“So what do we do now?” Sam asked.
Becca noticed his hands twitch, as though he were just longing for a basketball. She couldn’t blame him. Only Rufus, who’d found a wooden spoon to chew on, seemed relaxed.
“Okay,” she whispered. “We just need to keep him away from Rosaline until we find Juliet. And then we’ll help him impress her.”
“That’s not a bad idea, Becca-breath,” Sam said, and before she could tell him the rest of her plan, Sam snapped his fingers at Romeo. “We can help you get your dream date.”
“How do we start?” Romeo said eagerly, folding up his crumpled poem and tucking it into a pocket.
“Like Coach always says: practice,” Sam said.
“Exactly,” Becca said, quickly stepping in before Sam started talking about dribbling drills. “You just need to learn a few good jokes and dance moves, and you’ll be able to get Jul—I mean, Rosaline’s, attention.”
“And can we work on my poetry?” Romeo asked.
“Definitely,” Sam said.
They heard voices and angry shouts from outside the shop. Sam ducked behind a cheese shelf, and Becca dropped to the floor so no one could see her through the windows.
“But maybe we shouldn’t practice here,” she said nervously. “Some guy named Tybalt is looking for us.”
Romeo’s eyes widened. “You got on Tybalt Capulet’s bad side?”
He let out a low whistle. “That’s bad—really bad. Of all the Capulets, he’s the worst. He doesn’t just hate Montagues—he hates everyone and everything: rainbows, snow days, kids, and puppies. Especially puppies. They shed.”
“Right,” Becca said, picturing the shining needle point of Tybalt’s sword. “Do you know a safer place?”
Romeo scratched his head with his quill. “I think I can sneak you into Montague Mansion. We have plenty of spare rooms where we could practice.”
Becca stood and carefully picked up the Romeo and Juliet book that Rufus had found and put it into her backpack. She made sure to carry the pack with both straps over her shoulders so they wouldn’t lose it. The hungry book was their only way home.
Romeo opened the cheese-shop door and slowly peeked out. When the coast was clear, he nodded at Sam and Becca. The three of them sneaked into the street with Rufus tromping not so sneakily behind.
“Why do people keep staring at us?” Becca whispered.
“Probably because of your funny clothes,” Romeo said.
She looked down at her outfit. “This is popular where we’re from!”
“Well, it must be a place far away,” Romeo said as he hopped over a pile of tomatoes. Rufus gobbled two, his cheeks puffing up like a chipmunk’s, but nobody seemed to care.
“Why are there so many tomatoes lying around?” Sam asked as he stepped on one for a third time.
“Since we don’t have any cheese, we don’t need any pizza sauce, so the tomatoes that would have been used for that are going to waste,” Romeo explained.
“But what about the Capulets?” Becca asked as she sidestepped a ketchup-y puddle. “Aren’t they making pizza?”
Romeo blushed. “Er, well … the Montagues might have stolen the Capulets’ dough recipe. But that’s only because they stole our cheese recipe first!”
Sam looked horrified. “You’re telling me there’s no pizza? But this is Italy!”
“I know.” Romeo shook his head. “It’s a tragedy.”
Rufus’s nose twitched excitedly as they wound their way down the streets. Becca thought Verona, with its lack of indoor plumbing, smelled much more … interesting than her neighborhood.
Several splashes of color caught her eye. There were posters up on the street-facing walls of several buildings. She couldn’t tell for what, but she could make out the word TONIGHT in great big letters, and a logo that looked like two Fs and an S.
Romeo suddenly stopped. “Wait a second.”
Turning his jacket inside out so the blue trim wouldn’t show, he gestured to them to follow him to the opposite side of the street.
“That’s the Capulet mansion,” he whispered. “We’ll have to pass right by it. Keep your heads down and be quiet.”
“Hey, nice rhyme!” Sam said.
Romeo beamed.
Becca rolled her eyes and lowered her head, though she couldn’t help but look at the mansion as they walked by. It was four stories tall, and a small army of workers carried huge bouquets of red flowers and scarlet streamers inside.
“It looks like they’re planning a party,” Sam said.
“They are,” Romeo muttered, his eyes still on the cobblestones. “They’re revealing their newest menu item tonight: Instead-Stix. It’s their imitation pizza dough. They found out we were planning our Lotsa-Rella Ball for tomorrow, and they just had to beat us to it!”
Sam pointed to the guards stalking in front of the iron gate. “Are those people in silver dressed for the party?”
“No,” Romeo whispered, and began to walk faster. “Those are guards. In armor. With very sharp spears. Hurry!”
Becca kept her eyes on her feet, trying to stay brave. She noted how her heart rattled inside her chest and how her ears suddenly seemed to pick up even the littlest noise. These details would all be great for the next astounding installment of Mal & Cal Worthy. In fact, maybe she’d slip one more description into their Storyland submission.
Provided, of course, that she got out of this book, made it to the library, and returned the library books in time so she could afford the contest entry fee.
“Okay, we’ve cleared the Capulets!” Romeo said, and Becca looked up. “We should be good from here on out—”
He was interrupted by a sound that came from behind. The fshhhhhink! of a sword being drawn. A gravelly voice followed it.
“Not another step, Montague.”