Izzie chuckled, “Yeah right, Ms Belson’s your number one fan; she’ll forgive you.”
Kale smiled, opened the main door and they made their way to their first class.
School passed quite quickly and both Kale and Izzie had been relieved to find that Ms Belson had rearranged the first rehearsal for next week. When the final bell rang, Kale walked with Izzie to the lockers and then out to the car park.
“So,” Kale hesitated and Izzie looked up at him, waiting.
Izzie let out a small laugh, “You gonna finish that sentence, movie star?”
Kale half-smiled, “Funny … um, I was going to ask you … are you working now or do you think we could help each other with our homework?” Izzie noticed that he had paused significantly before quickly tacking on the end bit of the question; she just didn’t know why.
“Um, no, Dad gave me the rest of the week off so I could catch up on school work. So, you wanna go to the library then?” Izzie gave him a curious look as he looked to be deep in thought.
Kale was cursing himself silently; what the hell was wrong with him? He had wanted to ask Izzie if she would be his proper date to the Halloween Dance on Saturday but found that he couldn’t. Well, it was more the fact that he shouldn’t that had stopped him; Izzie wanted to be friends – she had made it perfectly clear at the hospital – and nothing more. He was just going to have to accept that, he shook himself mentally and paid attention to what Izzie was saying. “Yeah, the library sounds like a great idea; let’s go.”
Izzie nodded and they made their way back into school and headed in the direction of the library.
Once they had managed to find two seats, they took out their books and set to work on a particularly nasty essay on ‘Hamlet’ for Mr Mason’s English Literature class. Izzie found herself not really paying attention to what she was reading or writing; her thoughts kept dwelling back to what both her grandmother and the reporter, Julie Falls, had said about Kale. Izzie wrestled with her thoughts; did she really feel something more for him but she just didn’t realise? She frowned and sneaked a quick glance in Kale’s direction; he was immersed in writing what looked to be a lengthy paragraph so he didn’t notice Izzie’s staring. Izzie sighed and quickly returned her gaze back to her essay when she noticed Kale glancing over and smiling. Izzie forced the thoughts about Kale to the back of her mind and willed herself to pay more attention to her homework; it was not easy.
Kale was quite pleased at himself for actually doing something constructive; he had nearly finished his essay and he hadn’t thought that much about Izzie, even though she was sat directly in front of him. The few times he had looked her way, she had looked quite confused and frustrated; he wondered what was bothering her since the essay was not that difficult. He had to admit, he was still debating whether or not to ask Izzie to the dance as his date; but he was positive that she most definitely would not go for it! He finished off his last sentence and set his completed essay to one side and tried to find something else to do to distract himself. He settled for learning some of his lines for the play; learning a script was always the one thing that was guaranteed to keep his attention.
Izzie noticed that Kale had breezed through his essay and was now looking over ‘Much Ado About Nothing’; she envied him, she had yet to write a full page of her essay. She really thought she was going to go truly insane if she didn’t stop thinking about him. Izzie was just really confused – there was no other way to describe it; the more she thought about her feelings towards Kale, the more she wondered what it was that she was feeling – not love but it certainly didn’t feel like hate. If she was being honest with herself, she had never felt hatred towards him – not even when they had first met – it was more annoyance than anything but did that necessarily mean she didn’t like him? Izzie shook her head, closed her eyes and massaged the temples of her forehead; she was beginning to get a migraine with all this overanalysing! She sighed aloud and opened her eyes to find Kale pushing a note across to her.
You look like your brain’s fried, what’s up? Anything I can help with? You can look at my essay for ideas if you want … I won’t tell! x
Izzie glanced up to find him flashing one of his Hollywood smiles and she smiled back. She read the note once more – ignoring the kiss he had added since it made her feel … well she didn’t know exactly; was ‘giddy’ the appropriate word for it? – and started to pen back a reply. When she had finished, she pushed it back across the table to Kale; his eyes quickly scanning the page.
