Falling for Hamlet - By Michelle Ray Page 0,31

side, and Horatio had his arm around Hamlet’s shoulder. When I approached, they both looked up. Hamlet’s eyes were bloodshot, and dirt streaks ran down his cheeks.

Hamlet shook his head slowly. “How could she do this to my dad? My dad. God, I miss him.” He groaned and clutched his stomach.

I knelt down, a lump forming in my throat. “Me too.” I looked at Horatio, who stood and walked a few feet away.

“Why did you tell me about the—engagement? Why not my mother?”

“She thought you’d take it better if you heard it from me.”

He laughed, tucking stray strands of hair behind his ears. “She was afraid of what I would say.”

I nodded. “Probably. Listen, let’s go back to your room and talk, okay? Those guys must need a break,” I said, pointing to the two guards waving students away.

He agreed. Horatio joined us on our quiet walk back to their house. My shoulders were finally starting to relax when Hamlet asked me, “When did you know about all this?”

“This morning.”

“You never saw Claudius and my mom—” He interrupted himself and shuddered.

An icy wave of panic swept through me. My hesitation caused Hamlet to stop walking. Horatio’s mouth popped open and he shook his head subtly. I had to choose between telling the truth and keeping the hard-won calm. But I had never lied to Hamlet, and I didn’t want to start, especially when his mother could so easily expose my complicity.

“Last week I saw them kiss,” I said.

Horatio grimaced, and Hamlet’s face went slack. I reached for Hamlet’s arm, but he pulled out of my grip. A passing student held her camera phone to capture this tense moment, but a guard grabbed the phone out of her hands.

“You know the rules,” he barked as he smashed it under his boot.

I was watching the shards fly across the sidewalk when Hamlet walked away from me. “Hamlet, wait!” I shouted as he bolted into his fraternity house. I started to follow him, and Horatio followed me. I waved Horatio away. I didn’t want to be protected and I didn’t deserve to be.

I ran inside and upstairs. Hamlet’s room was locked. I pounded on the door, and to my surprise, he yanked it open and pulled me inside. After closing and locking the door behind us, he leaned heavily against it.

“You saw them kiss and you didn’t tell me?” he asked.

It occurred to me that he had never suspected anything was between them. He had never noticed anything odd. Not at the family dinners. Not in Claudius and Gertrude’s late-night chats. Not in the way Claudius looked at Hamlet’s mother when she was passing in the hall, like a snake taking its time before it ate a mouse. To go back that far right then would only add to Hamlet’s pain. I decided to take the fall and clarify later. So you know, I didn’t do it for Gertrude. I did it for him.

“She asked me not to,” I said as I perched on the edge of his bed.

He kicked the door with his heel. “Why, Ophelia? Why can’t you just do what you know is right?”

I sat up tall, trying not to show how much that question hurt me. “Because my having access to you depends on my pleasing your mom and my dad.”

He shook his head and looked at me, his eyes narrow. “How do you figure? You honestly think I would let them keep you away from me? Not possible.” He came and sat next to me, his voice urgent. “No matter where they would send you, I’d find you and we’d be together.”

I started to cry from guilt and relief that he still felt that way even after I had kept such a big secret from him. Through my tears I said, “Maybe so, but you have freedoms I don’t have.”

He wiped my face gently. “True. But I have a lot of limitations, too. Look at what just happened. I can’t even freak out without it being a major security concern. You’ve just got to stop worrying about them.”

“Papa Don’t Preach” blared, and Hamlet jerked my phone out of my hands. “Polonius,” he barked, “this isn’t a good time.” He snapped the phone shut. “Boundaries. See? Not hard.”

“Give it back,” I commanded, my palm thrust forward.

“Not if you’re going to call your dad.”

“I’m not. I want to call your mom so she and I can plan a slumber party,” I said sarcastically. Then I leveled my gaze at him.

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