I'm laying in bed, trying to get back to sleep so that I can continue with the dream I was having. I was some kind of superhero with ice powers and I had been making ice structures for a school and getting heaps of money.
The door swings open and Paul runs into my room, a blue and pink pamphlet in his left hand. I bury my face in my sheets and pull my pillow around my head to block out his voice.
"Nat!" he sings. I groan into the mattress. "We're going to the fair!"
"Whassafair?" I mumble, sitting up tiredly.
"Huh?" he squints at me. I yawn.
"How d'you know there's a fair on? Where?" I ask, slumping against the bed head.
"This!" he says and hands me the pamphlet. I take it and look down. There's balloons and Ferris wheels decorating the border.
The Great American Fair
11:00 to 10:00 pm
Oval on Ferrtis road
See you there, California
"Did Mum and Dad say yes?" I ask, looking up. "This looks dodge."
"Yup," Paul says, snatching the pamphlet pack. "Mum wants you down there by ten thirty in casual but classy clothes, she says. The Collins' are coming too."
I stiffen when I hear that the Collins's are coming, thinking 'is Michelle up to it' but I immediately scold myself. Just because Michelle was diagnosed last week doesn't mean she's not going to do anything with us in the early stages of her cancer. No one should be treating her differently, I tell myself, and shake my head, ashamed that I thought that just before.
I sigh and get off the bed, making it quickly before walking into the closet. Mum said casual but classy apparently, so I choose a pair of denim shorts and chuck them on with a dark blue halter neck top that reaches to just above my belly button (because all my good shirts and singlets and hoodies are in the wash). I tie my hair into messy dutch braids after having a shower and brush my teeth. I tie up my white converse and brush my teeth.
I pack a couple of things in my navy backpack (ear phones, phone, jumper, sunglasses, a pen and my wallet) and skip downstairs. Mum serves me some cereal and I thank her, scooping it into my mouth.
Lucas walks down the stairs a minute later with board shorts and a white t-shirt on. "Hey Lukey," I say, ruffling his hair. He scowls at me.
"Where're we going, Mum?" Lucas asks, rubbing his face.
"The fair. We got the pamphlet yesterday, Michelle and Jackson got one too, so we're going together," she says, pouring milk into Lucas's bowl and handing it to him.
The door bell rings and Mum leaves us to let them in. Alex walks in first, flicking his sunglasses up onto his head and flashing me with a million dollar smile. I smile back. He walks around behind me and takes my spoon out of my left hand, scooping some cereal and milk into his mouth. I push him away and he smiles, gulping down the milk and handing back my spoon.
"That stuff's good! What is it?" he asks.
"Weet-bix," I say and reach across the bench, turning the tap on and washing the spoon.
"What's that?" he asks, scrunching his eyebrows.
"Its Australian. Adele got me into it. She's Australian," I say, eating my cereal again. Alex nods and sits next to me.
"Hey Lucas," he says. Lucas flicks his wrist with a wave and nods at Alex. Then Alex turns back to me and leans his head on his hand, looking over at me. "Can you act?"
"Can I what?" I ask, eating some more cereal.
"Act."
"Not really... But I'm ok, I suppose. I did some kind of production thingo in France and we did a show," I shrug, looking at him, confused.
"Great. You can audition for the musical with me!" he says, spinning round on his chair and jumping off to say hi to Dad. I turn and look at Lucas. He shrugs and continues to eat his breakfast.
I sigh and finish off my breakfast, then I hop off my chair and greet Michelle and Jackson. We start to walk out of the house and Mum locks up. Alex swings an arm around me and I look at him.
"The musical?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. He shrugs.
"It'll be fun!" he smiles, flipping his Ray Bans over his eyes.
"Really?" I say sarcastically. "Seriously though, the school's infamous bad boy is auditioning for the musical?"
Alex pouts. "You think I wouldn't sign myself up for the school musical so I can get an Oxford scholarship?"
"How does that relate?" I ask.
"I'm gonna take a musical course as well as a medical one," Alex says.
"Why don't you just audition by yourself?" I ask.
"Because then I'd get paired with some random weird girl. Please, Nat," he begs. I roll my eyes.
"What about Amanda, she can sing," I reason.
"Yeah, but not very well," he says. I turn into him and we stop walking, standing on the 'welcome' mat.
"You just insulted your girlfriend!" I say. He smiles.
"Am I not supposed to?" he asks.
"No!" I say.
