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  ‘Yeah, Lizzie. How come we’ve never hung out with Gabe until now?’ Taylor asked accusingly as she swam up to the edge of the pool and rested her chin on her hands.

  Typical, thought Lizzie. Just because the guy has a nice house…

  ‘I don’t know. You always just seemed to hang out with a different crowd.’

  ‘I guess that’s true. I don’t really talk to many of the chicks at our school. To be honest, I think most of them are bitches.’ He looked in Taylor’s direction as he said this, but she didn't seem to notice. Lizzie did.

  ‘I think you just need to give them a chance. They can all be nice if you get them in the right situation.’

  ‘Except Heather,’ Taylor chimed in. ‘She really is a bitch.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Lizzie admitted. ‘Don’t even bother with her.’

  Nick and Josh were sitting quietly, listening to their conversation.

  ‘At least you have girls at your school,’ Nick said. ‘My last one was all guys and it sucked. We got like one dance with our sister school maybe two or three times a year and that was it.’

  Gabe shuddered. ‘I wouldn’t be able to handle that.’

  ‘I couldn’t either, which is why I begged my parents to move me.’

  ‘What about you, Josh?’ Lizzie asked. ‘Why did you change schools?’

  ‘My dad got a really good job offer, so we relocated from Cairns. I didn't want to come, but I didn’t have a choice.’

  ‘I can't wait until next year when I can do whatever I want,’ Gabe said, looking around. ‘Having all that freedom is going to be amazing.’

  ‘Yeah, but then you’ll probably go to uni, and if you move out, you’ll have to work somewhere to support yourself at the same time,’ Lizzie pointed out.

  ‘Mum and Dad have already offered to cover my rent if I go to uni.’

  ‘That's generous of them,’ Lizzie said enviously. ‘I’m sure I’ll be working at McDonald’s for at least the next three years. And even if I stay at home, I’ll still have to pay board.’

  ‘What about you, Taylor?’ Gabe asked. ‘What are your plans for next year?’

  ‘I don't know yet,’ she said vaguely. ‘I might go overseas and take a gap year in the UK.’

  ‘That’d be cool,’ Gabe said.

  ‘I didn’t know you were thinking of doing that,’ Lizzie said, surprised.

  Taylor looked at her, annoyed. ‘I only decided recently.’

  Lizzie wondered if Taylor was just trying to impress Gabe because of his obvious wealth.

  ‘Hey, I want to show you guys something,’ Gabe said to Josh and Nick, pointing inside. ‘Girls, I’ll be back in a minute.’

  Lizzie nodded and leaned back in the sun lounger, sipping her water.

  Taylor pushed herself backwards into the water and flipped gracefully like a mermaid.

  Lizzie almost regretted bringing her along this afternoon. She’d felt herself getting more and more frustrated by Taylor lately. Especially over summer, when everything seemed to revolve around her. Lizzie was beginning to feel like Taylor’s chauffeur, picking her up almost every day and driving her to the shops, or out to lunch. Taylor had even insisted on four separate trips to the Gold Coast so they could go to each of the theme parks. Lizzie suspected that Taylor saw her as the ‘ugly friend’ to make herself look better when she approached cute guys. If she didn’t start being a little less selfish soon, Lizzie was going to have to reassess their relationship.

  She hadn’t been joking before when she’d said that Taylor only liked her for her car. But then Taylor did have moments where she could be really nice. And in a strange way, Lizzie craved her approval. Possibly because she was the only person that Taylor had consistently come back to time and again. They had known each other since the beginning of high school, and they had a lot of history together.

  Gabe came back out alone, but he was carrying a towel for Taylor.

  ‘I just set the guys up with this new gaming system I bought,’ he explained.

  ‘Oh right,’ Lizzie said, wondering what that was all about.

  ‘Hey Taylor. My mum is doing a wardrobe clean out, so do you want to see if there’s anything you’d like? She has a whole bunch of designer shoes and handbags. I’m sure she’d be fine with you taking some of them.’

  Taylor stopped swimming and looked at him, eyes round.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Great!’ She breast-stroked over to the ladder and climbed out. ‘Lead the way!’

