Dismissed (11 page)

CHAPTER 13

Lizzie and Taylor were standing at a couple of benches in the back row of Art class. They were each working on an assessment piece for the end of the year. Lizzie was painting a large canvas, and Taylor was making a sculpture. Art was Taylor’s best subject. She seemed to have an amazing talent for replicating whatever was in her brain into any medium she chose to express herself. Lizzie enjoyed the class, but she wasn’t terribly good at making her visions a reality.

Taylor stepped back to survey her work.

‘I feel like going to the Pancake Manor this afternoon. You want to go?’

Lizzie looked at Taylor. ‘That’s really random. Why there?’

‘I just thought it might be fun.’

‘If you want. Are you sure you don’t want to go somewhere else?’

‘Nah. I really feel like pancakes.’

‘OK then.’

‘Should we go straight after school? I can come to yours and then we can drive over.’

‘Will you split the parking cost with me?’

‘Sure.’

Lizzie looked at the clock on the wall. They only had twenty minutes left before home time. Lizzie was glad. She’d had a long week, but she couldn’t believe it was already April. The last couple of months had flown.

Between school, work and hanging out with Lizzie and Gabe, she didn’t really have time for anything else. Taylor had thankfully stopped talking about Jason. Lizzie suspected that he’d just used her for a one night stand and then moved on.

Things with Gabe were mostly going well. The only hitch had been when he had caught her accidentally on purpose clicking on his messages when she asked to look up something on his phone.

‘Babe, what are you doing?’ he’d asked neutrally.

‘Sorry. Must have pressed the wrong button,’ she’d lied guiltily.

‘If you spy on my stuff, I might have to kill you,’ he’d joked. ‘I have top secret clearance with ASIO.’ But then he’d turned serious. ‘Please don’t be one of those girls. You’re better than that.’

Lizzie had been so ashamed that she’d never brought it up again. And she really only thought about it when he didn’t answer his phone, or if they hadn’t seen each other on the weekend. But she felt like he would tell her if it was important. He really didn’t seem like the kind of guy to cheat on her, and he was always so sweet that she couldn’t believe he would be capable of doing anything dodgy.

Her dad certainly seemed to like him. They’d finally met a few weeks back, and instantly become life-long buddies. It was almost off-putting the way they sometimes forgot Lizzie was even there. But it was definitely preferable to having her dad hate him.

Lizzie concentrated on her painting. It was an underwater scene with coral and fish. So far it was kind of abstract. She had the water sorted, but the coral was causing her problems.

The bell rang and she glanced at Taylor’s progress. She was going to get a great mark at the end of the year if she kept producing stuff of such a high standard. She was currently working on a life-size woman constructed from paper mache, except she had skinny legs, a small head and an overly round belly. It was halfway through being painted in a rainbow of colours, which made it look like something out of a Mambo campaign.

‘That is awesome,’ Lizzie breathed. ‘You
so
have to do some sort of Arts degree at uni.’

‘I don’t know. I’m not sure I really want to go to uni.’

‘But what about after your gap year?’

‘I might just come back and get a job. Uni seems kind of pointless to me unless you’re studying to be a doctor or something.’

‘Maybe.’ Lizzie didn’t agree. She thought uni was important to help you get a good job in whatever field you chose. Maybe Taylor didn’t realise how hard it was out there because she’d never had to apply for a job. She’d always just fallen randomly into stuff. Like at the moment, she was working as a receptionist at a glamour photography studio because her dad knew someone. She supposed he might also know someone in a lucrative industry that Taylor could take advantage of next year, but it would be risky to count on it.

They caught the bus back to Lizzie’s and quickly changed. While Taylor was finishing touching up her makeup in the bathroom, Lizzie texted Gabe to tell him where they were going in case he wanted to join them later.

Taylor appeared in the doorway.

‘Ready to go?’

‘Yep.’

They headed out the door.

On the way over, Lizzie started thinking about homework, particularly English. She’d gotten a really good mark on her
High Fidelity
assignment. Brandon had given her an A and written a smiley on her paper. Every time she thought about it, she couldn’t help smiling too. Taylor had gotten a B, but she had pretty much been ignoring Brandon since the night of the gig. Lizzie was relieved. She was worried that her friend might start trying to impress him on a personal level in place of his brother, but she hadn’t even suggested they go to another gig. It was actually kind of weird.

‘I talked to Mr Smart today,’ Taylor informed Lizzie. ‘He said we’re fine to go ahead with the James Bond theme at the Hilton. He called and talked to the events coordinator, and they have availability.’

