Punch!

Chapter 1: Juliet, Meet Yarn

"Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick."  ~Bruce Lee

Chapter 1

Juliet, Meet Yarn

"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night." The stubby graphite tip of Suzette Kimberly's worn pencil glided across the fragile surface of her bent, water stained copy of Romeo and Juliet, a fine Shakespeare play she had fallen madly in love with in ninth grade when her English teacher, Mrs. Rosen, had the class read it cover to cover. An essay was assigned upon their finishing of the play, and Suzette's had come out to be ten full and thick pages. Mrs. Rosen was beyond impressed. Suzette got extra credit and free smoothie coupons from the cafeteria for the rest of that year.

 Two years had passed and her loved hadn't faded. Not even in the slightest way. She smiled and picked her pencil off the yellowing paper, admiring the thick grey line she had planted confidently under the beautiful quote she had read only moments before. It was her new thing; she was going back in her battered copy and underlining her favorite moments. Suzette paused a moment and dog eared her current page. Her eyes moved up to the enormous grandfather clock hanging on the  powder blue wall of the library. The rest of the walls in the room were glass, either displaying a fabulous view of the sports fields outdoors, or shedding light in from various hallways. 

Suzette adjusted her right eye contact, which was begining to bend, and scanned over the roman numeral numbering on the clock. It was 2:49. One minute until school was over. Suzette crammed Romeo and Juliet into her messenger bag and stood up quickly, running her fingers through her feathery caramel hair and flicking lint off of her silky black tee shirt. Just as she was pushing her rickety wooden chair in, the electronic bell vibrated throughout the entire school. The other people in the library began talking in normal vocal levels and ignored the overdue "shh" signs from the kind librarians, as they did everyday. 

Suzette remained quiet and waved a small "goodbye" to the Mrs. Seed and Ms. Daniels, the librarians who had come to know Suzette by first and last name, since she pleaded with her lazy study hall teacher to allow her to spend her seventh hour study halls in the quiet of the library instead of the insane loudness of the study hall he so poorly ran. Ultimately, he agreed and she had spent every seventh hour in the library since. 

As she swung out the glossy library doors, Suzette unintentionally ran into her closest friend, Ivy Terrance. Ivy was student council secretary and captain of the spring ultimate Frisbee high school team. She curled her shiny blond hair with a curling iron every morning and her outfits always consisted of something paired with skinny jeans. That particular day it was dark wash jeans with a flowy white shirt. iPhone in hand, Ivy smiled upon realizing it was Suzette she had rammed into.

"Hey Suzie!" She exclaimed, her curls bouncing. She pointed to her iPhone. "I was just about to text you. Are we still on for a coffee run?"

Suzette adjusted the strap on her bag. "Sure. Let me run to my locker so I can grab some cash."

"Okay." Ivy said, pressing the lock button on her phone. "I'll meet you by the statue out front." The abstract metal statue by the front entrance of the school is what Ivy was referring to. A student who graduated in '99 gave it to the school as a gift once he gave up his dream of becoming a big time artist and no one knew exactly what it was supposed to be. 

Suzette gave Ivy a simple nod and the two went their separate ways. Suzette began to climb up a congested flight of stairs to get to her locker, which rested on the third floor. On the last step she peeled away from the mob, waving at a few acquaintances along the way, and spun her combination into her locker lock. She was gathering up the textbooks she needed for homework when a freshman named Blair strolled up to her locker.

Suzette glanced up. "Hey Blair." Both her and Blair were in the History Buffs, a student run history club that helped their the historical society in their city; St. Augustine. 

"We have a meeting in the conference room at five today, right?" Blair asked, curling some of her dark hair around a pale finger.

Suzette knocked her brain. "Yes...we're supposed to. Why?"

"I just happened to see the rent out sheet by the conference room door and someone crossed out the History Buffs and put something else down for five." Blair told Suzette, snapping her mint gum.

Suzette's eyebrows knitted together in concern. "What? I'll go check that out. Thanks Blair." Blair shrugged and waltzed away as Suzette slammed her locker door shut, making a beeline for the third level conference room. 

She inspected the rent out clipboard, a board that hung by every confrence room door in the high school. Students or staff put down the time they needed the confrence room and who would be meeting there. Sure enough, Blair was right. Suzette's own cursive handwriting had been violently crossed out with an ultra black pen. The five o'clock next to it had remained in tact, but underneath what had once read the History Buffs, now read Boys Knitting Club. 

"Boys Knitting Club?" Suzette read aloud, in disbelief. If there was an open Boys Knitting Club at the school, she was sure she'd have known about it.  She shook her head and whipped out her Android cell phone, scrolling through her contacts list until she came across Ivy. She pressed firmly on the call button. "Ivy? Hey. I'm about to come down and meet you but I have to be back to the school at five. It's not for the History Buffs meeting, but there's something I need to check out."