Dismissed Read online

  ‘Yeah, OK.’

  Lizzie turned around and walked back down the stairs with him. They stopped at the bottom step and sat facing the river.

  ‘So tell me what I did to ruin your birthday.’

  ‘You told Jason about Taylor thinking she was pregnant.’

  ‘Ah. Right. Yes, of course.’

  ‘How come he said something now? You found out weeks ago.’

  ‘Well I didn’t mention the pregnancy at first. I thought I could try and reason with him about how dangerous it was for me to have a student at my place all the time. And he promised that he had already stopped seeing her, so I naively believed him. Then tonight I heard him talking to her on the phone, so when he hung up, I confronted him and we argued. I may have accidentally said something like what if she’s pregnant? And Jason went nuts, demanding to know why I would say something like that. I was so mad that I didn’t answer when he asked if it was true.’

  ‘Oh Brandon. That was kind of dumb.’

  ‘It didn’t occur to me until afterwards that it might get you in trouble. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘It’s OK. Taylor’s been a complete nightmare lately anyway. Do you want to know what she made me do tonight for my birthday?’

  ‘Let me guess. She made you go to one of those life art classes where you paint a nude model?’

  ‘That’s kind of an obscure thing to say. But it’s actually close.’

  ‘No! Really?’

  ‘She booked us an evening on Abs Afloat.’

  Brandon cracked up. ‘I should have guessed.’

  ‘It was awful.’ She then explained the events of the cruise.

  ‘Oh God, Lizzie. I can’t imagine a worse way to spend your birthday. I do apologise for my part in ruining it.’

  He looked at his watch again.

  ‘Hang on a second.’ He jumped up and bolted up the stairs.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘You’ll see. Wait right there!’

  Lizzie sat there, confused. What was he doing?

  The minutes ticked by and she worried that he wouldn’t be back in time to catch his city cat.

  Just as she was about to give up and leave, he returned, puffing.

  ‘What was that all about?’ she asked.

  ‘Here. Happy birthday.’ He handed her a chocolate muffin with a single lit candle in the top.

  Lizzie felt her eyes welling up. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

  ‘I’m sorry it’s not fancier. The only place open was the 7-Eleven.’

  ‘It’s perfect,’ she said, tears threatening to spill over.

  ‘I’m not finished yet.’ He cleared his throat and began to sing Happy Birthday. It was the most melodic rendition Lizzie had ever heard. How did he make such an ordinary song sound so romantic?

  Was it possible that…? She couldn’t even finish the thought.

  The city cat glided up to the jetty, and Brandon looked at it regretfully.

  ‘I have to go. But I hope the rest of your weekend is better than tonight.’

  Lizzie leaned over and gave him a hug. Brandon seemed to freeze for a moment before he hugged her back. When he pulled away, Lizzie thought she heard him let out a small sigh.

  ‘I’ll see you Monday,’ he said softly, and jogged away.

  Lizzie blew out the candle on her muffin and made a wish.

  But it probably wouldn’t come true.

  ***

  Lizzie tried calling and texting Taylor on Sunday, but she wouldn’t answer. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to be friends with her anymore, but she didn’t want her to be mad. And she wanted to explain that she hadn’t actively gone and told Brandon about the pregnancy scare.

  She couldn’t even get in touch with Zoe. Lizzie hoped that she didn’t think she’d ditched her on purpose.

  The only person who seemed to give her the time of day was Gabe. He showed up at ten that morning and stayed for a late breakfast. Lizzie made him blueberry pancakes.

  After she regaled him with the events of the evening, minus running into Brandon, Gabe shook his head.

  ‘That sucks, Lizzie. I’m sorry, but Taylor is a freaking bitch. Please never talk to her again.’

  ‘I don’t think I will. So what happened with you last night?’

  ‘Oh, I hung around in the Brunswick Street Mall for an hour waiting for you and then went home to bed. I must have put my phone on silent out of habit, otherwise I would have heard your call. Sorry babe.’

  ‘No, I’m sorry. That would have been annoying, waiting around the Valley all that time.’