‘Oh good. I’m kind of surprised they’re letting us do the theme, seeing it’s going to be all gambling, guns and martinis.’

‘It’s just a bit of fun. I assured Mr Smart that we wouldn’t be gambling with real money, any guns would obviously be toys, and that the cocktails would be non-alcoholic.’

‘So I guess we’ll have to go outfit shopping soon, then.’

‘Yes! I can’t wait. Which Bond girl do you want to go as?’

‘I don’t know yet. You?’

‘I’m not sure either. But do you think I could get away with going in a bikini?’

Lizzie laughed. ‘You could try, but I think you’ll be stopped at the door.’

‘Yeah. Maybe I’ll just go as Pussy Galore.’

‘Only because you want to be allowed to say the word
pussy
all night.’

She laughed. ‘Kind of. Oh, and speaking of pussy, as in whipped, have you asked Gabe if he’ll host the after-party?’

‘He’s not pussy-whipped! But no, I haven’t asked him yet. I’ll probably see him later, so I’ll check then.’

‘Good. Make sure you do, because we’ll have to ask someone else if he can’t.’

‘No problem.’

They pulled into a car park near the Pancake Manor and walked up to the old converted church. The twenty-four hour venue felt dark and slightly dingy. Lizzie wondered when places that were always open did their cleaning.

As they took a seat in one of the corner booths, she discovered that the answer was now. A guy with a noisy vacuum strapped to his back was cleaning the carpets.

A waiter brought them a menu.

‘I’ll have the Bavarian Apple pancakes,’ Taylor informed him after briefly looking at the selection.

‘I’ll have the Macadamia Madness please,’ Lizzie said, hastily scanning her menu.

‘Do you come here often?’ she asked Taylor curiously after the waiter had left.

‘Sometimes.’

‘How come I didn’t know that?’

‘I don’t tell you every detail of my life, Lizzie,’ she snapped.

‘Sorry. I don’t expect you to. It’s just we’ve never come here together, and we eat out a lot.’

‘Oh look who it is!’ she said putting on a fake bright voice and looking past Lizzie.

Lizzie was immediately suspicious, and turned to the door.

‘What is
he
doing here? Did you plan this?’ she hissed. Jason was walking in and had stopped near the kitchen to chat to the chef. His dreads were tucked into what seemed to be his trademark beanie. It was a woven Rastafarian pattern, and he was wearing it with black jeans and a grey t-shirt.

‘I just told him where we’d be. I didn’t know he was going to show up.’

Lizzie fixed her with a stare. ‘I don’t believe you.’

‘Fine,’ she huffed. ‘He wanted to meet me here.’

‘So what the hell is going on?’

‘We’ve kind of been texting each other for a few weeks.’

‘How did that come about?’ Lizzie was trying to get her head around this new and very disturbing development.

‘He was filling in on bass for another band and they went on tour just after the Orion’s Head gig. He was on the road for ages and he texted me one night after a show.’

‘Why?’

‘What do you mean
why
? He missed me.’

‘Wow. OK.’

‘Don’t you think I’m the kind of girl a guy could miss?’ she asked, hurt.

‘Of course you are. But Jason isn’t a good guy. What did you talk about in your texts?’

She looked away guiltily. ‘Just stuff.’

‘They weren’t picture texts, were they?’

‘Don’t be gross. No. OK, maybe a couple on Snapchat.’

‘Taylor! How could you?

‘Don’t be so judgy, Miss I Accidentally Spied On My Boyfriend’s Messages.’

‘I would never have told you about that if I knew you were going to use it against me.’

‘Well, it’s too late now.’

‘Have you actually seen him since the gig?’

‘A couple of times,’ she admitted.

‘When?’

‘Just in the last week. Only here though.’

‘Why here?’

‘Ladies!’ Jason’s voice cut through their conversation. ‘I have a Bavarian Apple, let me guess, for you Taylor. And a Macadamia Madness for Sugar Lips.’ He put a plate down in front of each of them and then slid into the booth next to Taylor.

‘I told you, don’t call me Sugar Lips. Do you work here?’ Lizzie asked, surprised.

‘Just in between gigs. Gotta pay the rent somehow, sweetheart.’

‘So why have you decided to enlighten me on this, whatever it is, now?’ Lizzie asked.

‘Because we wanted to make it official,’ Taylor said.

Lizzie laughed. ‘What? You two are
boyfriend
and
girlfriend
now?’

