Dismissed (18 page)

CHAPTER 22

Lizzie was glad that no one from school worked with her at McDonald’s. It was the one place apart from home where she could pretend life was still normal. She’d even asked for more shifts so she didn’t have any time to sit around feeling sorry for herself.

Tonight she was working a late shift. It was Saturday, so there were a few drunk people coming in after clubbing, ready to devour a couple of Big Macs.

Lizzie was on the drive-thru, which meant she took orders and money from the first window and then sent people on to the next one to collect their food.

Most of the drivers were polite and sober, but many of their passengers weren’t. Lizzie found herself at the centre of many jokes about hot waitresses and uniforms. Half the time she couldn’t tell if they were being mean or serious.

During a lull, she reflected on the past few weeks. To keep herself busy when she wasn’t working or studying, she had downloaded an electronic music program and started dabbling in dance music production. With her natural affinity for rhythm, she’d found it a great distraction from reality. Plus, she had actually put together a few decent tracks. Not that she would ever show them to anyone, but it was a personal achievement she was actually quite proud of.

An old Commodore pulled up, and she snapped out of her reverie.

‘Hi, can I take your order please?’ she asked politely.

‘Sugar Lips!’

Lizzie peered down into the car. ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake! Jason, what do you want?’

‘I want some food! Can I get a Double Quarter Pounder and a large Coke? Oh, and a sundae with caramel in the bottom and chocolate on the top.’

‘Fine.’ She typed in his order and accepted the twenty he handed over.

‘We should hang out, Sugar Lips.’

‘Nope. Not gonna happen. I thought you’d be mad at me anyway for ruining things with Taylor.’

‘You didn’t ruin things with Taylor. She did.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘She dumped me.’

Lizzie looked at him, surprised. ‘
She
dumped
you
?’

‘Despite what you may think, I’m not a complete dickhead. I actually really liked Taylor when we first met. Seriously. If it was anyone else, I would have ditched her after the first night.’

‘That’s all very sweet, but I’m not particularly interested. As you probably know, Taylor and I are no longer friends. Plus my boyfriend ditched me because of that night.’

‘Oh. Sorry about that.’

‘Yeah, you sound it.’

‘I am! But you don’t understand my side. After Brandon told me about the baby, he thought I’d be so freaked out that I would call things off. But what you might not know is that Brandon and I are orphans, and I’ve always wanted a big family. So when he didn’t clarify whether Taylor was actually pregnant or not, I texted her, and then went straight over to tell her I’d be cool either way. She completely flipped out and told me things were getting too serious.’

Lizzie gaped at him. ‘You actually want a baby?’

‘Yes. I mean, with the right girl, but yeah. I want a bunch of kids and I want to start young so I can enjoy them.’

A car pulled in behind Jason.

‘You’re going to have to move on,’ Lizzie told him.

‘They can wait.’

‘You’ll get me in trouble,’ she warned.

He studied her for a second. ‘I can see why he likes you,’ he said suddenly.

Lizzie stared.

‘Who?’             

‘My brother.’

Lizzie felt a flutter in her chest.

‘What do you mean? As a friend?’

‘Nope. It’s definitely more than that.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because of the song he’s writing at the moment. I can tell it’s about you.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘You’ll just have to wait until we release it. Or come to one of our gigs and listen to it. You’ll see what I mean.’

The car behind honked.

She shooed Jason off. ‘Go.’

He winked at her. ‘It’s been good seeing you Sugar Lips. If you ever want to put that mouth to good use…’

Lizzie glared.

‘I meant for beatboxing! Anyway, maybe see you at one of our shows,’ he said and drove off.

Lizzie went back to work.

That night she listened to Orion’s Head as she went to sleep.

And then she dreamt of Brandon.

***

After changing her mind half a dozen times, Lizzie finally decided to go to the formal with Nick. She figured that she didn’t want to look back on high school and regret not having participated in one of the most important events of her final year.

She spent the whole day preparing. It almost felt like a wedding, and she wished she was more into her date than she really was. In an alternate universe where she wasn’t distracted by Gabe and Brandon, she might actually have been quite open to a relationship with Nick. But for now, she didn’t want to complicate her life more than it already was.

In the morning, she had a manicure and pedicure booked at Indooroopilly, where the technician painted her nails a pale shimmery pink colour. After that was the hairdresser, where she had her hair straightened, and then set into perfect waves.

The last stop was makeup, which she splurged on and had done at Napoleon Perdis.

When she got home, there was just enough time left to slip into her dress. She’d bought it second hand at a vintage shop, but it was still in immaculate condition – a strapless pinky beige gown with diamante detailing on the bodice and a delicate ruffled skirt that draped to the floor. Normally she would have designed her own dress, but she’d left it too late after making her final decision to sew one in time.

She then stepped into strappy silver sandals and waited for Nick to arrive.

Her dad had been in the garden for part of the afternoon, but when he came in to get a glass of water, he did a double take.

‘Wow! Stay right there! I have to take a photo.’

‘Don’t make a big deal,’ Lizzie said, embarrassed. ‘It’s just the formal.’

‘But you look great!’ He found the camera in the cupboard and ushered Lizzie over to the living room. ‘Stand against that wall.’

Lizzie obeyed. She turned slightly to the side and pulled an exaggerated pouty face over her shoulder.

Robert lowered the camera.

‘You look exactly like your mother when you do that,’ he said softly.

‘I wish she was here.’

‘Me too.’

