Mrs Robson was extremely late. Twenty minutes after the beginning of the lesson, and there was still no sight of a single piece of multi coloured attire, let alone the eccentric teacher.
Kael shifted in his chair. Used to teachers who all wore impeccable suits and would have never even dreamed of arriving to a lesson late, Mrs Robson was certainly out of the ordinary. Isis didn’t look unsurprised, instead reading through her script with the sort of avid concentration he’d come to expect of her. Her tongue was just peeking out from between her lips as she read, her brows tightened into a slight frown as she attempted to commit the words to memory.
‘Alright there?’ Kael asked, unable to help himself. Well, perhaps he was helping himself; the tongue was giving him thoughts he’d rather not repeat, and he was hoping she’d put it away, out of sight.
Isis looked up, and looked at him blankly, her eyes refocusing as she adjusted to being back in the real world, not in 14th Century Verona. ‘Oh,’ she said, suddenly. ‘Sorry? What did you say?’
He grinned. ‘Are you alright there?’
Isis looked puzzled, clearly wondering why he’d disturbed her for such an inconsequential question. ‘Er, yes, I’m fine. Are you?’
He nodded. ‘Is Mrs Robson often this late?’
Smiling ruefully, Isis nodded. ‘Yeah, she tends to forget lessons.‘ She tilted her head, and grinned. ‘Or she’ll get distracted by something and forget everything altogether.’
‘Really?’ Kael wasn’t surprised to hear that, when he came to think of it. ‘Distracted by what?’
Isis chuckled. ‘I once came across her staring at a poster of Barack Obama in the Politics department,’ she admitted. ‘She was just gazing at it, like she was in a trance.’ She demonstrated, letting her eyes glaze over, and staring dully at the space in front of her. ‘When I tapped her on the shoulder to see if she was okay, she snapped out of it and told me she was likening politicians to Shakespeare characters in her mind.’
Kael snorted. ‘Did you ask her which politicians?’
‘Of course!’ Isis replied. ‘She said she couldn’t possibly tell me, and swanned off.’ She paused, then let out a little laugh. ‘Quite literally swanned off, actually; she was wearing what looked like a swan feather cape.’
Kael laughed. ‘Doesn’t surprise me.’ He shook his head in wonder. ‘She really is something else, isn’t she?’
‘Not what you’re used to?’ Isis inquired, moving the script from her lap. Rather surprised, Kael took this as an enormous compliment- not much could part Isis from her precious script.
‘Well, yeah. It is pretty different here.’
Isis shrugged. ‘It was bound to be, I guess. But what ways in particular?’
‘The people,’ he replied. ‘They’re just very… well, different.’
Isis bit her bottom lip and smiled at the same time, in a way that caught Kael’s eye, and refused to let it go. He found himself gazing at her lips. ‘You’re all polo players who discuss the finer points of philosophy, are you?’ she asked.
Kael laughed. ‘Oh no, not at all. The majority of my friends were the same as the majority of the lot here: interested in partying and girls.’ He paused. ‘They were more likely to be writing something highly original on each other’s work- usually penis-face or something- to be having a deep conversation.’
‘That does sound familiar,’ she replied, wrinkling her nose. Kael found himself fascinated by the way the small lines crinkled her nose, making a few of her freckles vanish into them. ‘Maturity doesn’t vary between the classes, then?’
‘You could put it like that.’ Kael wasn’t used to this. He didn’t seem to be able to pull off his usual witty banter- her every action, no matter how slight, seemed to turn his mind into a quivering pile of mush.
Isis tilted her head, reminding him of an inquisitive kitten. The effect was rather adorable. ‘You don’t have a posh accent either,’ she commented, after finishing her consideration of him.
‘You expected me to talk like Prince Charles, did you?’
‘Something like that.’ Her eyes widened. ‘I’m not offending you, am I?’ she asked, more curious than apologetic. ‘I don’t mean to be rude, I’m er, just-’
‘Inquisitive,’ he supplied. ‘Nah, don’t worry about it, Isis. I don’t mind.’ Isis. If he remembered rightly, this was the first time he’d actually said her name. Isis. He liked it. It fitted well in his mouth. Just like hers probably would, should he ever get the opportunity… what the hell?! How had he gone from her name to kissing? Kael was feeling more and more flustered with every word she spoke.
‘My dad always used to say I was like Alice in Wonderland,’ Isis replied. ‘Too curious for my own…’ she paused, her voice suddenly going flat. She gulped. ‘For my own good,’ she finished.
Kael itched to ask her what was wrong, but something in her expression told him that wouldn’t be a good idea.
Steering away from the topic of parents, seeing as he didn’t want to be reminded of his own, he cast around, looking for a comment he could make that wouldn’t be awkward. One that would be impressive. Impressive? Fat chance.
‘Curiouser and curiouser, cried Alice,’ he settled for, and immediately cursed himself. Could his brain really not come up with anything more impressive than quoting Alice In Wonderland?! Boys like him weren’t supposed to quote Lewis Carroll when talking to a girl they were lusting after. Lusting after Isis? Was he really?
