Draft Number 1: (So, completely unedited/ no revisions yet, so it's a very rough draft)

The faint scent of sugar wafted through the air as Rowan shoved a piece of cotton candy into his mouth. He sunk back into his bed, hidden from view and outside influence.

"Rowan, it's been an entire week," his father called from outside his door. "What happened at that party you went to?"

"It's not that," he groaned, his voice muffled. He'd thrown his face against one of his pillows, turning away from the door.

"All you've done this week was sulk, and you won't even tell us why." He sighed, turning the knob one more time. It creaked open, revealing his son buried under mountains of linen. "You can tell me," he insisted.

"Nothing happened," he said simply. "Now go away." Rowan's hand appeared from out of the mound to grab his phone. A bright light appeared from underneath the blankets, followed by the sounds of random videos.

"If that's what you want..." his father muttered before shutting the door closed. He shoved everything off of himself, peeking out to see if his dad was still there.

Rowan stared at the door, hoping he would come back, but he didn't. All the thoughts in his head were clashing after what Julie had told him. All he wanted now was to tell her everything. The idea he had told Rosaline, but she had declined.

"Why is this happening to me?" he whispered. A muffled sound came from underneath his pillow, and he picked it up to see if he had gotten a notification. It was from his calendar which was reminding him of the auditions that were being held tomorrow.

"That's it. I'm going to go ask since she won't respond."

Rowan finally got out of his bed, throwing on his jacket before pausing at the stairs. Just looking at them made his head spin, but he ignored the sensation and sprinted down. Mr. Myers cracked a small smile at the sight of his son finally leaving his room, giving Rowan a wave before he left the house. He spotted the keys on the counter and shook his head, laughing.

"He'll be back," he told his wife, who was half-asleep on the couch. "In three, two..."

"Sorry," Rowan said, coming back into the living room. He snatched the keys from the table, forcing a sarcastic smile.

"Where do you think you're going?" his mother asked, straightening her crouched posture. She had dark bags under her eyes, which made Rowan feel bad since he was probably the reason. Although his father wasn't aware of what had truly happened, Mrs. Myers knew that he had recalled the incident. She was reliving the tragedy with him.

"I'm going out for a breath of fresh air."

"In your car?" she questioned, not believing a single word. "Leave the keys if you're really going on a walk."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me," she said, her tone sharp. "Unless you're lying to me?"

He didn't break eye contact as he slammed them back onto the table. She gestured for him to come closer, which he did unwillingly. She ran a hand through his messy hair, attempting to fix it.

"I know what you're doing," she whispered in his ear. "Don't you dare go to their house."

"Why does it matter?" he asked as loudly as possible, scaring his mother. "Why is this stupid argument between you and Mrs. Carden so important?"

"Rowan," Mr. Myers said from behind the kitchen sink, setting his cup down.

"No," he rebutted. "You didn't like it when I was friends with Jayden, but guess what? We're getting along again, so what are you going to do?"

"I'll confine you to this house for as long as it takes," she said, faking a smile and copying her son's expression. She immediately dropped it, frowning deeply. "Don't walk out that door."

"Watch me." He began walking away from his parents, not bothering to look back. She got up from her seat and ran over to her son.

"Do this, and I won't open it for you when you come back."

"Just because you two had bad experiences doesn't mean I will."

"Then go. Let's see what happens," she insisted, opening the door.

"Don't expect me to come back," Rowan warned.

"I'm not expecting anything," she said, closing and locking the house as soon as he stepped out. Rowan breathed out shakily, realizing he had nothing on him. The winter air suddenly felt colder than usual as he marched through the snow.

"Why did I do that?" Rowan asked himself. His mother had been doing this ever since something happened between her and Mrs. Carden. She despised Julie's mother, but she would never say why. Rowan's confusion with everything happening caused him to lash out worse than he meant to.

The realization hit that he would have to walk all the way to their house , and he groaned, throwing his head back. He got his phone from his pocket, and he noticed it was about to die, but he made a quick decision. He dialed the number he thought would pick up and waited.

"Hey Rowan," Micah answered, his voice completely blank.

"I need a favor," Rowan pleaded.

"I'm busy," he responded, clearly irritated. "You ghosted me for a whole week, and you expect me to do something for you just like that? Hope you find someone else to do your shit."

Micah hung up immediately, and Rowan immediately recognized his mistake. He had completely forgotten to ask what happened to Micah, and he ignored him during all of his classes, adding fuel to the fire.

With a limited amount of time, he called the only other person he could think of. It began ringing, but it took an abnormally short time for him to pick up.

"Hello?" Jayden asked. "Why did you call me?"

"I got kicked out," he said simply. A silence came over the two before Jayden spoke again.