Yeah, you could say my brain’s fried! Just not from thinking about the essay … anyway, thanks for the offer but I think I’m nearly there. Don’t let my crazed thoughts distract you from learning your lines. x
Kale was definitely distracted now; what was Izzie being so cryptic about? How he wished he knew what she was thinking about; it was bound to be interesting if it didn’t concern the essay. But, alas, it seemed like he wasn’t about to find out; a brief glance at Izzie confirmed that her attention was now back on her essay. Kale sighed and then, deciding to be daring, he quickly wrote a reply and passed it back to Izzie.
OK, if you change your mind, just let me know. Anyway, once you’re done, how about we get the hell out of here? I’m sure you feel drained after your first day back and I sure as hell could do without going back to my house to find the paps still there … do you wanna maybe do something? I don’t mind what as long as it is away from school, photographers etc. etc. – I think you get the picture. What do you think? X
Izzie skimmed the note quickly; she really wanted to agree but she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. It sounded a bit like he was asking her on a date and, despite how she thought she felt, she decided it would be best if they remained friends; it would be less complicated that way. Although, there was the possibility that Izzie was getting way ahead of herself and that Kale was merely suggesting it innocently; perhaps he had no intention of making it a date. Ok, she really needed to stop overanalysing and just make a decision. Izzie didn’t over-think her reply, she just put pen to paper and kept it as brief as possible.
It’s a nice idea Kale, really, but I’m actually feeling pretty beat. I’m still not back to my normal self yet and I could do with the rest. Sorry, hope you’re not too bummed.
Kale inspected her reply and noticed she was looking at him apologetically so he tried not to look too disappointed; he shrugged and gestured that it didn’t matter. He felt rather stupid; Izzie had kept making it clear that she wanted to remain just friends – it shouldn’t have been such of a shock that she had refused his invitation. Kale vowed not to pester Izzie for something more again; he realised he was being cocky in thinking that she would actually want to have a relationship with him. Yes, they had kissed but it was only the one occasion when Izzie had been the first to initiate it and even then, she had made it clear at the hospital that she had regretted it and realised it was a mistake. Kale thought he must have been working in the film industry too long; this wasn’t a movie and there was no happy ending scripted; he would just have to accept that.
Izzie felt remorse when she noticed the flicker of disappointment that had passed over Kale’s face when he had finished reading her reply but she felt it was for the best. She really needed to sort out her feelings and decide how she really, genuinely felt about Kale. She was too confused to make drastic decisions that would either lead him on or lead to disastrous consequences; neither outcome led to a desirable or pleasant experience and Izzie really didn’t like those odds.
Chapter Twelve
When the dreaded Halloween Dance had managed to sneak up on Izzie; she found herself beginning to regret her decision in agreeing to go with Kale. She had successfully dodged him all day Friday; citing that she had to work as her excuse, but she knew she couldn’t avoid him forever. It was now 7.30pm and Kale had suggested they meet in the hall at 8pm; Izzie had been glad as it meant that it would be easier to avoid anymore stories appearing in the paper.
&nbs
p; She had been that distracted about sorting out her feelings for Kale; that she had left it until the last minute to sort out a costume. Yes, she had told Kale that Saturday that her costume was a surprise but that had been merely a piece of fiction; Izzie had no idea what she was going to dress up as. So, an hour earlier, Izzie found herself resorting to rifling through her mother’s wardrobe and eventually coming up with an old Shakespearian stage costume.
When Izzie had questioned her mother about it; Izzie had watched in amazement as her mother blushed and mumbled something about once playing ‘Juliet’ in a local production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. While Izzie was surprised at this revelation, she could not dwell on it as the clock on the kitchen wall told her she had precisely forty-five minutes to get ready.
Now, Izzie was about make her way to Hartside High when a frightening thought struck her; what if there were photographers lingering outside the school? She really didn’t want her picture to end up in the paper again, if she could help it, so Izzie decided there and then that she was going to disguise herself and that was how her plan of masquerading as a ghost had been born.