Isis folded her arms, her eyebrows raised. Kael noticed the way that this made her, er, chest area swell and began to feel the blood rush to his own areas. Yep. Lusting. Bloody hell. ‘You are different!’ she pronounced, with an air of triumph about her.
‘Huh?’ Still disconcerted by the fact that he was lusting after someone who had covered her body with enough material to construct a small tent, it took Kael a while to understand what she meant.
‘You’re different,’ she repeated. ‘You wouldn’t find boys in this school quoting Alice In Wonderland, Kael!’
Kael’s eyes were fixated on her lips, intently focused on the way that she formed the two short syllables that made up his name. It made him feel dizzy headed.
‘Kael?’ she repeated. Oh crap, he was still staring at her lips. He tore his eyes away from her mouth. He was turning into some sort of hormonal wreck! This wasn’t funny anymore (not that it had ever been remotely amusing in the first place) and now, it was just plain confusing.
Around them, people were starting to leave, heading off to take a free period seeing as their teacher was nowhere in sight. With a grunt that he hoped would do for a reply, he got up quickly, and removed himself from the classroom before Isis could do anything more to his hormones. Pissed off with himself, and pissed off with her for being so unintentionally bloody seductive, he stomped his feet almost loud enough to drown out Isis’ innocently spoken question as he left: ‘Was it something I said?’
*
Charming, thought Isis. She wasn’t precisely sure what it was that she’d done wrong: as far as she knew, she’d just been having a nice chat with him (nice, chat and Kael didn’t seem to often go in the same sentence, but it actually had been nice), when suddenly, out of the blue, he’d vanished. Pathetic.
Perhaps her comment about him quoting Alice In Wonderland had pissed him off. But she didn’t mean it like that, and- well, she was just rather confused.
Sighing, she returned to her script. She had no idea what to think of Kael, and no idea what he thought of her, but he seemed to be bipolar, from what she knew of him so far. Swinging from friendliness to thirteen year old boy struggling through puberty in mere seconds, she wondered which side was really him. She hoped it wasn’t the grouchy side.
‘Isis!’ Snapping her head up, Isis smiled as she saw Lydia there, grinning happily. ‘Gorgeous, you can’t sit there alone on such a beautiful day!’
Isis looked dubiously out of the window. The sky was dark and grey, rain threatening to pour from the looming clouds. ‘Beautiful?’ she repeated uncertainly. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course it’s a beautiful day!’ Lydia trilled, sitting down with enthusiasm. ‘It’s beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.’
Isis couldn’t help but smile. ‘Is there a reason for this happiness, Lyds?’ she asked. Though only having known Lydia for an extremely short amount of time, she felt as if she’d known her forever. There was something extremely lovable about the girl, and the way that she positively bounced through life with a permanent spring in her step.
‘Oh, nothing much,’ Lydia said, casually. ‘Except from that I’m playing the Nurse and my boyfriend dumped me!’
Silence. Isis regarded the girl before her with a frown. Either she’d heard her wrong, or something was quite wrong with her new friend. ‘Uh, sorry?’
‘My boyfriend broke up with me!’ Lydia repeated joyously. ‘Oh happy day!’
Nope, Isis had definitely heard her correctly. ‘Right. And you’re happy because…?’
‘Oh Is, I’ve been trying to man up enough to dump him for weeks now!’ Lydia sat up straighter in her chair, flicking her dark hair behind one shoulder. ‘He’s saved me the hassle, thank goodness.’
‘You wanted him to dump you?’
‘Yes! Oh yes, yes, yes! I thought perhaps dodging out of the way every time he moved to kiss me might give him the signal, and it looks like that worked.’ Lydia sighed contentedly. ‘Thank goodness.’
‘Why?’
‘Isis, that boy is actually barely more interesting than a paperclip. In fact, he might well be less interesting than a paperclip- at least you can get paperclips in various colours, and you can always attach them together to make a little chain of paperclips if you want to, and-’ She paused. ‘What was I talking about, again?’
‘Your boyfriend,’ Isis reminded her, helpful as always.
‘Oh. Yes.’ Lydia smiled. ‘I’m a coward, you see,’ she continued. ‘I don’t ask people out, I don’t break up with people. So I’ve ended up being with him for the past four months, and I just don’t have a clue how I put up with it!’ She stretched out her arms, and slumped in her chair. ‘Finally, I’m free!’
Isis didn’t really know what to say. ‘Well. Congratulations, I suppose.’
Lydia laughed. ‘Well, thank you, I suppose back!’ She turned to look at her intently, all of a sudden. ‘What happened with Kael, by the way?’ she asked. ‘He looked rather bedazzled by you.’
‘Bedazzled?!’ Isis choked. ‘What on earth do you mean?’
‘The way he was looking at you!’ Lydia clarified. ‘Did you not see the lust in his eyes, woman?’
‘Lust?!’ Isis repeated.