"So... you want me to pick you up or something?"

"Yes, please. I'm freezing," Rowan added as another shiver ran up his spine.

"I'll come to your house."

He hung up, leaving Rowan all alone again. He looked around for a place to sit down, but noticed that everything was covered in ice, snow, or water. A vibration came from the device as it finally died, leaving him completely stranded unless Jayden got to him.

A car pulled up and inside were the two siblings. He saw Julie staring at the ground, not bothering to look up at him. Nevertheless, he ran over to them, getting into the backseat.

"What did you do this time?" Jayden asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing wrong." Jayden raised an eyebrow. "I tried leaving the house and now my mom won't let me back in."

"Let me guess, you were going to talk to Julie?"

"Yeah-" he stopped. "How did you know?"

"She told me, and I dragged her along with me." He looked back at Julie who had been glaring at the ground intensely, not wanting to say a word. He caught her eyes for a moment, but she refused to look at him. Jayden noticed the tension and didn't say anything. Instead, he just began driving away as they all sat in silence.

When they arrived, Julie ran out of the car and into the house. Her brother watched in complete shock since he had assumed that the two of them liked each other.

"What did you do?" he asked, menacingly. Rowan gulped and sheepishly laughed at his question. "Don't make me leave you out here," he warned.

"I told her about the incident and..." he paused. "She told me about her illness."

"What?!"

...

Rosaline paced around her room as she thought about what had happened at the party. She saw Rowan run away without warning, and she had her suspicions. Rowan and Julie had been acting strangely around her, and she was terrified of losing her friend.

"Has he told her?" she thought out loud. "No, she wouldn't hate me for that. It was a reasonable answer."

"Rose!" someone yelled from outside her room. "Stop talking to yourself!"

"Shut up, you nosy little-" she opened the door to see her brother's door closed, but she could practically see him smiling and making fun of her. She groaned and walked down the dimly lit corridor to the dining area. Her mother's plate was left untouched, and her father was nowhere to be found.

Rosaline picked up her parent's depressing plate of food and plopped herself down on the couch nearby. She heard shuffling behind her, which was most likely her brother making his once-in-a-lifetime visit to the outside world to grab something to eat.

"Dad's not coming back today," he said, dashing back up the stairs and shutting the door to his room.

"I know that," she muttered, switching on the TV. She stabbed at the vegetables with her fork, shoving them into her mouth as she scrolled through the typical news channels. She heard her brother come back down and place a sheet of paper next to her. He didn't say a word as usual and vanished out of sight.

She unfolded the sheet to find that her brother had found the article on Royce's death and let out a long sigh. She crumbled it up and threw it into the trash can located beside the table.

"If he doesn't tell her, I will. I'm not going to let her be dragged into the same thing he did to me." She stopped herself for a few seconds, lost in thought. "He wouldn't do that. Would he?"

...

"I swear I won't cause you trouble," Rowan said, giving a hopeful smile to Julie's parents. She nearly facepalmed at his ridiculous request. Her parents hated him.

"Why don't you just go home? It's getting late," Mr. Carden suggested, getting up to open the door for him.

"Wait!" he insisted. "I really have nowhere else to go. My mom won't let me back into the house."

Jayden almost stopped breathing when he saw his mother's face. She looked like she was about to lose it, but surprisingly, she remained calm as she spoke.

"You can stay," she said simply.

"Really?" everyone in the room said, their tones all identical.

"I'm not cruel," she said, getting up to go to sleep. She glared at Rowan one last time before saying, "Just stay in Jayden's room. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

When she closed the door of the bedroom behind her, the four of them remained in silence, reeling back from her response.

"Well, you heard her," Mr. Carden said, breaking the tension. He also shuffled out of the uncomfortable room, following Mrs. Carden.

"I wasn't expecting that," Julie mumbled. "She looked like she was going to disown us for a second."

"Yeah, I noticed," Jayden said, releasing the breath he had been holding in. "Well, we have things to do tomorrow, so..." He glanced over at Rowan.

"How am I supposed to go to school?" he asked. "I didn't think this far ahead. God, all my teachers already hate me. How are they going to react when I say I left my calculus homework at home?

"Why don't you work that out?" he suggested. "I'm going to sleep, but Julie..." He kept looking between the two of them. "I think you two should work out whatever it is you have going on."

"Wait, what?" Julie asked.

"I know, Jules. Rowan told me, and I think you should clear up this situation. Anyway, good night." He left the two of them alone downstairs, leaving the entire house dead silent.

"Why were you ignoring me?" Rowan asked, getting straight to the point.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I didn't know how you would react. A lot of people think I'm privileged, but I earned that part. Illness or not."

"I never said anything about that."

