time and put my things away as everyone else scurried away like roaches. I had another question for Mr. McIntosh that I wanted to ask him when we were alone. Mr. McIntosh was one of my favorite teachers at WCPS. He was young, so he wasn’t a traditional teacher who was stuck in their ways. He tried to relate to us, so we’d understand the assignments we were given on another level. He also wasn’t prejudiced like a lot of the other teachers. Their privilege awarded them things that some of us black students didn’t have, so they thought they were better than us. You didn’t mean much to them unless you helped the school win basketball games like Rem. They disliked me because I was smarter than them, so I was always sent to the guidance counselor or the principal for the smallest things. Mr. McIntosh was different though. He treated me like I was his equal because I was, mentally. When I was done packing my book bag, I stood up and went to Mr. McIntosh’s desk.
“How may I help you today, Ms. Wylly,” he asked me as he pulled his lunch out of his lunch bag.
“I have a question about the assignment,” I told him. He turned his attention to me and bowed his head.
“Okay, shoot!”
“Do you believe that Romeo’s love for Juliet influenced him to kill himself when he thought she was dead,” I inquired. He smiled as he paused briefly.
“The romantic in me believes that what both Romeo and Juliet did was an act of unconditional love. But… logic tells me that their relationship didn’t make sense from the beginning,” he replied. I grimaced.
“Why do you say that?”
“They knew their families were enemies, yet they chose to ignore the ongoing feud in the name of love, or puppy love, as adults called it, which makes me pose a better question. Were Romeo and Juliet in love or were they just two mischievous kids defying their families because it was thrilling to chase a forbidden love,” he queried, causing cognitive dissonance in me. Mr. McIntosh smirked as he watched me get lost in my confusion. It was as if he enjoyed giving me challenges like these, and I must say, I liked it too. That was why he was my favorite teacher.
“You don’t have to know the answers right away, Robin. It’s just something to think about,” he told me. I nodded at him before walking out of the classroom. This was the first time in a long time that I was presented with a challenge that stomped me up. I was usually quick on my feet when discussing different topics with Mr. McIntosh, but this question gave me much to think about. A few years ago, if someone had mentioned love when talking about my relationship with Dizzy, I would have denied it. However, the sacrifice Dizzy made for me on the day of the robbery made me see him in a new light. Were Dizzy and I in love, or were we just drawn to each other because our love was forbidden due to our families’ feud? If the latter were true, maybe staying away from him was my best decision since meeting him. If by fate we were destined for suffering like Romeo and Juliet, then I was as deadly to Dizzy as the poison Romeo drunk to be by Juliet’s side even in death.
To Be Continued...
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