  ‘It’s OK. Now that I know what happened, I’m not upset. Well, only at Taylor. Anyway, how can we make today amazing? Maybe go to Mount Coot-tha? Or see a Gold Class movie?’

  ‘Oh that’s lovely, but we don’t have to go all out.’

  ‘That’s not going all out. Going all out would be taking you to Sydney for the weekend and staying at the Marriott at Circular Quay. Which I may or may not be organising for our one year anniversary.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘I was thinking about it.’

  ‘That’s crazy!’

  ‘It’s not that crazy.’

  ‘It’s pretty over the top.’

  ‘Well, we don’t have to. But I thought it might be nice.’

  ‘Thank you for being such a great boyfriend. Most of the time,’ she said, teasing.

  ‘I try,’ he said, winking. ‘Please tell me that yesterday morning was fun at least.’

  ‘It was alright. Dad gave me a card promising to pay for flights if I want to travel overseas next year.’

  ‘Oh wow. That’s great. Is that something you want to do?’

  ‘I haven’t decided yet. But maybe. Are your parents still on at you to go to the States?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said glumly. ‘But I’m not going to.’

  ‘I don’t want to be the only thing stopping you.’

  ‘It’s not just you, even though I admit you’re a big consideration. But all my friends are here as well. And it’s the principle of the thing. I want to be able to make my own decisions.’

  ‘If I was the only reason, then you should probably go.’

  He looked at her, hurt. ‘You don’t think we can make it past the end of the year?’

  ‘Of course we could. But if there’s any part of you that wants to go overseas, it’s totally fine. Everything works out the way it should.’

  ‘I don’t want to leave, Lizzie. I told you, I want to stay here and do stand-up.’

  ‘I think they have stand-up in the States.’

  ‘Ha ha. Yes, I know they have stand-up in the States, but I don’t want to go straight into competing with people in New York or LA. That’d be a really tough gig.’

  ‘I have faith that you’d make it.’

  ‘Lizzie, you are so optimistic. But I love you for it.’

  ‘Do you think it’s weird that I haven’t met your parents yet?’

  ‘No. I never introduce anyone if I can help it.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘They’re not very nice.’

  ‘That’s a strange thing to say about your own parents.’

  ‘Well they’re not. Dad is a grumpy closet alcoholic, and Mum is all about image. You can’t have a conversation with her that even remotely involves feelings or anything serious. Between the two of them, it’s a pretty horrible family to live in. My Aunt Gayle is the only one who keeps me sane, and she’s overseas at the moment, otherwise I’d take you to visit her.’

  ‘Surely your parents want you to be happy?’

  ‘Nope. It’s definitely about showing off with them. Even in my freaking love life…’ he stopped himself, realising what he’d just said.

  ‘What do you mean? What have your parents said about your love life?’

  ‘Nothing. They just want me to end up with someone they think is suitable.’

  ‘You should introduce me! They’ll see that I’m suitable.’

  ‘It’s not tha
t, Lizzie. You are perfect. But I don’t want to talk about it anymore.’

  ‘You can’t say something like that and then just cut the conversation short. Why won’t they think I’m suitable?’ Then it dawned on her.

  ‘It’s because it’s just my dad and I, and we’re not rich, isn’t it?’

  ‘Lizzie, that’s my parents, not me. I don’t care about money.’

  ‘So have they got someone else lined up for you?’

  ‘Don’t be silly. We shouldn’t be talking like this on today of all days. Let’s just enjoy ourselves. Anyway, as soon as I turn eighteen I can ditch my parents and not have to answer to any of their crap again.’

  Lizzie was quiet. She knew that was probably a lie, but she didn’t want to stir things up any further. She was too exhausted after last night. Not to mention she was feeling a tiny bit guilty about her chat with Brandon.

  ‘OK,’ she said brightly. ‘How about a walk in the Botanical Gardens?’

  ‘Great,’ he beamed. ‘I’ll call Jacques.’

  CHAPTER 20

  Lizzie knew something was wrong when she showed up at school the next morning. As she walked from the front gate to her locker, a few people gave her funny looks. At first she was worried that she had dried food on her face, or that she had toilet paper stuck to her shoe, but it soon became clear that it was nothing like that at all.