As she pulled into one of the few remaining empty parking spaces in the school car park, Izzie was amazed to find that her prediction had come true; photographers were swarming outside the entrance of the school. Izzie shook her head to herself and thanked her lucky stars that she had stuck the white sheet over her proper costume at the last minute. She got out of the car and made her way towards the front door, still nervous of the reporters, but adamant that they would not discover who was beneath the sheet. She managed to squeeze through and had her foot on the first step when one of the reporters tapped her on the shoulder. Izzie turned and squinted through the eye-holes in the sheet.
“Oi, ghostie … who lurks beneath the sheet? You ain’t Kale Eddison trying to pull a fast one, are you?”
Izzie smiled to herself and put on her girliest voice, “Not unless he’s decided to change into a girl.”
The reporter chuckled and she was relieved to see him turn away and say, “Alright girly, on ya go.”
Izzie reached the door and was relieved to be in such a safe haven … for now. She breathed deeply and made her way down the corridor where she could hear the faint strains of ‘Monster Mash’ being played. She opened the door and was met with a faceful of fake cobwebs, complete with plastic spiders. There were also some paper maché grave headstones lined around the edge of the hall and fake rats and bugs strewn across the fake webs. Izzie was amazed at how spooky the hall looked; as much as she hated to admit it, Stacey had done a good job and when it came to it, Izzie hoped that her effort for the Formal would be just as good.
Izzie glanced around at everybody’s different costumes and recognised a few familiar faces; Maddie was dressed as a witch – but quite a glamorous one – there was also Jake dressed as a zombie and Stacey dressed in what Izzie could only call underwear and a pair of bunny ears that were perched on the top of her head. Izzie shook her head and noticed, with relief, that some of the other costumes were quite normal-looking; there was a Cinderella and Prince Charming near the DJ Booth, Scooby Doo and Daphne dancing and even a Tom and Jerry near the food table! Perhaps her costume wouldn’t stick out too much since there were many others who lacked scariness. Izzie smiled to herself and made her way over to the drinks table – where Kale had told her to meet him – and managed to bump into another ghost.
“Whoops,” Izzie giggled, “sorry, can’t see out these damn holes.”
She heard the person beneath the sheet chuckle deeply and Izzie concluded that it was definitely a male person then.
“Looks like great minds think alike,” Kale’s voice came from underneath the white sheet.
Izzie gasped in shock and then laughed, “I should’ve known, very original idea Mr Eddison – a ghost; who would’ve thought! Though, I’ll admit I just threw this sheet on at the last minute so I could avoid the reporters. I’ve my proper costume on too.”
Kale laughed loudly, “Great minds think even more alike; that was my plan too and it worked perfectly. Oh, and I have something on under here also.”
Izzie feigned relief, “I’d like to think so Mr Eddison; if you were naked under there … well I shudder what to think if you removed your sheet – I, for one, would not hesitate in bolting for the door. That is something I could do without seeing, thank you very much.”
Kale laughed even louder, “You are a strange girl Izzie Frank, you know that? Ok, back to the matter at hand … how about we reveal our true costumes then?”
Izzie rolled her eyes but remembered that Kale would have a hard time seeing the gesture through such small holes and nodded her head instead. They both whipped the sheets off from over their heads, stuffed them under the table and straightened up to take each other’s costume in. Kale had a look of pleasant surprise on his face and Izzie stared at him in amazement … of all the costumes he could pick!
“So, ‘Juliet’ what are the odds of this happening? It is ‘Juliet’, right?” Kale smiled at her and Izzie nodded.
“Yeah,” she managed to say eventually, “it’s my mother’s; I never knew but she told me tonight that she played her once. Anyway, I can’t resist so I’ll go for it – ‘Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thy Romeo?’”
Kale chuckled and looked down at his outfit, “Guilty as charged; what can I say? It’s from a production I did a while back and it was the only thing I could find … so sue me.”
