Dismissed (4 page)

He groaned. ‘You can’t do that! Now I’ll have to wait for a minute before I can face the others.’

Lizzie laughed, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

‘Oh well. I’ll let you compose yourself while I go and check on Taylor. You can see if the guys are OK when you’ve… er… calmed down a little.’

She went back into the wardrobe, where Taylor was wearing a red floor length satin gown.

‘Taylor! I don’t think you’re supposed to be touching that stuff!’

‘Relax. I wasn’t going to ruin it. I just wanted to see what it looked like with these.’ She pulled back the hem to reveal a pair of strappy white Manolo Blahniks underneath.

‘Look, I’m not sure you should keep anything.’

She stared at Lizzie. ‘Why not?’

‘Because it’s rude.’

‘But Gabe said his mum was clearing everything out!’

‘Still, she might want to sell some of it on eBay or something. Please don’t be weird about this. I really like Gabe and I don’t want my friend raiding his mum’s wardrobe.’

She huffed. ‘Fine.’ She looked longingly at the handbags. ‘What if I just took one little clutch purse?’

‘No!’

‘Jeez, fine.’ She turned around. ‘Unzip me then.’

Lizzie unzipped the dress and watched as Taylor slipped out of it.

‘Why are you naked under there?’ Lizzie asked.

‘Because my underwear was wet from the pool and I didn’t want to ruin the gown.’ She said it as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

‘Well please wrap yourself up in the towel before anyone else sees you.’

‘You are such a prude, Lizzie.’

‘Maybe I am.’

‘So did you text your dad?’

‘What for?’

‘I don’t know. You said you were getting your phone so you could… hang on! You weren’t doing anything of the sort, were you?’

Lizzie blushed. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘You dirty little tramp! Running off with a guy on the first day of school.’

‘Stop it.’

‘You are so funny, acting all shy. Well, I suppose congratulations are in order.’ She covered herself with the towel and went down the hall to retrieve her clothes. ‘If you marry him, can I come and live with you guys?’

‘Don’t mention the M word! God, the last thing I want to do is scare him off.’

‘Scare who off?’ Gabe reappeared.

‘Nothing. Taylor was just being annoying.’

‘It takes a fair bit to scare me off,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘Unless you have voodoo dolls at home. Or you’re into taxidermy. ’

‘What about an obsession with Hello Kitty?’ Taylor asked slyly.

Lizzie punched Taylor in the arm. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Hello Kitty is awesome,’ Gabe said, grinning at Lizzie. ‘I went to Japan with my parents last year and everyone’s into that stuff over there. I personally have an obsession with Doraemon. I’ll have to show you my collection of figurines sometime.’

Lizzie laughed, relieved. She really did have an abnormally large assortment of Hello Kitty merchandise. ‘I look forward to it.’

Taylor made an exaggerated show of checking the time.

‘Didn’t we have a reservation for six thirty?’ she said pointedly to Lizzie.

‘Oh right. Yeah.’ She turned to Gabe. ‘Sorry, we should get going. We’ve got a girls’ dinner planned. But I’ll see you tomorrow?’

‘I can’t wait.’ He grabbed her around the waist and kissed her right in front of Taylor’s bemused face.

‘Come on,’ Taylor said, pulling on one of her arms. ‘We’re going to be late.’

Lizzie let herself be led away.

‘Bye!’

Gabe blew a kiss.

As they got in the car, Lizzie looked at Taylor. ‘Just chill out, OK?’

‘What?’

‘You were kind of aggressive just now. Please just let me enjoy the fact that I have a boyfriend for the first time in over six months.’

‘Oh, so he
is
your boyfriend now?’

‘Yes. Do you have a problem with that?’

‘Not at all.’

‘Good.’

The two drove in silence towards the Valley.

CHAPTER 4

‘I’ll have the jalapeno corn bread and popcorn shrimp,’ Taylor informed the waiter.

‘I’ll have the hot wings and soft tacos,’ Lizzie added.

The waiter smiled at Taylor. ‘No problem.’

When he left, Taylor pulled a face. ‘How ugly was he?’

‘He seemed OK,’ Lizzie replied. She never understood why guys were always so nice to Taylor when she was so horrible back.

‘Alright, first things first. I was chatting to the girls today about organising the formal at the end of the year.’

‘Is that what you were talking about earlier when you mentioned a night in?’

‘Yep. I think we need to get onto it early so we can secure the venue and work out a theme.’

‘Why are you so interested in this?’

‘Because! It will be our last gathering as a grade! And you know what? After seeing Gabe’s house today, I think we should ask him to host the after-party.’

‘I don’t know. Can we wait a few weeks first? I think it would look tacky if we asked him right away.’

‘Fine. But make sure you don’t forget. So do you think we should have the formal in a hotel ballroom? Or somewhere a bit more cutting edge?’

