Rue Miller tried her best not to come off as creepy. It only worked some of the time.

Like right now, asking Leo Capulet if he'd been hearing voices in his dreams, was definitely creepy. It had been a total guess.

She'd been hearing this voice in her dreams for a few nights now and it was getting weird. Rue had heard that Leo Capulet had been hearing the same, through someone who knew his sister. High School was a cesspool of information, all you needed to know is how to find it.

So, now we're all caught up.

"What?" Leo seemed to shake his head at the question she had asked out the driver's window of her car.

Rue nodded, "Yeah, uh, just wondering."

The teen nodded back, "I'm going to–" He made a motion to leave.

Despite her better judgement, Rue called out, "Please, I really need to know that I'm not the only one."

Leo turned back towards the car, "How do you know?"

"Someone who knows your sister told me," She said. Rue thought about it for a second, "Here." She handed him her phone, "Put your number in, I have to get home but I'll text, we really need to talk about this."

He took the phone, pressing his fingers to the screen and inputting his information. "Okay," Leo said, handing the device back. "I think there may be more, by the way."

"What?"

Leo grinned, "We'll talk about it later, didn't you say you had to go?"

Right, Rue was going to be late home and her Aunt needed her there on time today. "Yeah, I'll text."

"Right," Leo said, before turning around and hightailing it towards a grey minivan that must be his sister's car.

Rue sighed, that really could have gone better.

-

-

-

"Rue," Aunt Marie called from her room. "Is that you?"

Rue sighed, "Yes Auntie, I'm home."

Auntie walked out, her thin head held high. "Fabulous, I'm heading out to work. Will you drop by the Volkov's place and return that Pyrex we borrowed?"

"Sure, Auntie," Rue said, dropping her backpack by the door and slipping off her barely tied converse. "Anything else you need me to do while you're gone?"

"No, thank you though, Rue-dear."

Rue watched as her Aunt pulled on her overcoat and grabbed her keys. The woman yanked open the door and then turned back to say, "Love you, Rue."

"Love you too, Aunt Marie."

Auntie left, leaving Rue alone with the Pyrex on the counter and Leo's number in her pocket. Which to deal with first? It was a conundrum for the ages.

She decided to text Leo a quick 'hi, it's Rue, from the parking lot' and go drop off the container.

-

-

-

The Volkov's haven't always lived next door to Rue and her Auntie. She doesn't know where they came from and Rue didn't really want to know.

She knocked on the door, Pyrex in hand.

It swung open, a tall blonde kid on the other side, Lev Volkov. "What?"

"Your Pyrex?" Rue handed it over, awkwardly. "Thanks for letting my Aunt borrow it."

Lev nodded, "Yeah, of course."

Lev was one of the strangest people Rue had ever met. He was quiet and still. Sometimes Rue was entirely unsure if he ever wanted to speak or if he just did it because he had to. His voice was soft but strong. He spoke deliberately and Rue never knew how to respond to it.

"Lev? Who's at the door?" A rough Russian accent called from further in the house. The man walked to the door and Rue smiled at Viktor Volkov's face. "Rue Miller? Why don't you come right on in?"

Lev moved aside, letting Rue walk, awkwardly, into the house. "I just came to return your Pyrex."

"Oh, well won't you stay for a minute?" Viktor asked, smiling. "Lev and I just made cookies."

Rue smiled, "Sure." She sat down at the kitchen table and looked around. The house was messy in a loving way. There was painted china in the display cabinet by the table, doilies, silver, and other knickknacks joining it.

The apartment was the same layout as Rue's but the Volkov's had arranged it differently than Aunt Marie had arranged theirs.

Lev handed her a plate with two cookies on it and then sat down at the table with her. Viktor sat down too.

"How have you been?" Viktor asked.

Rue nodded, "Fine, busy with college applications."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm writing my application essay, it's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be," Rue told them, before taking a bite of one of the cookies. "Wow, this is delicious."

"Thank you," Viktor smiled. "It was mostly Lev though."

Rue nodded towards Lev, "Thanks then."

Lev nodded back. The two sort of stared at each other, awkwardly, before pulling away at the same time. "Sure."

Viktor talked some more but Rue was a little more preoccupied with the look on Lev's face. It was familiar, a look of exhaustion. His eyes were heavy and the bags under his eyes indicated that he hadn't been sleeping well.

She had tried to stay up, to keep the yelling away. The frustrated screaming of 'Let me out! Let me out! Help me, let me out!' would cease when she was awake. So she tried to stay awake. The exhaustion wasn't worth it.

There were many reasons why Lev would be so exhausted but Rue was going to figure it out.