  Taylor, Heather and Cara turned and ran away as soon as they saw her. Lizzie shrugged and dropped off her bag.

  Then she saw Zoe.

  ‘Zoe! I’ve been meaning to talk to you…’

  Zoe gave her a dirty look. ‘Don’t even bother.’ She hurried off and caught up to Taylor, Heather and Cara.

  God. What must have they told her for that reaction? That was a little unfair.

  She spotted Josh and gave him a small wave. They hadn’t talked much this year, but because he was friends with Gabe, she’d occasionally said hello and chatted to him about school work.

  He looked at her, seemingly unsure whether to walk away as well.

  ‘Wait,’ she called. ‘Can you please tell me what exactly is going on this morning?’

  He hesitated. ‘Gabe’s probably not going to be very impressed when he finds out.’

  ‘Finds out what?’

  Josh held up his phone. On the screen was the photo of Lizzie and Jason from the first night he hooked up with Taylor. Lizzie still felt disgusted when she thought about his offer to have a threesome. The problem was, this photo didn’t look like it was Jason making a sleazy joke. It looked like it was Brandon about to kiss Lizzie.

  She gasped. ‘How did you get this?’

  ‘Everyone’s been texting it around all morning.’

  ‘Shit. That isn’t what it looks like.’

  ‘Ha. That’s what they all say.’ He spied Gabe in the distance and quickly shoved the phone in his pocket. ‘You’ll have to explain that to him.’ He then walked off.

  Lizzie turned around. Gabe looked furious.

  Damn. He’d already seen it.

  ‘Please let me explain,’ Lizzie said as he approached.

  ‘I don’t think you can talk your way out of this one,’ Gabe said bitterly.

  ‘Come on, please. Give me a chance,’ she begged.

  ‘OK. Tell me your side.’

  ‘For a start, that’s Jason, not Brandon.’

  ‘Not really helping.’

  ‘It was from the night Taylor hooked up with him. Not me.’

  ‘What were you doing so close to him?’

  ‘He was trying to get me to have a threesome with him and Taylor!’ she said exasperated, and then realised that probably wouldn’t help the situation either.

  He laughed in disbelief.

  ‘So you said no, but then hung around in the apartment anyway.’

  ‘What was I supposed to have done? I have a curfew! If I don’t get home before midnight, I can’t go home until the next day!’

  His face turned to stone.

  ‘So what did you do Lizzie? You told me you left soon afterwards.’

  Lizzie’s face flamed.

  She didn’t know what to say.

  ‘I knew it,’ he said softly. ‘Sorry, but I can’t do this.’

  He stalked away.

  Lizzie started crying.

  At that moment, Brandon walked past. ‘Lizzie, is everything OK?’

  ‘No. And I think you’re about to be in a lot of trouble.’

  He paled. ‘How much trouble?’

  ‘Stuff that’s probably going to take a fair bit of explaining.’

  He breathed in shakily. ‘Alright. Fill me in on exactly what people know, or think they know, and I’ll go talk to Sam Jenkins. I think it’s best to deal with this thing pre-emptively.’

  Lizzie told him.

  ‘OK, so no one saw us the other night at Eagle Street? I’m just wondering, because I don’t want to have to deal with that too.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘You’re sure?’

  ‘Not one hundred percent, but I think Taylor would have used that against me if she knew.’

  ‘Are you going to be alright?’

  ‘Yeah. I think Gabe just broke up with me though, so that’s going to take a while to process.’

  He looked pained. ‘I’ll do whatever I can to sort this out. In the meantime, let me know if things get too crazy.’

  ‘Thank you. And if you need me to talk to Mr Jenkins to clarify anything, I’ll be happy to do that too.’

  He nodded grimly and went up to the office. Lizzie stood there staring into space. She wondered if she could do home-schooling for the last couple of months of Year Twelve. It was certainly tempting to run away.

  But she wasn’t a quitter. She would get through this.

