Romiette and Julio

Julio’s parents move to Cincinnati, Ohio, to protect Julio from the gang warfare in his Corpus Christi, Texas, school: “Gang members in their colors roamed the halls, threatening kids, and roughing up anybody who opposed them” (19). Cincinnati is framed as safe, with the local news station denying the very idea of gangs in public schools. The same evening that Romi is abducted and nearly killed by the Devildogs, a Black gang, because of her relationship with Julio, a Hispanic boy, Romi’s newscaster father assures viewers that gangs do not exist in Cincinnati: “Our children do not have the same pressures as students in Los Angeles or New York, for example, and we are fortunate to be able to handle those problems in the schools through normal channels of discipline” (207). Speaking from his own experience with Texan gangs, Julio frames gangs as an unstoppable force, harming innocents amid race-related disputes with other groups. Ben frames Cincinnati’s Devildogs as posturing bullies but those with the potential to inflict serious harm (as many members carry guns). The juxtaposition between the so-called news (represented by adult authority figures) and reality (represented by the adult and child victims of gangs such as the Devildogs) speaks to larger society’s general indifference, denial, and fear of gangs.

Even Julio, conditioned by his experiences with turf wars in Corpus Christi, does not grasp the danger of the Devildogs. The Devildogs’ attempts to intimidate him over his relationship with Romi anger him, but compared to his previous school’s gangs—who were suspected of indirectly killing a teacher—Julio believes the Devildogs are not a serious threat. However, he changes his mind in Chapter 35, when four Devildogs confront him and Romi in a Cadillac. Wishing to protect Romi, Julio’s initial reaction is defiance: “I ain’t afraid of you…Just watch me wipe you all over this street” (177). It is at this point that one of the members flashes a gun and presses it against Julio’s stomach. Julio suddenly understands the reality of his situation, this familiar danger. After this confrontation, Julio, Romi, and their friends decide to expose the reality of gang recruitment and violence to their high school and city—for the sake of everyone’s safety. When the four friends’ plan to incriminate the Devildogs goes awry and Romi and Julio are kidnapped, the local news station finally acknowledges the novel’s core conflict: The reality of gangs, often fueled by the toxic logic of racism, in high schools of every size in every city as well as their negative effects on the education system must be acknowledged before they can be improved. They cannot be ignored, denied, or hidden from the public eye, as doing so only enables further violence.

The friendship-turned-love between Romi and Julio nearly leads to tragedy, as per their Shakespearean counterparts, Romeo and Juliet. As Romi and Julio’s friendship deepens and they attract the ire of the Devildogs, the novel elevates their bond as one of young love, untainted by racism and gangs. Whether or not the aptly named Destiny is correct in framing Romi and Julio as soul mates is debatable. However, the pair’s attraction is undeniable and is as much spiritual as it is physical: “‘I remember the experience of first love,’ Julio’s mother assures her son, ‘You feel as if you have found your dream. And you can’t stop smiling’” (131). Given that Romi, the day before she first sees Julio, writes in her new journal, “I don’t have a boyfriend and I don’t want one. Boys are smelly, noisy, and confusing” (9), her first encounter with Julio being via a chat room (a place of relative anonymity, akin to the ball in Romeo and Juliet) seems like fate. When Romi and Julio finally meet in the school cafeteria, they both feel a special connection. In her journal, Romi writes, “His voice has a soft lilt to it that makes me feel comfortable and safe” (90). As for Julio, he tells his father that Romi is “smart, funny and makes [him] smile…[He] like[s] her” (88). Author Sharon M. Draper does not attempt to rationalize the pair’s attraction, instead reinforcing Destiny’s idea of fate. Neither Romi nor Julio sleeps much the night after they meet, with their instant attraction and easy chemistry making them eager to continue meeting in the days to come. For the sake of plot progression, the experience of first love is powerful enough to move past larger societal problems—while Romeo and Juliet come from families engaged in an ancient blood feud, Romi and Julio are an interracial couple who face disapproval from different parties.

Although Romi and Julio are teenagers, a demographic traditionally associated with hormone-driven physicality and recklessness, the pair engage in deep conversation, joke, and only go so far as to kiss (and only once at that): “His lips touched hers lightly, then the kiss became a flower that blossomed and bloomed in the darkness” (201). This young love transcends what Romi describes as the physical, “icky” part of dating (12). The effect of Romi and Julio’s first kiss defies physical stirrings, being a “flower” that signals even nature’s approval of the relationship. Julio is left feeling energized, and Romi feels “so alive, so aware of the sounds of the branches swaying in the chilly wind, or the smell of the damp earth below” (201). While gentle, the couple’s love is also fierce, allowing them to survive the Devildogs’ kidnapping and bring their families together in understanding.