Nora didn't go off to college alone. Juliet, her surly cousin Tybalt, Romeo and his brother Mercutio went too. Tybalt had a striking, interesting face once the paint came off, but it was marred by a permanent sneer.



Mercutio cut his hair so it no longer fell in his face, and Nora had to catch her breath. He gave his brother a run for his money. But somehow the pretty boys just didn't do it for her, and surly boy definitely didn't.

Juliet talked Nora into a makeover, and even into spending some of her scholarship money on contacts. Nora thought it was dreadfully wasteful but liked the results.




"Wow, Nora, you're a babe," Juliet said. "Just keep your hands off of Romeo, you hear?"

Even if Nora liked Romeo "that way," which she didn't, she wouldn't do that to a friend, so she just shook her head. "As if."

"Wow," Juliet said. "You almost sounded like a real college student for a moment."

Nora tickled her.



"You don't approve of me, do you," Tybalt said, sitting down across from her in the dorm's cafeteria.

Nora looked up in surprise. She didn't realize Tybalt had even noticed her. "Um, no, not especially," she said, truthfully.

"Why is that?"

"Why do you care?"

He shrugged.

"If you must know, it's mostly because you pick on Mercutio all the time. It's obvious you're a much better fighter than he is."

Tybalt preened a little. "Really?"

"It's disgraceful," she said, deflating him. She wasn't sure where she got the courage to be so bold, but he had asked. "You're nothing but a bully, picking on someone who can't defend himself properly. So no, I don't approve."

"Wow," he said. "No one's ever talked to me that way."

"And that," she said, standing up, "explains a lot."

The Student Onion was where everyone hung out at Bard College, and the dormies often went there to study.

"Shouldn't it be, you know, the Union?" Romeo asked.

Juliet shrugged. "Guess someone spelled it wrong."

"Maybe it's because of the smell," Mercutio suggested, wrinkling his nose.

"That's you," said Romeo. "Dude, would it kill you to take a shower?"

Nora rolled her eyes and went to sit in the coffee bar. There was a nice bookshelf and some comfy sofas there. Tybalt wandered in a little later and sat down next to her.

"So, you're the studious type," he said, after a while.

She put down her book and tried not to sigh. "Not really. I'm afraid it just takes me longer to catch on to things than some."

"I find that hard to believe."

She shrugged.

"Juliet tells me you raised your little sis all by yourself," he said.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just saying, wow. I thought I had it hard."

"You did have it hard, Tybalt. Your parents are dead too. No one has it easy, especially it seems in this town."

Now it was his turn to shrug. "Part of the territory."

"Part of what territory? Hatred? Vengeance? Honestly, it's like no one ever leaves the sandbox around here."

"Wow, that's harsh."

"I'm sorry," she said, standing up. "I know I sound judgmental, but honestly, isn't it time you all laid down your arms? When's it going to end? When everyone's dead?'

"You don't understand," he said, standing up.

"You're right," she said, "I don't."

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