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  ‘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.

  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.