Dismissed (5 page)

CHAPTER 5

There was a knock on Lizzie’s bedroom door. She still had her headphones on, so she pulled them off.

‘Yeah?’

‘It’s almost seven. Just thought I’d let you know,’ Lizzie’s dad called out.

Her eyes widened. She never slept past six. And she
never
went to sleep before midnight. Was she getting sick?

She looked at her iPod suspiciously. The only thing different about last night was the fact that she’d listened to Brandon’s album.

Weird. She’d tried listening to other music before to help her sleep, but nothing had done the trick. She’d tried purpose designed relaxation albums, classical music, jazz, and even heavy metal, wondering if perhaps it had some magical quality to help her switch off. But no.

It seemed that Brandon had achieved the impossible.

She quickly showered and changed into her uniform, before going downstairs for breakfast.

Lizzie was intrigued to see if the music worked a second time, but she’d have to wait until that night to find out. She was incredibly refreshed, not realising how much her energy levels had been affected until now. It was a whole new world.

Lizzie was within walking distance to school, but she usually caught the bus. Her dad didn’t let her take the car to school, so she had to make her own way.

Today, she felt like walking. She skipped down the street, thinking that the year couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. She had a boyfriend after the first day of school, and a very hot teacher who she was actually expected to stare at for forty minutes at a time every day.

She entered the school gates and hunted down Taylor. She found her in the courtyard talking to Zoe and Heather. Lizzie’s heart sank. Zoe was OK, but Heather was horrible. Taylor didn’t like her either, but for some reason, she was always sucking up to her.

Taylor turned to Lizzie when she saw her approaching.

‘Zoe and Heather are going to join the formal committee! So it will be the four of us, and maybe Cara as well.’

Lizzie didn’t like the sound of that. Cara wasn’t much better than Heather. She was a drama student and always acted like she was in a play, so everything she said was overly exaggerated.

‘Great,’ she said, neutrally.

‘We were also talking about convincing Brandon to be the teacher liaison.’

‘Isn’t he yummy?’ Zoe said.

‘Have you googled him yet?’ Lizzie asked. ‘He’s…’

Taylor cut her off. ‘More about that later. For now we need to work out a time that suits everyone so we can have an official meeting. I would volunteer my place, but it’s getting renovated at the moment. Lizzie, what about yours?’

Lizzie frowned at Taylor. This was the first she’d heard about renovations.

‘Uh, sure. I’ll run it by Dad, but it should be OK.’

‘Awesome. How about next weekend?’

‘Yeah, that works for me.’

‘Ladies?’ she asked Heather and Zoe.

‘Fine with me,’ Zoe said.

‘Yeah me too,’ Heather said, distracted. Heather was always on the lookout for a better social opportunity. Where Lizzie only suspected that Taylor was doing the same, Heather was blatantly obvious about it. ‘Hey, I’ve got to go. I need to talk to Jake about something.’

Taylor looked disappointed. ‘No problem. We’ll work out times closer to the day.’

Zoe made an excuse about having to do something before class, and left too.

When they were both out of earshot, Lizzie looked at Taylor.

‘OK, so what was all that about home renovations?’

‘Because my house is crap and Heather is superficial. She would spend the whole night saying how it doesn’t compare to her holiday house in Noosa or something.’

‘So you’re happy for her to criticise my place instead?’

‘Your house is fine. It’s a perfectly acceptable middle class residence.’

‘Um, alright then. And why did you cut me off when I was talking about Brandon?’

‘I don’t want Heather – or anyone else for that matter – knowing he’s in a band.
Or
that he has a twin brother.’

‘What if
he
tells everyone?’

‘I’ll deal with it then. But for now, please don’t say anything.’

‘OK.’ Lizzie decided that she kind of liked the idea of keeping it secret too.

They started walking to their first class.

‘Did you look up any of his music last night?’ Lizzie asked casually.

‘Oh my God, yes! Lizzie, you have to check him out. He is sex on a stick!’

‘What, just on YouTube or something?’ She knew Taylor would get suspicious if she confessed to already having listened to his stuff.

‘I’ll show you at recess. We have to make sure no one can accidentally spy on us.’ She looked pointedly over at Heather talking to Jake.

The bell rang and the girls hurried inside.

***

English was second up that day, so they didn’t have to wait long to see Brandon.

It was also the first chance that Lizzie had gotten to talk to Gabe, and he made an elaborate show of sitting next to her, much to Taylor’s disgust.

‘I can’t believe you’re ditching me for a boy,’ she huffed as she sat at a desk a couple of rows over.

Lizzie almost laughed. Taylor
always
ditched her when a new boy was involved. This was the first time Lizzie had ever sat next to a boyfriend in class. She usually only went out with guys from other schools.

It felt kind of strange too, being with Gabe and Brandon in the same room. Like she was kind of cheating on Gabe. Which didn’t make any sense. But maybe because Lizzie now associated Brandon with sleep, and by extension her bedroom, her thoughts surrounding him were getting a bit confused.

‘Alright, did anyone get a start on
High Fidelity
last night?’ Brandon asked the class.

A couple of hands went up. Taylor’s arm almost shot out of its socket, reminding Lizzie of Hermione Granger in
Harry Potter
.

Lizzie only half raised her hand. She didn’t want to look as desperate as Taylor, but she needed Brandon to know that she was still dedicated.

‘Good. I’m pleased to see that I won’t be giving detention to
everyone
today.’

There were a few groans, as the people who didn’t raise their hands realised Brandon was going to be tougher than they thought.