Izzie laughed, “I can’t believe we actually match and we didn’t even plan on it.”
Kale smirked, “I tell you; it’s fate. It happens once in a while.”
Izzie rolled her eyes, “Uh-huh, keep dreaming movie star. Now, can you dance as well as you act?”
Kale held out his hand which Izzie took and he lead her to the dance floor, just in time for ‘Thriller’. “Did my ears deceive me Ms Frank or did you just compliment me?”
Izzie scoffed, “Yeah, in your dreams. Now, come on, quit stalling; I haven’t seen you bust a move yet.”
Kale shook his head in disbelief, “And just when I was starting to think you were beginning to be nice to me! Well, rest assured; that illusion is now shattered … now, give me some room so I can show you what I got.”
Izzie took a step back and watched in amusement as Kale broke into a hilarious ‘zombie dance’ routine. Many others turned to watch this comical display and soon - to Izzie’s astonishment – Kale was leading everyone in his funky moves. As the song ended, everyone clapped and then broke off into little groups again while Izzie shook her head in amazement.
“Well, Mr Eddison, colour me shocked; I didn’t know you could dance so badly or that you could lead a mass of people to actually follow your bad example.”
Kale chuckled, “Don’t lie, you loved it.”
Izzie rolled her eyes again and hit him playfully on the arm, “Yeah, yeah, how’d you guess?”
Kale smiled at her and they made their way back to the refreshments table where Kale helped himself to some fruit punch.
“So,” Izzie began, “what do you think of your first high school dance?”
Kale looked around and then met her gaze again, “Definitely interesting but, I have to say, the company makes it a little more bearable for me.”
Izzie threw him a look and he knew to avoid that kind of talk for the rest of the night; he had to behave himself, as difficult as that might be.
“Sorry,” he apologised to Izzie, “I’m determined to mess things up again, aren’t I?”
Izzie smiled at him, “Don’t worry; let’s just enjoy ourselves tonight, yeah?”
Kale nodded in agreement and pulled her onto the dance floor again. Izzie laughed and joined him in his mad dancing until the DJ cut the music halfway through the song.
“Sorry to stop the party folks but it’s time to announce the winners of the best costumes. Ms Belson, Mr Rowntree … could you guys please come up and put us out of our misery?”
Everyon
e laughed but Izzie turned to Kale, “I didn’t know it was a competition, did you?”
Kale gave her a funny look, “Hello? I’m the guy who’s new to all this … was there not meant to be?”
Izzie shrugged, “Not usually; it must’ve been Stacey’s idea. The teachers must’ve been judging us all night.”
Kale nodded and gestured to the stage; Ms Belson and Mr Rowntree had now taken their place near the microphone, “Who do you reckon then?”
Izzie smirked, “Please, you know your number one fan will choose you. Dunno who will win the female one … probably Stacey if it was her idea; she’s bound to have fixed it so that she would win.”
Kale chuckled, “We’re about to find out … wanna bet on it?” A mischievous glint shone in his baby blue eyes.
Izzie smirked, “I’ll win and you know it. What are the terms?”
Kale grinned cheekily, “Dinner again?”
Izzie vehemently shook her head, “Uh, no way … look what happened last time. Try again.”
Kale thought for a moment, “Ok, what about a movie? Winner picks the film and loser pays?”
Izzie nodded, “You’re on. Ok, so who do you think will win?”
Kale was about to answer when Ms Belson stepped up to the microphone first and started to say, “The winner for best male costume is …”
“Whoops, looks like I’m too late.” Kale smiled, “Let’s just make it that I think you’ll win best female.”
Izzie agreed as she knew there would be a snowball’s chance in Hell of her winning and it looked like she was going to win the bet since, when they both returned their attention to the stage, it was just in time for Ms Belson to declare, “Kale Eddison … come on up and collect your prize. Give a big hand to our best male costume winner.”
... not in love with Kale Eddison Page 12