"If you were my girlfriend I'd insult you ten times a day," he says. I look up at him. I can't see his eyes, but his smile's gone and his hair's waving in the wind. We look at each other for about a minute before the car horn beeps and we scramble down the drive way and into our separate cars.
***
We arrive at the fair half an hour later. People are scattered all over the place. There are roller coasters and carousels, a Ferris wheel, food, heaps of stalls with teddy bears and games and even a kids animal farm.
"Ok kids, stay together, if you lose anyone and I mean anyone, you're not getting an ice cream on the way home. You're not allowed on that big rollercoaster over there, you're not tall enough. Don't let go of Liam. If you want to go on a ride that Liam's too small for, leave one of you behind with him and then switch. Be back by seven. Have fun!"
Most parents wouldn't let three tweens and a one year old child run off in a crowded area by themselves, but ours have just spotted the bar and are eyeing it greedily. Parenting must be too much for them. The others run off and the parents depart for the bar.
Alex turns to me. "Where're we going, princess?" he asks.
I raise and eyebrow. "Princess? I thought I was a prince, princess."
He smiles and grabs my hand, steering me into the crowd. We emerge a few minutes later and wait in the long line of the ride the others aren't allowed to go on. There are a lot of people our age around here, but I know none of my friends are here since Bubbles has some family thing on. Chloe and Kate are at drama camp and Meghan's working.
Alex swings an arm around my shoulder. "Please can you do the musical with me?"
"I told you Alex, Amanda can sing, you and her should audition together," I say.
"She's not as good as you, Greg," he sighs. I shove him off me.
"What is the musical?" I ask.
"Uhm, its like a play where people-"
"No, you idiot, what's the name?" he asks.
"Oh, its High School Musical 1, 2, and 3," he says.
"1, 2 and 3?" I say.
"Yeah," he replies. "Its a lot of lines. But you're good at everything, so you'll have no problem memorizing lines."
"I'm not good at everything. And I told you, I'm not reading any lines since I'm not doing it!" I say and we move forward until we're third in the line.
"Firstly, you are good at everything," he starts but I interrupt.
"I'm not."
"Shut up, Greg, you're an idiot," he says before continuing. "Secondly, you should be memorizing those lines, since I know you wanna do a musical course at Oxford too."
He looks at me and I look back, surprised. How did he know that? He steps closer and whispers. "And thirdly, I know you want to kiss me and be the Gabriella to my Troy."
I laugh and push him away playfully. "You're an idiot," I smile and we are beckoned by the ride person to hop onto the ride.
***
"I'm much better than you, I'll win it for you."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really, Alexandra, I'm a very talented person," I say, closing one eye and squinting at the target. I press down on the trigger and miss the target by two inches. "Dammit!" I say, straightening and stamping my foot.
Alex laughs and pulls me over to him. "You can have mine," he shoves the large stuffed wolf into my arms and I smile.
"Thanks," I say.
"Let's go get Cotton Candy," Alex takes my hand and pulls me over to that stall. We order one and he shares with me. I rip off a piece and stuff it into my mouth. "There's the others," he says, pointing to the animal farm.
I roll my eyes, swallowing the sugary treat. "Course they're there. Lucas likes animals."
Alex nods and we walk over to a not so crowded area with a bench. We sit down and each rip a piece off the cotton candy.
"So...." Alex says.
"Soooooo... what?" I reply, chewing on my food.
"You'd be the perfect Gabriella!" he says, jumping in his seat and turning to me.
I groan. "Alex, I'm not doing it. And I wouldn't be the perfect Gabriella, Troy, because I don't look or sound like her or anything! Amanda should audition with you. She can act!" I say.
"No she can't," Alex insults Amanda again.
"You'd be surprised," I shake my head, slouching in my seat.
Alex softly punches me in the arm. "Please Nat, it'll help me."
"With what?" I ask.
"Getting into Oxford?" he says. I sigh.
"Alex! Amanda will do it with you," I say. "Gimme your phone."
"What? No!" he says and scoots away from me.
"Yeah! Lets call her, see what she says!" I say, scooting over to him. He points the cotton candy at me like a sword. "C'mon, babe."
"No!" he scoots even further off the seat and falls off it. I quickly jump off it and kneel down at his side. Checking his front pockets. He squirms out of my way when I reach for the back ones. "Nat, we're not on the booty-touching level yet."
I scurry over to him and try to grab the phone from his pocket. He ends up rolling back towards me so that I'm knocked onto the ground next to him. He puts a hand on either side of my head and brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. I push my hand into his hair and pull his face down, inches from mine.