  ***

  It was a rough morning. No one wanted to talk to her. Taylor had done a great job of isolating her from everyone. And because Gabe was so well liked, those who weren’t keen on Taylor but were friends with Gabe also avoided her.

  Lizzie concentrated on her school work as best as possible, but at the end of second period, she got a call to go up to the office.

  When she arrived, she found Brandon sitting in front of Mr Jenkins.

  ‘Come in please Lizzie,’ Mr Jenkins said, gesturing for her to sit in a seat beside Brandon.

  Lizzie nervously sat down. She didn’t dare make eye contact with Brandon.

  ‘I understand there’s been a bit of a situation,’ he began.

  ‘Yes, but it involved Taylor and Brandon’s, I mean Mr Thomas’ brother Jason,’ she explained.

  ‘So I’ve heard. And naturally I knew that Mr Thomas had a twin brother, so I believe that it is he in the photo and not Brandon.’

  Lizzie relaxed a little. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘However, the fact that you and Taylor were in his apartment is quite worrying.’

  ‘I know. But Mr Thomas and I were very much against it. We tried to stop Taylor from going home with Jason, but when we couldn’t, I thought it would be best if I went too, so I could keep an eye on her.’

  ‘Very well. Look, I don’t know how I’m going to deal with this if parents start asking questions, but I strongly suggest the pair of you keep your distance. Lizzie, Mr Thomas has requested a transfer to another school, but it might be several weeks before this happens. So I’m putting you in a different English class for the remainder of the year.’

  ‘That’s fine,’ Lizzie said quietly.

  ‘And Mr Thomas, I recommend that if you are unable to control your brother’s behaviour, you find somewhere else to live. Alone.’

  ‘Already happening,’ Brandon promised.

  ‘Ms White, could you please send Ms Walsh up to see me when you return to class?’

  ‘No problem.’

  ‘Dismissed,’ he said, and returned to typing something on his computer.

  Lizzie hurried out.

  Brandon followed.

  ‘Lizzie,’ he called. ‘Thanks for tha
t.’

  ‘It’s OK. So you’re leaving, huh?’

  ‘Yeah. I think it’s best if I start over somewhere else next year. Even if my name is cleared here, the rumours will persist.’

  ‘I hope Mr Jenkins punishes Taylor.’

  ‘I suppose he could suspend her. But she didn’t technically do anything wrong.’

  ‘She almost ruined your career!’

  ‘It doesn’t matter now. I should never have allowed the two of you to come back to my apartment. I’ll be lucky if the Department of Education doesn’t kick me out.’

  ‘I’m sorry for everything.’

  ‘Don’t be. It’s all in the past.’

  ‘So I guess I won’t really see you again.’

  ‘Only around the school grounds, but then we probably won’t be able to talk to each other.’

  ‘That’s crap,’ Lizzie said. ‘We did nothing wrong.’

  ‘I know,’ he said. ‘But that’s just the way things are.’

  Lizzie walked away, trying not to let Brandon see how sad she was.

  Life was so cruel.

  CHAPTER 21

  In the end, Taylor ended up getting suspended for three days. She didn’t seem to care though, bragging about all the shopping she did and all the day spas she visited on her time off.

  But when she returned, she resumed her war on Lizzie.

  Lizzie was automatically excluded from any further formal or after-party planning, and even from actually attending the after-party. Lizzie wondered if it would still be at Gabe’s house. Then one afternoon, she saw him talking and laughing with the four girls, so she assumed they must have come to an arrangement. It seemed quite odd, considering how much he had said he disliked most of them. Lizzie was kind of mad that he didn’t look as though he was standing by his convictions. But then she’d discovered he’d been a bit of a contradiction in a lot of ways. He was such a goofball around his guy friends, yet fairly serious, and almost conservative around her. And when they had talked about his family, he was like a petulant toddler. Plus, while he always seemed like such an honest person, he’d lied and then basically avoided talking to her about CC.

  Lizzie decided that not only did she not want to go to the after-party, she didn’t want to go to the formal either. Why subject herself to watching a whole bunch of people who hated her having a good time?