She let out a stuttered sigh, but finally managed to look at him. The room was bright despite the darkness outside, and she could smell the faint aroma of pizza roaming the air. She felt comfortable enough to breathe again. This time, she decided to ask the questions.

"What was the 'proposal' you were so insistent on that would change my life?" Julie asked, speaking her mind. Although she had been wondering for the entire week, she couldn't bring herself to ask.

"T-the... Oh, right!" he exclaimed. She held a finger to her lips, and he immediately became quiet again. "Are you free tomorrow?" he whispered.

"What's tomorrow?"

"Now isn't the right time to have this conversation, don't you think?"

She glanced back at the clock, only realizing that it was later than she thought. Her eyes widened in surprise, but caved into his logic.

"Fine," she said. "But we're going to talk about this. Don't try and escape."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

...

"When you said we were going somewhere, I didn't think you meant the beach of all places."

"When is it wrong to go to the beach?" he asked, smiling as he took in a deep breath. A wave of cold air entered his lungs and sent him into a coughing fit.

"In the middle of winter, Rowan. Like now." She shook her head in disapproval, but started walking down the trail to the ocean. The weather was starting to warm up, and the snow had begun fading away. She stared at the mesmerizing waves, taking in the view after the long winter season.

Once Rowan had gotten control over his coughing, he joined her as they both walked down to the sand. Julie stopped as the concrete walkway ended, leaving her with the choice of walking on the cold sand or standing still.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, stepping onto the tiny grains. Julie cringed as he continued strolling through the sand and ignoring the irritating pieces of sand entering his shoes. She decided to ignore the sand like Rowan and follow him. He stopped a few steps away from the water, waiting for Julie to catch up.

"Rowan, just tell me," she pleaded, standing next to him.

"You've just accepted it, haven't you?" he asked, his mood completely changing. She knew what he meant, and he was right.

"So what? I'm going to just be another girl who passed away from some dumb disease without a cure. I'd rather you just treat me normally. I don't want to be reminded that I have such shitty luck."

"That's a first," he commented. He took her request into consideration and decided on not talking about her disease itself. It seemed like it had been a while since she received the news.

"What is?" she questioned.

"Sounds like you're actually getting mad. I've never seen that before."

She offered a forced laugh, but stopped herself after a few seconds, remembering what she was really here for.

"You got me. Now, just tell me."

"You have a bucket list or something?" he asked.

She hesitantly pulled out her phone, showing him the list she typed out. He hadn't been expecting an actual list, but it worked out.

"Go for it," she told him, handing it over. "I wrote it a few months ago when I found out."

He took it from her and began scrolling through, his eyes lighting up as he saw one specific wish. Rowan showed her the text, pointing to it.

"I can do this one. That's what I was going to ask you anyway."

"Are you insane?!" Julie asked, snatching her phone back. "I'm leaving."

"I'm not joking," Rowan said, his face unmoving. "I'll do it. It's a win, win."

She completely froze, thinking about it for a couple moments before realizing it was something she wanted as well. She just wasn't expecting it.

"What do you get out of this?"

"A once-in-a-lifetime experience, obviously. You're the first person I've told since Rosaline. I'd rather it be you than anyone else."

The wind and waves roared louder than before, making her understand that this was real and not a dream. She took a step back, processing the whole situation.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Dead serious," he stated. "Give me a month, and I'll make it worth it. I swear."

"God, I feel like I'm in a TV show," Julie said, pushing her light brown hair out of her face. "How do I know that you actually mean it? Even better, why would you do this to yourself-?"

"I like you. Isn't that enough of a reason?" Rowan said, cutting her off.

"Does this mean we're dating or something?"

"What else would it mean?" he questioned, grinning.

This was happening. She was getting what she dreamt of. Just not in the way she expected. Even if it was stupid, nothing was stopping her. Because Julie Carden and Rowan Myers had nothing to lose.

***I wonder what's happening? 👀 Prepare yourselves it all I can say- Next chapter is one of THE chapters (if ya know what I mean :)***

Side note: The next few chapters are going to be a bit strange because they progress very fast. I'm finally getting into the "dangerous young love" thing. And before anyone says Rowan is pressuring her into it, she's dying, and I rushed this chapter so I wasn't able to write her emotions properly. I'm just trying to finish the first draft by mid-may. 

Another side note: Before you question if they get a happy ending, they don't. This is Romeo and Juliet, and I don't like happy endings :D I may make it bittersweet, but it depends on how the story ends up progressing. So, this is a warning beforehand.

Another another side note: I know my chapters are VERY long- I will split them up after, I swear. My beta reader also says it's too long, and she's usually right, so I'm gonna trust her on that. 

Leaving votes helps my dying motivation!

-Hershey