‘I guess it depends on the theme. And don’t we have to run all the ideas by a teacher first?’

‘Probably. Hey, wouldn’t it be awesome if Brandon was on the committee?’

‘I’m sure he’d love that.’

‘I’m totally going to ask him tomorrow.’

‘He’ll probably say no. I can’t imagine it’s something he’ll feel like doing during his first year at the school.’

‘You never know. New teachers often have more enthusiasm than old ones.’

‘I guess that’s true,’ Lizzie conceded. ‘Anyway, what did you think of Josh and Nick? Could you see yourself dating one of them?’

‘Ew, no! Josh looked like a Navy Seal reject, and did you not notice that Nick was a ranga?’

‘I thought his hair was nice. I quite like red hair. What about Prince Harry? Or Rupert Grint?’

‘You’re saying you think Ron Weasley is hot?’

‘A little.’

Taylor shook her head. ‘I’m worried about you.’

‘You’re so shallow.’

‘I know. But we’re biologically programmed to be attracted to beautiful people, so it’s not all my fault.’

Lizzie smiled. Of course Taylor would try to find a way to justify her shallowness.

The waiter came back with their food and took an exaggerated amount of time making sure Taylor was happy.

‘Would you like some more water?’ he asked hopefully.

‘No thanks,’ she said, not even looking at him.

‘Some pepper or salt?’

‘No. That will be all. Thank you!’

The guy looked crushed.

He walked away, forgetting that he hadn’t asked Lizzie if she needed anything.

Lizzie picked at one of her tacos. ‘I think he wanted to ask for your number.’

‘Who? The waiter? I don’t think so.’

‘He totally did.’

‘Well I’m not interested. I’m only interested in one guy today and that’s Mr Thomas.’

‘Which one?’

‘I’ve decided I’m going to focus on Brandon for now. But I’ll keep Jason as a back-up. Hey! I just realised something!’ She whipped out her phone and started madly typing into the keypad.

‘What?’

‘I can cyber stalk Brandon properly now!’

‘Why?’

‘Because I can do a Google search and include his brother’s name.’

Lizzie sighed. ‘You couldn’t wait until after dinner to do that?’

‘Oh my God!’ she screamed.

‘What?’ Lizzie looked at her, alarmed.

‘They’re in a band together!’

‘Really? What kind of band?’

‘Like a proper rock band. They’re called Orion’s Head. And Brandon is the freaking singer!’

Lizzie had to admit that was pretty cool. ‘What about Jason?’

‘He’s the bassist. We are seriously going to crash one of their gigs.’

‘Do they do all-ages concerts?’

‘No, silly. We’ll sneak in.’

‘How?’

‘I’ll figure something out,’ she said, waving away Lizzie’s concern. She scanned their webpage. ‘Look at this! How hot are they?’ She held up a picture of the band performing one of their songs. Brandon was leaning over a mic stand, wearing a pair of black leather pants and a white V neck t-shirt. He looked very, very sexy.

Taylor pulled the phone away and continued stalking.

‘They have a show this weekend at The Den!’

‘Are you going to try and go?’

‘Duh. Of course! And you’ll be coming too.’

‘What if they ask for ID?’

‘Don’t worry about that.’

‘I’d rather not do anything illegal.’

‘It’s OK. We won’t get caught.’

‘That’s what they all say.’

‘Come on Lizzie! I don’t want to catch a cab on my own! We can get one together! Or better still, you can drive!’

Aha. There was that car thing again.

‘I’ll think about it.’

‘Awesome! You know, I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate on anything Brandon says for the rest of the week now because I’ll be imagining him in front of a microphone instead. I wonder if he writes his own songs. Maybe I should see if they have any stuff on YouTube…’

‘Stop! Can we please just eat dinner now and obsess over Brandon later?’

‘Oh right. Yeah, sure. Sorry. I guess it would be kind of boring talking about a guy you’re not interested in. I know if you started going on about Gabe, I would probably fall asleep.’

She put the phone back in her purse and popped a piece of shrimp in her mouth.

Lizzie smiled. That was typical Taylor. Always speaking her mind. And jumping to the wrong conclusions. Lizzie wasn’t bored hearing about Brandon at all. She was just worried she’d like him too much and it would take away from her feelings for Gabe.

The less she thought about Brandon Thomas, the better.

***

After dinner, Lizzie was keen to get home and chill out by herself. It had been a hugely eventful day and she needed to decompress.

She dropped Taylor off first at her house in Bardon. Taylor’s mum rented an old Queenslander on Jubilee Terrace and Taylor always went on about how common it was. Before her dad ran away with his new wife, Taylor lived in a mansion in Chapel Hill that was almost as fancy as Gabe’s. But Mr Walsh somehow managed to avoid paying a large settlement in the divorce. He didn’t even pay child support and worked the system so it looked like he had no real income. Except Taylor knew he was stashing it somewhere, because she had visited him on occasion and saw him living it up in Balmoral with the wife and Taylor’s two spoilt little stepbrothers.