He looked through the view finder again and took a few shots of Lizzie in various poses. Lizzie tried not to think about how her mother would never see any of these important life events. It was too sad. She could tell her dad was thinking the same thing. He seemed to go all gruff, and suddenly became preoccupied with the different settings on the camera.

‘Are you upset you’re not going to the dance with Gabe?’ he asked, changing the subject.

‘I don’t think so. Maybe a little. But ever since I found out about Zoe, I wonder if he really did like her all along and I was just a distraction.’

‘Sweetie, I talked to Gabe on a number of occasions, and you were not a distraction. It’s a shame how things turned out, but I assure you, his intentions seemed good at the time.’

Lizzie smiled. ‘Thanks Dad. Well, Nick is really sweet, so I should have fun tonight anyway.’

At the mention of his name, the doorbell rang.

It turned out that Nick was quite well off. Maybe even more so than Gabe. His dad had rented him a BMW Roadster for the evening, which he told Nick was a model used in one of the James Bond movies.

Nick greeted Lizzie, showing off a white suit with a black bowtie, and he exhibited a confidence Lizzie had never seen at school.

‘You look amazing!’ he said, looking her up and down. ‘Which Bond girl are you supposed to be?’

‘No one in particular. I’m just channelling the general vibe.’ She held up a little beaded clutch and opened it, showing him the contents. Inside was a tiny fake pistol.

He laughed. ‘You’ll have to be careful you don’t get stopped by the cops tonight. That thing looks real.’

‘I found it at a garage sale.’

‘Well it’s better than this,’ he said, opening up his jacket to reveal a brightly coloured Nerf gun.

‘That will be more fun to play with though,’ she reasoned.

‘OK, you two kids go and have a good time,’ Robert said as he followed them down the stairs. ‘And Lizzie, don’t worry about curfew tonight. Just come home whenever you’re ready.’

Lizzie kissed her dad on the cheek. ‘Thank you.’

Nick and Lizzie jumped into the BMW.

‘Top up or down?’ he asked.

‘I vote leave it down,’ she said.

‘I kind of hoped you’d say that. And I brought you this, just in case you did,’ he said, handing her an expensive looking scarf.

‘Is this Hermes?’

‘Yeah. I thought you might like it instead of a corsage.’

‘I can’t accept a Hermes scarf! They cost a fortune!’

‘Don’t worry about it. My mum has a friend in Paris who gives them to her. She has dozens.’

‘Wow. Well maybe I could just borrow it for the evening. Or until we arrive at the formal, so my hair doesn’t get ruined.’

‘Please keep it.’

Lizzie tied the scarf gently over her hair and vowed to take care of it. She was definitely giving it back later.

They zoomed off down the road and into the city. A valet took the car once they arrived at the Hilton. Nick held out his arm so Lizzie could loop hers through, and they went up to the ballroom together.

Lizzie had to hand it to the girls. They’d done a really good job of converting the space into a faux casino. When she walked through the door, a waiter handed her a champagne flute full of something exotic looking. There was a roulette table in one corner and a blackjack table in another. Both looked like they had real poker chips, although Lizzie suspected there would be no cashing them in for real money. A bar was set up beside them, but Lizzie noted that everything on the menu was non-alcoholic.

Her fellow students had all scrubbed up quite well. Most of the girls were in full-length gowns, but some of them had taken inspiration from a few of the more outrageous Bond Girl costumes.

Taylor, while not wearing a bikini, had opted for a skin-tight gold bodysuit with knee high black PVC boots. Heather was wearing a one-piece black pants suit that flared at the bottom. She also had on cat ears, a choker and arm cuffs. When she turned around, Lizzie noticed that she also had a little tail.

Cara was done up quite dramatically too in a white mini dress, white fur coat, white boots and a fluffy Russian hat.

She didn’t see Zoe at first, but then she spotted her in a pale Grecian style gown. It was more sedate than the other girls’ outfits, probably to please her date, who Lizzie was only a little bit surprised to see was Gabe. So Zoe had been telling the truth about that bit.

Nick observed her looking at the couple.

‘Are you OK? I can go beat him up if you like,’ he joked.

‘No, that won’t be necessary. But I appreciate the offer.’

They continued into the ballroom and sat down at a table with their names on it. Lizzie immediately discovered that they’d been seated with all the nerds. Not that she minded. She knew Taylor would have thought it was the worst punishment possible, but she clearly didn’t realise Lizzie wasn’t that shallow.

Dinner was actually more fun than she expected, and Nick turned out to have quite a witty sense of humour. He told Lizzie he was planning to go backpacking in Nepal before teaching English in Asia next year. He then regaled her with stories of his most recent trip to Europe with his parents, where he was legally allowed to drink in Amsterdam, while his parents got stoned in a coffee shop that sold cannabis.

Lizzie, while she wasn’t particularly attracted to Nick, really enjoyed listening to him talk. For a while, she even forgot where she was.

During dessert – which included a selection of cupcakes, truffles and macarons all in James Bond style – Mr Jenkins made a short speech.

He coughed to get everyone’s attention.

‘Good evening everyone. I always feel a bit sad when I realise yet another year has passed, and another flock of my young people are leaving school to set off on their own.

‘Many of you will go on to further study, while others will travel. And then there are those who will go straight into the workforce.

‘Whatever you do, please make sure it’s something you are passionate about. Even if it’s studying obscure plant life in the Amazon jungle, or carving wooden figurines of nineteenth century poets, do it. Don’t worry if it’s not the coolest thing out there, or the best paying. Life is about challenging yourself, but at the same time doing the things you love.