‘Yep.’ Taylor giggled as Jason nibbled her ear.

‘Does Brandon know?’

‘No.’

‘Are you going to tell anyone else?’

‘Only those who can keep their mouth shut.’

Jason started sucking on Taylor’s neck like a vampire. ‘I don’t care who knows,’ he said when he came up for air. ‘Fuck Brandon. He’s been a complete dick since he became a teacher. Maybe he’d go back to normal if he got fired.’

‘Yeah, I’m sure that would make him feel much better,’ Lizzie said sarcastically.

‘Anyway, you ladies enjoy your food. I’m working until ten. Why don’t you come back then and we’ll go back to mine for a drink?’

‘No thanks,’ Lizzie said. ‘Not after last time.’

‘Whatever. I was just trying to be polite. Taylor, I’ll see you soon?’

She kissed him full on the mouth. ‘I can’t wait.’

Jason jumped up and then leaned down to whisper in Lizzie’s ear.

‘Don’t screw this up for me, you little bitch. If you turn Taylor against me, I’ll plant photos of my brother on your phone and then
accidentally
show him.’

Lizzie gasped. Jason wandered off, smiling back at Taylor and ignoring Lizzie.

‘What was that all about?’ Taylor asked, bemused.

Lizzie was almost too stunned to reply. But she didn’t get a chance anyway, because standing behind her, was Gabe. And he looked just as shocked, but for a whole other reason.

CHAPTER 14

‘OK, please tell me that our English teacher wasn’t just whispering in your ear in a way that looked in no way teacherly.’

‘It wasn’t! Oh my God! No!’

‘Why is Gabe here?’ Taylor asked.

‘I texted him and told him where we’d be. Because obviously I didn’t realise we’d be meeting
him
,’ she pointed to the kitchen where Jason was now flirting with one of the waitresses.

‘Can someone please explain to me what’s going on?’ Gabe asked.

‘That’s Jason. Mr Thomas’ twin brother.’

‘He has a
twin
?’

‘Yes.’

‘And how does he know you guys?’

‘Taylor decided to introduce herself on the first day of school.’

‘What? So you guys are like friends now or something?’

‘I am so far from friends with that guy, it’s not funny.’

‘I think she likes Brandon better,’ Taylor said.

‘Taylor! What the hell? That isn’t helping.’

‘What? You
do
like him more than Jason.’

‘But you’re making it sound like there’s more to it than that, and there isn’t!’

‘Well you clearly like his singing…’

‘Oh my God! You’re completely crazy!’

‘I’m a bit lost here,’ Gabe chimed in. ‘What’s this about Mr Thomas singing?’

‘I have to go,’ Lizzie said to Taylor. ‘I’ll see you later.’

‘Wait! Who am I going to go shopping with?’

‘I don’t have time for this,’ Lizzie said. ‘Gabe, come on. I’ll explain everything in the car.’

Gabe obediently followed Lizzie to the exit.

‘Can I phone you later for a lift home?’ Taylor called out.

‘No!’ Lizzie yelled over her shoulder. ‘Get your new boyfriend to drive you!’

‘He doesn’t have a car!’

‘Not my problem!’ Lizzie snatched open the door and stalked out, with Gabe close behind.

‘Alright, seriously, what was all that about?’

‘Freaking Taylor!’ Lizzie raged as she stormed back to the car park. ‘She’s going to get Brandon fired if she keeps going on that way.’

‘You call him Brandon?’

Lizzie stopped and faced Gabe. ‘Sorry, this must seem kind of bizarre to you, but I’ll explain as we walk. Are you OK to come with me in my car? Or do you want to call Jacques?’

‘It’s probably best if I call Jacques. I’ll have him drive you back here later and settle the parking bill for you.’

Lizzie squeezed his hand gratefully. ‘Thank you. You’re so sweet.’

Gabe quickly texted Jacques, and they sat on a nearby ledge to wait. ‘OK, so Taylor met Jason on the first day of school and now they’re dating?’ he asked.

‘It seems so. But he’s a complete tool. Taylor dragged me to a gig he was playing. He’s in a band with Brandon by the way, but he was so sleazy afterwards.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me all this before?’

‘Because I thought it was just a one-off. And I didn’t really know how to tell you that I was hanging out at our English teacher’s apartment without it sounding bad.’

‘You were at his apartment?’

‘Yeah, but Brandon didn’t do anything wrong. And Taylor wasn’t exactly innocent in this scenario either.’

