Page 23 of Operation: Ogre

“Romance? Romance?” I demanded, practically yelling. “Romeo and Juliet is not a fucking romance story.”

“Yes, it is,” Shianne snapped back. “It is hella romantic.”

“Just because there is a romance in it doesn’t make it a romance.”

She flicked her curly bottle-blonde hair over her shoulder and snapped her gum loudly. “Same thing.”

“It. Is. Not.” I didn’t care that I was shouting in the middle of Mummy Mocha. Aaron had followed us in, and Shianne had already been here. Naturally, we’d started talking about our project. She, no doubt trying to seduce Aaron, had picked Romeo and Juliet.

“It is a romance, Chris.”

“Ohmygod.” I gripped my hair. “Romances have a happy ending. It is a requirement. Like an actual genre requirement. Not even damn Shakespeare had called the play a romance. It is one of his tragedies. Yes, it has a love story in it, a creepy one. Juliet is like thirteen, but that’s beside the point. It is not a romance.”

She crossed her arms, flushing, which made her ruddy skin look even redder. “Well, I find it romantic.”

“Well, good for you. It’s still a tragedy.”

Shianne stepped closer. In her human form, she wasn’t all that big, but as a troll, she was tall, powerful, and striking, but I refused to be cowed. Practically baring her teeth, she said, “I’m going to write this paper about how Romeo and Juliet is a romance.”

“I hope you enjoy failing.”

Before she could say anything, Jaxon wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back into his chest. He didn’t or couldn’t say anything, but he rubbed his chin on the top of my head. Aaron placed a large hand onto Shianne’s shoulder and said, “Why don’t we all calm down? Okay? It’s just a play written by a dead white guy. Also, you’re causing a scene.”

For the first time, I looked around the coffee shop, and yeah, people were staring. A lot. Even the people coming into the library were slowing down as they passed by to look at the train wreck that was happening. Heat rushed to my face. Perhaps yelling about Shakespeare wasn’t the best plan, but come on? Romeo and Juliet was not a romance. Had she ever read a romance book? Done any sort of research into genre stipulations?

“What are you two picking?” Shianne asked, popping that damn gum of hers.

“I’ll match you tragedy for tragedy. We’re doing Hamlet.”

Jaxon started behind me. We hadn’t picked before this moment, but like hell was I backing down. Hamlet, here we come.

“How original.” Shianne smirked.

“And what, you are? With Romeo and Juliet?” I snorted.

Aaron sighed. “This is not calming down.”

Out of nowhere, Seth popped up, shoving coffee at us. “Look at that, free coffee.” He laughed, looking around at the gawking crowd, then lowered his voice as he hissed, “Please, for the love of all of the gods, stop shouting about fucking Shakespeare in my shop.”

I snagged one of the coffees, glaring at Shianne, but I took Jaxon’s hand and dragged him out of Mummy Mocha. He followed without complaint. He had also grabbed one of the coffees, but we hadn’t gotten his vegan werebear claw. Jaxon needed food, and I’d deprived him by fighting with Shianne. But seriously? A romance? Yeah, it would take a while for me to get over that one.

With my fingers still locked around Jaxon’s, I changed direction to the cafeteria. We’d just have to eat breakfast there. Thankfully, because Creepin U hosted so many different types of monsters, they had a fairly good selection of vegan options for Jaxon, though I knew he really did love those werebear claws. I had no idea how the vegan ones tasted so good, but they did. Probably more sugar. Sugar made everything better.

“Hamlet?” he suddenly asked.

A blush burned my cheeks. “I was flustered, alright?”

“You were feeling competitive.”

“That too.”

Jaxon didn’t say anything, and the silence plucked at me. This was a joint project, and I’d just bowled right over him. I did that sometimes, especially with him. However, I didn’t want him to think that his voice didn’t count, that it didn’t matter.

“Are you mad?” I asked, stopping in front of him. I couldn’t look at him, though. My gaze remained firmly on my feet.

With our joined hands, he nudged up my chin. When our eyes met, he smiled. “No.”

“You don’t care?”