"Kiss me," he whispers.
Then I slap him straight across the face.
He rolls off me immediately and rubs his cheek. We stare at each other, confused. Until he notices his phone in my hand. Then he pulls himself up and sits with his face in between his knees.
Dammit. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done any of that. What was I thinking, pretending to kiss him. I quickly get up and dust myself off, looking down at him awkwardly. He's still got his head between his knees. I push my hair pack behind my ears and bite my lip, not knowing what to do.
That's when I hear the crying.
Or at least I thought it's crying. I stare straight down at Alex, looking at the vibrations on his back, frozen in shock. Is he seriously crying? Did it go that badly? ?But then he looks up and I see his dimples and pearly white teeth, stretched into a smile and mentally exhale.
I unfreeze but continue staring down at him. He shakes his head at the ground and I tilt my head, confused. Then he looks up. "I guess we're past the booty-touching level now, huh. Help me up, let's go on the helicopter ride."
***
I called Amanda. She said yes. Alex couldn't really say no. Now he's being a sulky as we line up for the ferris wheel. Its seven o'clock, so we're hoping to be back near the bar in half an hour.
"Nat," he whines. "Can't you do it."
"You two swap saliva, go on dates and show everyone way to much P-D-A, so why can't you be in a show together? Besides, you might not even get in," I say as we shuffle forwards in the line. He groans and hooks an arm around my waist, burying his head in my neck from behind.
"I'm cold," he moans.
"C'mon babe, stop being a sook," I say, trying to push him off me. He just moves his hands up to around my shoulders and pulls me into him further. I give up and slump against him. I see a group of younger girls standing in the line next to us. They're all looking. "Alex?"
"Yeah?" he mutters into my neck.
"People are looking," I tilt my head in his direction slightly and whisper to him.
"Everyone looks at you," he says. I turn to him for an explanation and to inform him that it was us they were looking at, not just me, but the ride person ushers us into a carriage and we hop in.
Alex and I sit on the same side of the small area. I pull my jumper out of my bag and shrug it on as we wait for the carriages to start moving again. Alex scoots over to me and swings an arm around me, making it warmer. I pull my legs up and rest them next on his lap. My head falls on his chest and my arms are crossed, my jumper's sleeves pulled all the way down my arms so none of my fingers can be seen.
Alex's arm pulls me in tighter and I move around a little more to get comfortable. The wheel starts turning and our carriage swings slightly. I feel a tug at the bottom of one of my braids.
"What're you doing?" I ask without turning around.
"You're hair looks good curly," he mumbles, unraveling the braid before moving onto the next one.
"Does it not look good in braids?" I ask, laughing a bit. I can almost hear him smile.
"It looks good in any hairstyle, as long as its on you," he mutters, finger playing with the end of my hair. I lean back into him, breathing in his smell and looking out at the city in front of us, since our carriage has reached the top.
"Alex?" I ask. I don't know why I do. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I'm high on the buzz of the fair or the sugar from the cotton candy, but I know I ask it. "Did you want to kiss me?"
He stays silent for a few moments, and the wheel turns halfway around before he answers. "I always want to kiss you."
Its so quiet I barely hear it. I could pretend I didn't hear it, and just stay lying in his arms until it stops. But I don't. Instead, I turn around and look into his blue eyes, searching them. When I'm certain that he's not lying, butterflies erupt in my stomach and I gulp audibly.
His fingers move from playing with the tips of my hair to my cheeks. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer. His other hand moves from my waist to my jawline and he trails his thumb along my bottom lip.
He pulls my face closer until I can smell his minty breath. His eyes closer and so do mine. My head tilts to the side slowly and I feel his lips on mine.
But they never really get there. The carriage tilts to a stop and I pull away. "Nat, there's still time," Alex says, his hands still on my face. I look at him and then the horror hits me, hard. It didn't really last time, when the others saw us. It was just plain old embarrassment. But now its complete mortification.
"There's not time!" I stand up quickly, grabbing my bag and running my hands through my hair. "Oh my god! You have a girlfriend. Oh no, she's gonna get so mad. What the hell were you thinking, Alex? You're just not allowed to do that!"
"Allowed? Natalie, if you think for one second that I follow the rules then you don't know me at all. Do you think I don't know that Amanda's been hooking up with half the male population? Why can't I kiss you? She gets to kiss other guys. So why can't I kiss one, just one other girl?"