Lizzie looked over at Taylor, who seemed to be contemplating something. Like that perhaps detention might not be such a bad thing if it meant spending more time with Brandon.

‘It’s OK. I’ll let you all off with a warning just this once. But I really do want you guys to get started on the material. We’ve got a lot to cover this year, so I expect you all to have finished the book by the end of next week. You can watch the movie that weekend and then I want the assignment handed in the following Friday.’

Gabe squeezed Lizzie’s leg under the table and she squeaked.

‘Are you feeling OK, Lizzie?’ Brandon asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

‘Yes, sorry.’ She blushed and looked down at the notebook in front of her. Gabe smirked.

Brandon turned to the blackboard. Lizzie took the opportunity to punch Gabe in the arm.

‘Don’t you
ever
do that again!’ she hissed.

He laughed. ‘But you’re so cute when you squeak.’

‘I don’t want to draw attention to myself.’

He ran a finger along her neck and up to her ear.

‘Mr Reiser,’ Brandon said without turning around. ‘I think it would be best if you came and sat down here in the front.’

‘But I didn’t do anything!’ Gabe protested.

‘Please do as I ask. And from now on, I would appreciate if you didn’t sit next to Ms White in my class.’

Lizzie couldn’t decide whether she was pleased or angry. Part of her liked to think that Brandon was secretly jealous. Which was ridiculous, of course. But part of her was annoyed that he got to boss her around.

Gabe picked up his books and stomped down to the front of the room.

‘Thank you,’ Brandon said. ‘Now let’s talk about the concept of growing up…’

***

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Lizzie and Taylor fell into their usual routine, meeting for recess and lunch, and sitting together for most of their classes. Gabe wasn’t in any of Lizzie’s other classes, so she only got to see him during breaks. Taylor wasn’t overly impressed, but she seemed to tolerate him more since she’d found out he had money.

On Wednesday afternoon, Taylor mentioned that she’d asked Brandon about being the teacher liaison for the formal committee, and he’d apparently promised to talk to Mr Jenkins about it.

She’d also bombarded Lizzie with fact after fact about Brandon and his band, in between shoving YouTube clips in her face. Lizzie didn’t really mind, but she preferred to listen to Brandon’s music in the privacy of her own bedroom.

Lizzie had to work on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, so she didn’t get to see anyone after school. She was quite looking forward to her date with Gabe on Friday night though.

He came to pick her up at six in a sporty looking black Lexus. Lizzie was about to jump in the front passenger seat, when she noticed that Gabe was sitting in the back and motioning for her to join him. There was a man in a suit in the driver’s seat.

‘Uh, hi,’ she said nervously as she climbed in.

‘Hey! Lizzie this is Jacques, my driver.’

Jacques turned around and gave her a little wave. ‘Hi Lizzie, it’s nice to meet you.’ He then fastened his seatbelt and they set off down the street.

‘You have a driver?’ Lizzie whispered incredulously.

‘Yeah. My parents are kind of weird about me driving. I had a cousin who died in a car crash a couple of years ago when he was only seventeen, so they want me to wait until I at least finish school before they let me drive myself.’

‘That’s really sad about your cousin. But doesn’t it frustrate you that they don’t trust you?’

‘A little. But I can sort of see where they’re coming from. I’m their only son.’

‘OK, so where are you and Jacques taking me?’

Gabe grinned. ‘It’s a surprise.’

They drove towards the city, but kept going through to the Valley. The last of the after work crowd were still out finishing their beers, but they’d probably all be heading home soon. The clubbers wouldn’t be out until much later.

Jacques stopped near the bottom of the Chinatown Mall.

‘Just text when you want me to pick you up,’ he said cheerfully to Gabe.

‘Yeah, cool. Thanks buddy.’

They hopped out of the car and Gabe grabbed Lizzie’s hand, swinging it playfully back and forth as they walked over to a Vietnamese restaurant.

‘Have you been here before?’ he asked.

‘Nope.’

‘Good. This is one of my favourite places. And guess what? A lot of the dishes have a satay sauce option, which should satisfy your peanut butter craving.’

Lizzie laughed. ‘You must have known that I missed out when my dad cooked the other night.’ She explained to Gabe about Monday’s dinner.

‘Is it always just the two of you?’

‘Yeah. He’s done a great job being both my mum and dad. I mean, he’s pretty strict when it comes to things like school and work, but he means well.’

‘What happened to your mum?’

‘She died when I was two.’

‘Oh no. I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s OK. I don’t remember her apart from what I’ve seen in pictures.’

A waiter came over and seated them near the window. Gabe waited until they were alone again before continuing the conversation.

‘So your dad never remarried?’

‘No. He’s dated a bit, but he hasn’t met anyone apparently worth making that commitment to.’

‘Do you think that’s because of you?’

‘I hope not. But maybe. I wish he’d find someone soon though, so I won’t feel as bad if I decide to move out next year.’

‘He’ll survive either way.’

‘I know. But he’s been so good to me.’ She played with her cutlery. ‘Anyway, enough about my stuff. Tell me more about you.’

‘Do you think it’s weird that we’ve been going to the same school for three years and we’re only just getting to know each other now?’

‘I guess. But then our grade is pretty big. We have like a hundred and fifty people and you’ve never shown the slightest interest in getting to know me.’

‘I think it was because of Taylor. I’ve always wanted to talk to you, but she kind of intimidates me.’

‘She’s not that bad. I know she can be a bit…’ Lizzie tried to find the right word.