‘Stop repeating me!’ Lydia swatted her with a rolled up script. ‘Yes, lust, you daft ninny. He was eyeing you with a rather eager look on his face.’
Isis snorted. ‘Don’t make me laugh, Lydia.’
‘I’m not joking!’ Lydia protested. ‘Are you blind? He was so eager-’
‘Lydia, you are officially talking nonsense,’ Isis told her sternly. ‘Have you not noticed I’m not revealing any parts of my body for him to lust after?’
Lydia tipped her head to one side, inspecting Isis’ choice of attire. ‘Mm, maybe he used his imagination? But he was definitely looking at your lips, I assure you.’
‘Oh.’ Isis felt rather puzzled. ‘I thought I had some sort of spot on my chin.’
Lydia looked triumphant. ‘Isis, you have an admirer!’ she crowed victoriously. ‘And he’s hot, too!’
‘He is not an admirer!’ protested Isis, flushing. ‘He probably has a girlfriend… and this is all nonsense, Lyds, and you know it.’
Lydia’s expression seemed to dare her to argue with her. ‘He’s interested in you!’ She smiled, devilishly. ‘Mark my words, gorgeous,’ she said, with the slow precision of someone who firmly believes that they’re telling the truth, ‘mark my words.’
*
Heading out into the cold, wintry air, Kael pulled the hood of his expensive designer jacket up around his head, wincing as his breath clouded around his face. It was freezing. But he supposed it was probably for the best- almost the same as having a cold shower, which he definitely could have used.
He was in a terrible mood. Usually, a walk to clear his head would have helped, but he had a feeling that this time, his usual remedy would only reaffirm how crap he was feeling.
Isis. Isis, Isis, Isis. What had happened? When he’d first met her, he hadn’t been goggling at her lips like a prepubescent boy, eager for his first kiss. He hadn’t been trying to ascertain what her body was like beneath the baggy clothing. He hadn’t even checked her out. And yet, after just over a week, he was practically drooling every time she blinked.
Was this his body’s idea of a joke? Kicking one of the walls nearby, and instantly regretting it as pain shot up through his leg, Kael muttered incoherent words under his breath, cursing his hormones repeatedly. Why?! Why?!
Despite the fact that his skin prickled as he thought of her expression, her blue eyes wide, her hair shrouding her face like beams of sunlight (oh damn, he’d even gone poetical!), Kael couldn’t help wanting to curse her too. Why did she have to look so permanently kissable? Why did she have to act so differently to all the other girls he knew? And, most importantly, why on earth was he so bloody attracted to her?
Kael carried on walking, not sure where he was going. The walls were smothered in obscene graffiti, the houses in a state of disrepair. He wondered if he’d end up lost, and would just wander the streets until he died. Right now, that seemed like the most enjoyable option he had.
It scared him. It scared him to think just how easily Isis could have him completely under his control. He trembled to think of what could happen if she touched him, or if she brushed against him: he was pretty sure that instincts as animal as they came would end with her pinned against the wall. Oh damn. Oh damn, oh damn, oh damn.
And it had all happened so quickly! Her refusal to be swooned by his evident charms, the way that she stood up to him and the way that she was so bloody adorable had all come together to render him infatuated… today’s drama lesson had been the first realisation. Before, he’d attempted to brush the lustful thoughts about her out of his mind, out of the way, but having a full on conversation with her had nearly been the death of him.
Kael stopped, leaning against the brick wall to his right as bizarre feeling after bizarre feeling washed over him. He didn’t know what to think anymore, what to do, what to say. And he still had to go to rehearsals later.
Looking to his left, he saw a convenience store, bright advertising on the front letting him know that they had a variety of alcohol on sale for next to nothing. Kael was tempted. How easy it would be to buy it, to let the liquid slip down his throat and enable him to forget about it all for a few hours. Or at least just to lighten him up. He always found it hard to care about anything when he’d been intoxicated- however small the amount he’d drunk.
Kael couldn’t help himself. Going into the shop, he casually made his way to the aisle full of spirits and various drinks. Selecting a bottle- strong enough to render him just beyond tipsy, and therefore unlikely to care about anything, he felt in his pocket for his wallet.
Should he?
He paused for a moment, imagining Isis’s expression if she saw him drunk at the rehearsal. He let the wallet go.
No! This was the problem in the first place- Isis seeemed to be taking over his mind. He’d buy it, and he’d down it all, if only just to get back at her, in some bizarre, twisted way that didn’t make sense, but he didn’t care.
Going to the till, he handed it over, along with the money. The cashier seemed sleepy, not even asking for ID or anything, and so soon, Kael was outside, walking briskly back to school, taking swigs of the drink as he went. It was bitter, and tasted like it should be used for cleaning toilets or something, but he was so pissed off with himself, that it didn’t even matter. Soon, nothing mattered. He grinned as he walked, laughing to think of what people would say when he walked in so obviously having drunken. They were all boring anyway. His head felt lighter, the air didn’t seem cold anymore. And Isis? She didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered at all, except that he kept on drinking the drink in his bottle…