"Alex! How can you say that! She's with you, and you're with her! If you want to go around cheating on each other, then why don't you just break up? Oh my God, Alex, you make me sick," I say, slinging my bag across my shoulder and running out of the carriage as soon as someone opens the door. I run across the floor and down the stairs.
"Nat! Wait!" I hear Alex call but I disappear into the crowd. I see Mum waiting by the car for me, chatting with Michelle. I jump into the car and put on my seat belt, breathing hard.
"Where's Alex?" Paul asks.
"He's buying a hot dog," I lie.
"Why're you breathing so hard, like you've just run a marathon?" Lucas questions.
"I thought I was late," I lie again. Mum hops into the car and Dad turns on the engine.
"No, you're right on time, honey. How was your day?" Mum asks, checking her watch.
I'm about to say 'good' when Paul interrupts. "I saw Alex and Nat near the cotton candy stand! He was lying on top of her and then they almost kissed!"
"Yeah!" Lucas cuts in. "And then she smacked him."
My face heats up so much that I feel as though I'm being roasted on a barbecue. Mum turns around quickly in her seat and gives me the ohmygawdmydaughtersbeenmakingoutwithacuteguyIneedtohearallaboutthissoI'lljustraisemyeyebrowsathersugestively look. I roll my eyes and shake my head as though they're lying. Mum frowns and asks the boys about their day.
They rattle on about rides and animals and games and teddies and I look down at the big stuffed wolf in my arms, remembering the look on his face when he said he wanted to always wanted to kiss me.
***
"YOU DID WHAT?" my best friend yells at me. "So you actually walked away, You f***ing idiot! You were kissing!"
I cringe at the use of the swear word and open my mouth to speak. "We were not, kissing," I say. "We almost did."
"Exactly! You're so dumb, Nat. If a hot God like Alex tried to kiss me on a ferris wheel really romantically I would've gone all in. Especially if I'm in love with that guy."
"I-I'm not in love with him," I say, blushing.
"You literally stumbled when you said that. And you're blushing. You always tuck your hair behind your ears when I mention him and you're always looking out the window at him," she says. I don't answer and she laughs. "Well, my friend. You've totally stuffed things up between you. I can't help you now. Its up to you. Bug out."
The screen turns black and I sigh, walking over to my bed and grabbing Percy Jackson, The Last Olympian. I lay down and read to my hearts content. I read the whole of Saturday night, and all of Sunday until Mum comes into my room and walks over to me.
"Sweetie, stop being a grizzly grump," she tells me, closing my book and laying it on my bedside table. "Go see Bubbles tonight or something. Go be social. You can't just stay here reading all weekend, drowning out your sorrows in that book. And yes, I know you're sad about something, so don't try and deny it."
I groan and wriggle round on my bed. "I can't see Bubbles tonight Mum, its a school night."
She shakes her head and gets up. "Lets open up these curtains, its dreadfully hot in here," she says, walking over to my french doors with the curtains pulled around them.
"No, Mum, don't-" I start to reach out to tell her to stop but the deed is already done. She opens the curtains so wide that I can see all the way into his room.
Mum turns around and smiles at me, walking out of the room, telling me she'll fetch me some tea. But my eyes are glued to the room next to mine.
Alex is in there. Yeah, he's definitely in there. But so is his horrible b-word of a girlfriend. And they're lying on his bed together. Both of them have their shirts off. Amanda's straddling Alex. His hands are in her hair and hers are on his six pack. Their lips are glued to each other's.
Its hard to believe that just a day ago I was the girl in his arms, the one he was going to kiss. I quickly get up and close the curtains. My phone buzzes with a text from Bubbles.
Hey.
Can you please come watch me audition for the musical? Our school has this big thing were everyone auditions. But Alex always gets the lead. Come for moral support? 'Course you will, YA BIG, FUZZY bear. And who knows, maybe you could audition too.
I look down at the text and bite my lip. I type in a reply and chuck my phone onto my desk. I sit on the edge of my bed and rest my elbows on my knees. I put my palms on my forehead and sigh.
I look back at the my phone and see the brochure for the musical Bubbles sent me. I might've lost the chance of actually being with Alex, but I'm not gonna lose the option of being his friend.
____________________________________________________________________
H?u?l?l?o???????????????ooooooooooooooo people!!
This chapter was a little bit spicy. Too much chili for me.
Please comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts about the book and what you think should happen next!!!
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