Lizzie had asked Taylor once if she’d ever considered moving in with them, but she’d just looked at her like she’d grown another head.

‘My mother needs me,’ she’d said dramatically. ‘She can’t cope on her own.’

So it seemed that maternal loyalty was the only thing Taylor wouldn’t sell out for. But then Lizzie wondered why she was so focused on other peoples’ wealth if she knew from direct experience that it could so easily be taken away. Why wasn’t she working on making her own fortune?

Lizzie pulled into the garage and saw that her dad was already home.

In all the excitement of the afternoon, she had actually forgotten to text him to say that she wasn’t going to be back for dinner. When she walked through the door, she could smell the delicious aroma of garlic and onions frying in the kitchen.

‘Hey Dad!’ she called out.

‘Hey sweetie. You hungry?’

Lizzie entered the kitchen and gave her father a peck on the cheek.

‘Sorry, I went out with Taylor and we already ate.’

‘You don’t want any stir-fry? I’m making satay sauce with it.’

‘Oh, that sounds delicious but I’m pretty full. Maybe I’ll have leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.’

Lizzie loved peanut butter, which was of course the key ingredient in satay sauce. She went through a jar almost every week, and she hated that her school was a peanut-free zone. It seemed odd to her that for the one or two kids out of eight hundred who had an allergy, everyone else had to do without.

‘How was your first day?’

‘Not too bad. We got a few new kids and a new English teacher.’

‘Oh yeah?’

‘Yeah, they all seem cool.’

‘Did you get any homework?’

‘Just to read
High Fidelity
.’

‘I loved that movie!’

‘Oh right. I forgot about that John Cusack obsession you had a few years ago.’

Lizzie’s dad had gone through a phase where he’d watched a whole bunch of John Cusack’s classic movies over the space of a month. Lizzie had sat in on
One Crazy Summer
and
Say Anything
, but she must have been out on the night he’d watched
High Fidelity
.

‘So you’re reading the book for English?’

‘Yep. We have to watch the movie after and then write an essay on the themes and how they apply to our lives.’

‘Well the themes obviously revolve around commitment and break-ups. But also about growing up and leaving the past behind.’

‘Great! Do you want to write the assignment for me?’

‘Ha, nice try. Off you go. You should probably get started so you don’t fall behind on your first day.’

Lizzie had no intention of falling behind in English, but she didn’t want to tell her dad that it was only because she found her teacher attractive. That would not go down well at all.

‘I guess,’ she said, feigning disinterest.

She left her father eating by himself and locked herself in her room. She switched on her computer and logged onto Facebook.

There was a new friend request from Gabe.

She smiled as she pressed the
Accept
button.

Within seconds, a private message appeared on the screen.

Hey!

Hey,
Lizzie typed back.

I had fun today.

Me too.

How was dinner?

Not bad.

Would you recommend the restaurant?

I don’t know. Maybe. Why?

Because I’d like to take you out to dinner on Friday night.

Aw, aren’t you sweet?

What’s your favourite food?

Peanut butter.

LOL – OK. Good to know. So is that a yes for Friday?

Yes.

Great! I have to go now but I’ll see you in the morning.

Cool.

XOXO

Lizzie grinned and typed back.

XOXO

She changed into her PJs and jumped into bed with her book. Lizzie suffered from insomnia so she always got a lot of stuff done while everyone else was sleeping. She normally didn’t drift off until after 1am, and she always woke up at 6am, but it didn’t seem to affect her ability to focus during the day. She’d heard that a lot of notable figures from history got by on little sleep, so she assumed it must be normal for some people.

She wasn’t particularly stressed out or unable to shut off her brain. It just seemed to be the way she was put together. Still, she had tried quite a few things over the years in order to sleep those extra hours, and nothing worked.

She read for an hour before her mind wandered to Brandon’s band. Despite having decided earlier that she wasn’t going to focus her attention on her new teacher, Lizzie found herself doing a quick Google search to look for photos and music.

She was surprised at how popular the band was, even though she’d never heard of them. Orion’s Head had even done a tour of the States recently, albeit a small one. Lizzie wondered why Brandon was now settling for a job as a high school teacher, and not even in the music department.

She found a few amateur clips taken by concert goers on their mobile phones that had been uploaded to YouTube. They weren’t good quality, but Lizzie could still hear Brandon’s voice shining through. The music was pop rock, and Brandon had a smooth tone that worked well with both ballads and slightly heavier tunes.

She saw that they had an album on iTunes, so she logged in and downloaded it without a second thought.

She connected it to her iPod and put on her headphones.

Brandon’s voice instantly relaxed her.

Within five minutes, she was asleep.