“Come on,” Juliet urged, waving Veronica over to the gate, “before someone sees you!”
“Are you sure about this?” Veronica asked, shuffling towards Juliet. She pushed a long strand of hair out of her face, eyeing the gate like it would bite her.
Juliet pushed the creaky gate further open, huffing in impatience. Now was the perfect time! The other children were playing in the field and the teacher had turned their back! They never got to explore the small forest beyond the locked gate. They couldn't just sneak in either, it was ‘unladylike’ to climb the fence. Not that they could, mind you, their skirts got in the way.
Today someone had left it unlocked. It had to be a sign. This might be their only chance until they were ‘big kids’, and who knows when that would be!
“I’m sure, come on!” Juliet begged, “They won’t catch us if we’re quick enough. I want to see the forest. Please don’t make me go alone, Ronnie.”
The brunette sighed but relented. She could never deny her adventurous friend. She slipped through the opening between the gate and the fence and joined Juliet on the other side. She smiled at her companion, the expression nervous but only around the edges.
“If we get caught, it was your idea,” Veronica stated, taking Juliet by the hand. She set off toward the treeline at a brisk pace, casting a glance behind them. They had to start moving before someone noticed they were gone.
“Hey!”
“Because it was your idea, Juliet.”
The blonde girl hid a mischievous smile behind her hand and looked away. She let Veronica lead her down the sun-speckled path without further protest. They wouldn’t get caught. Veronica was the teacher’s pet. They never got caught. It was irrelevant anyways, any amount of whacks with the strap would be worth the adventure.
The canopy of healthy summer leaves filtered sunlight into a jade green. The flora around them absorbed the blistering heat and left the shaded path cool. It wasn’t dark and it wasn’t muggy. No biting insects had come to play. It was perfect, beautiful, peaceful.
Juliet thought this might be their best adventure to date. Veronica bemoaned not saving some of their lunch to bring a picnic. Their conversation was comfortable and familiar. They were so different but so alike.
It didn’t matter what the forest was actually like, it could have been hot as the desert and full of spiders. What the girls really loved was that it was forbidden. To make something off-limits was to make it irresistible to a child, especially two so consumed with adventure. The best part to Veronica, however, was that it was just her and Juliet. This was their adventure. Just the two of them without the rest of the world to worry about. It made her feel special, because Juliet had chosen her to come along. As long as Juliet chose her, she’d follow her best friend anywhere.
They’d found a clearing not soon after. The spaces between the trees grew to allow more puddles of golden light to hit the grass, but there was still plenty of cool shade to sit in. The grass was lush and free of sharp rocks. Most of all, there was a clear view of the blue sky directly above.
The two girls had wasted no time removing their shoes and stockings, manners be damned. The grass was soft against their bare feet and the ground solid underneath it. They took off their bonnets and let down their hair. It felt nice to be free.
They lay on the grass, side by side, in silence. They didn’t need to chat to enjoy each other’s company. They just needed to count the clouds, listen to the cascadas scream in the distance, and maybe steal a catnap before the school bell sounded.
“Do you ever think about what it would be to be all grown up?” Juliet asked, glancing at Veronica.
“All the time,” Veronica said, smiling, “I think I want to be a school teacher like Miss Bell. She’s so smart. And it would be so strange to see the class from the front!”
Juliet grinned, looking back up to the clouds. “My mother says Miss Bell is a spinster. It’s so sad she has no husband or children. She’s already twenty one, you know!”
Veronica shrugged. “There’s still time… Besides, she seems so busy. I don’t think she’d have time for a husband if she’s taking care of us too.”
“Are you going to be too busy to get married too?” Juliet asked. Veronica jumped a little at the blunt question. Juliet had turned onto her side fully to watchher. Veronica bit her lip as she thought of an answer.
“I don’t know… It would have to be someone very special.”
“Special?” Juliet asked, blinking. She didn’t hear that often; getting married was what concerned people most, not who it was to.
“I’d have to love them,” Veronica said, sounding a bit more sure. She kept her eyes on Juliet and tried to gauge her reaction. She was worried her friend would think she was weird.
There was a limit to free-spiritedness, after all, and sometimes Veronica had thoughts. They were thoughts she knew she had to keep to herself but... saying that felt so, so close to saying one of those thoughts out loud. It felt good, but she was ready to take it back in an instant. She didn’t want her friend to not like her anymore.
Juliet just grinned at her and rolled onto her back again. Veronica always was a bit of a romantic; her father had read to her before school even started and raised a freethinker in the process. Sometimes she even asked Veronica to recite poems to her. Juliet had to admit, marrying someone you loved sounded grand.
“Do you ever think about marriage?” Veronica asked, the words falling out of her mouth like leaves from a tree. Gentle. Quiet.
“Sometimes,” Juliet answered, “but Papa says I’d be an awful wife. I talk too much, I run off too often, and I don’t know my place. He said getting me to settle down would be like trying to put a donkey in a dress. No one would want to be my husband, so I guess I wouldn’t care to be someone’s wife either.”
Veronica frowned and watched her friend from the corner of her eye. Juliet was squinting at the sky as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud. The sun lit up her blond hair until it looked white and reminded Veronica of molten metal. Bright and beautiful and burning.
Juliet was all those things; her life would forge her into something sharp and cunning. If she turned out to be someone's wife or not, she'd be fierce and loyal.
“You’re beautiful, I think you’d make a lovely bride. Don’t you listen to him," Veronica said all in one breath before she could take it back.
Juliet said nothing, but smiled. She reached out and took Veronica’s hand and Veronica’s heart stuttered in her chest. It felt like the forest path again. Forbidden and special. It was just a hand, but this time it was different. She knew she’d follow Juliet anywhere, even if it killed her.
“Thank you.”
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