The next morning, Joe ‘Hooper’s’ first class went as expected. His Maths teacher nearly had a nervous breakdown at the sight of Joe’s homework and kept him in at recess to do it properly. AJ was kept in too. He hadn’t even bothered to attempt it. While AJ was rebellious and clearly not interested in most of the work, Joe sensed no malice in him. He already doubted he had anything to do with the serious trouble at the school. Still, Joe told himself, he was in a great position to observe goings-on at the school, and AJ could possibly turn out to be a great source of information.

In fact Joe was feeling totally in control of proceedings and happy with the way everything was going, until his English class after recess.

‘Why kill yourself when you’re a handsome, young man with your whole life in front of you?’ asked Ms. Jones of her students.

‘He was sad,’ offered Karl.

‘More than that, I would imagine,’ said Ms. Jones, smiling.

‘He’d killed Tybalt and been kicked out of Verona,’ volunteered Simon. ‘He might never see them again.’

‘Yes, that’s true,’ said Caroline, encouragingly, ‘but his parents could always visit him. And it was possible that Prince Escalus would have allowed him back some time in the future.’

Ms. Jones was walking amongst the students’ desks as she spoke. As she passed his desk she confiscated a car magazine AJ was looking through. As he started to protest, she placed her finger over her lips. AJ slumped back against his seat and let out an exaggerated sigh. As usual, the attention span of the boys in the back row was proving to be short, but Joe Hooper appeared to have a spark of interest in his eyes.

‘Joe. What do you think?’ she asked, taking a chance. ‘Why would Romeo kill himself when he had so much to live for? He was still young and handsome. He had his whole life in front of him. Why couldn’t he just try and make the best of things?’

Joe looked at the teacher and momentarily forgot where he was and the charade he was engaged in. The discussion had drawn him in.

‘Because,’ he said in a soft, wistful voice, ‘he loved Juliet more than life itself. Worse still, he believed that he had contributed to her death because he had killed her cousin and been sent away. He couldn’t live with the guilt. He couldn’t live without her. Life had no meaning for him without her.’

Silence descended on the classroom. AJ physically turned in his seat to stare at Joe in amazement. Caroline Jones herself was stunned by the sad poignancy in the boy’s response. His answer had come from deep inside him.

Somebody coughed self-consciously.

‘That’s a great answer, Joe,’ said Caroline, but Joe had returned to scribbling on the cover of his folder.

The bell rang.

‘Class, please complete one of the essay questions on the sheet I gave you at the beginning of the lesson. You have three days to complete it,’ said Caroline as the students filed out.

She cleaned the board and then turned to look for Joe with the intention of speaking to him about whether he was enjoying the play, but he had already left the room. Looking out into the hallway she saw him being jostled good-naturedly by AJ and John.

***

‘I couldn’t believe it!’ enthused Caroline at the coffee table as Frank entered the staffroom. ‘It just goes to prove that even if you think a kid has zero interest in learning, breakthroughs are possible!’

‘What’s happened?’ asked Frank, sitting down with his drink.

‘That new kid, Joe Hooper. You know, the one I told you about who was cheeky as they come? He’s spent two days in my class carrying on like a Neanderthal, and then comes out with the most perceptive and personal verbal response to a question that I’ve heard in three year’s of teaching!’

‘Well maybe he was being sarcastic,’ suggested Frank, somewhat hopefully.

‘It’s not just what he said,’ said Caroline. ‘He sounded so… so certain and so sad. I swear, if the bell hadn’t gone and he’d said any more I might have burst into tears!’