‘Jeez Lizzie. Maybe we should tell Mr Jenkins.’

‘No! Why? We don’t want to get Brandon in trouble.’

‘But what if he has other students over to his place?’

‘I’m almost one hundred percent certain he doesn’t. He was really uncomfortable about it all. As was I.’

‘So what happened?’

‘Basically Jason and Taylor headed off to the bedroom the second we got back, and I left soon afterwards.’

‘But there was
some
time where you were left alone with him?’

‘I don’t like what you’re implying here.’

‘Lizzie, we have to report him!’

‘Stop saying that. We don’t!’

At that moment, Jacques pulled up. They climbed in the back of the car and sat in silence the whole way back to Gabe’s house.

Lizzie was angry. Taylor was ruining everything. At this rate she was going to ruin her own life, Lizzie’s life, and possibly Brandon’s.

They went inside and retreated to Gabe’s bedroom. His little sister Kai was home with a bunch of friends and they had taken over most of the house.

Gabe closed the door and sat down on his bed. Lizzie sat down on the swivel chair he used at his desk.

‘Before you freak out at me anymore, I just want to say that Taylor is the one being stupid here. Brandon and I tried to stop it from happening. He’s a decent guy and his intentions are not sinister.’

‘Do you like him?’

‘What do you mean? I like him as a teacher, and I think he seems like a nice guy, but I don’t like him in the way I think you’re alluding to.’ Lizzie felt strange having this conversation. She’d been forcing down all the feelings she had for Brandon for the last two months, but they
were
still there. It was hard when she saw him every day, being constantly reminded of the gig and how charismatic he was. And that evening they spent together…

‘I need to ask you something,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘Who’s CC?’

His face darkened. ‘How do you know about that?’

‘On our first date at my house, you got that text message while you were in the bathroom and you said it was your mum. But it flashed up on the screen before that and I saw.’

‘Is that why you were going through my messages when I caught you that time?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Oh Lizzie. It was just this silly girl I went out with a few times. I stopped seeing her because she literally started stalking me. She’d show up on my doorstep at all hours... she’d text at three in the morning. And I once caught her stealing some of my clothes.’

‘Wow. OK. So why didn’t you just tell me that?’

‘Because I wanted our first date to go smoothly.’

‘But you lied to me.’

‘I’m so sorry babe.’ He got up and knelt down in front of her. ‘I am so glad I met you, and the last few months have been some of the coolest ever. Year Twelve would be crap without you. Please forgive me?’

She leaned over and kissed his upturned face. ‘I do.’

‘Lizzie White, I think I’m in love with you.’

Lizzie’s heart fluttered. ‘I think I’m in love with you too.’

Gabe picked her up and threw her onto his bed. He jumped on top of her and buried his face in her neck.

‘My amazing dizzy Lizzie. Please let’s never fight again.’

‘OK,’ she whispered.

Lizzie saw a flash of Brandon’s face in her mind, and quickly shoved it away. She was only going to think about Gabe from now on. Even if it killed her.

***

Jacques dropped her back in the city at eight. Gabe had come for the drive and kissed her again as she hopped out of the car.

‘Can I see you on the weekend?’ he asked.

‘Sure.’

‘I’ll come over tomorrow for lunch?’

‘Sounds good. I’ll make something awesome for you and Dad.’

He spread his arms wide. ‘I have the best girlfriend in the whole world!’ he yelled to the half empty car park.

‘Stop it,’ she said, slapping his arms down.

‘But I do.’

‘Oh, one thing I’m supposed to do is ask if we can have the formal after-party at your place.’

‘Was this Taylor’s idea?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you think I should?’

‘It’s totally up to you. Your house is great, but I understand if you might not want to.’

‘No, it’s fine. Let’s do it. Tell the dragon she can pretend my house is her castle for the evening.’

This time Lizzie didn’t tell him not to call her a dragon. She was still pretty frustrated at Taylor, and she wasn’t in the mood to defend her.

She said goodbye to Gabe and drove home.

After fixing herself a bowl of ice cream, she went to her room. She opened her bedside drawer and pulled out the handwritten piece of paper that Brandon had given her. She stared at it for a moment, still experiencing the same emotions as the night he’d given it to her.

She then scrunched it up and went out to the kitchen bin. She shoved it down to the bottom so that she wouldn’t be tempted to get it back out later on.

After that, she went back to her room and deleted Brandon’s number from her phone. She then opened the music library and deleted all of Orion’s Head’s albums.

The only problem now was, how was she supposed to get to sleep?