  Taylor grabbed the towel Gabe held out for her and followed him inside. Lizzie trailed after them. She wondered why Gabe was making the offer to Taylor and not her. Maybe he’d had a change of heart while he was setting up the computer. Had Josh and Nick warned him off her? Or more likely, convinced him that Taylor was the better choice?

  She was a bit disappointed. But she should have expected as much. It was always like this. Taylor got everything she wanted, even though she had the attention span of a goldfish.

  Then she felt bad for being so uncharitable towards her friend. She really needed to be more compassionate and understanding. It didn’t pay to be jealous.

  She pasted on a smile and continued down the hall, where Gabe directed Taylor into a walk-in robe the size of Lizzie’s whole bedroom. It was like in the movies, with row upon row of gowns hanging in garment protectors, and custom shelves for all the shoes. The wall on the right was filled with dozens of handbags, all very new and expensive looking. Taylor was clearly in fashion heaven. She raced over to the shoes and inspected them closely.

  ‘Which ones are being thrown away?’ she asked. She pulled out a pair of metallic heels with gold studs over the toe. ‘These?’

  ‘I think so. Just try them on and see if they fit.’

  ‘These are Gucci!’ Taylor squeaked to Lizzie.

  Lizzie thought Taylor looked a bit like a vulture picking over a carcass. She sat down on a velvet covered ottoman in the middle of the room and watched as Taylor slid them onto her feet.

  ‘I just have to quickly check something,’ Gabe said apologetically to Taylor. ‘But you keep going. I won’t be long.’

  Taylor was barely paying attention. ‘Sure.’

  Gabe started to leave the wardrobe but then grabbed Lizzie’s hand on the way out and pulled her along with him.

  She almost gasped at the unexpectedness of the gesture. With his other hand, he put a finger to his lips. She smiled.

  ‘I have to text my dad,’ Lizzie said to Taylor. ‘I’m just going to get my phone.’

  ‘Whatever.’ Taylor was staring at her feet in the mirror, mesmerised by the designer heels.

  Gabe picked up speed, and Lizzie had to run to keep up. They veered off into a bedroom, with Gabe dragging her in and gently closing the door behind them.

  ‘What’s going…’ Lizzie started to ask before Gabe pushed her back against the wall and pressed his lips to hers.

  She was caught off guard, but in the best way possible. Gabe’s mouth was warm and soft. He was clearly an experienced kisser. Lizzie was impressed, having assumed that Gabe’s jokey personality translated into someone who would be awkward romantically. How wrong she was.

  Gabe moved his lips away from hers and feathered tiny kisses down her neck, turning her skin all goose-bumpy. She leaned her head back and sighed.

  After a moment, he came back and planted one last firm kiss on her mouth before stepping back and grinning, pleased with himself.

  ‘Ah, Lizzie. You are so, so amazing. Will you be my girlfriend?’

  Lizzie giggled, touched by the cute way he was trying to impress her.

  ‘Were you just setting up distractions for everyone else so you could do this?’

  ‘Well I wasn’t going to risk publically crashing and burning if you turned me down.’

  ‘Is your mum really having a wardrobe clean out?’

  ‘Nope. But she doesn’t keep track of her stuff. Especially if it’s out of season. I’
ll just give Taylor something from 2012.’

  ‘Cool. Well to get back to your question, yes. I would love to be your girlfriend. I think you’re pretty amazing too.’

  He beamed and hugged her tightly.

  ‘I wish I’d done this last year.’

  ‘Yeah but you got way hotter over the summer. If you had tried to hook up with me last year, I might have rejected you,’ she joked.

  ‘Touché.’

  ‘Should we get back to Taylor and the guys?’

  ‘I guess,’ he said regretfully. ‘I would prefer to keep you here in my bedroom all afternoon so we can make out, but I probably wouldn’t be a very good host if I did.’

  ‘There’ll be more than enough time for that later,’ she assured him. ‘But just quickly, I have to do this again.’ She pulled his face in close to hers and softly but assertively kissed his lips. She let her tongue venture into his mouth for a split second.

  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.’