... not in love with Kale Eddison (7 page)

Kale chuckled,
“Yeah, Alicia’s great but I can’t escape them all the time
unfortunately. They agreed to leave me alone the last few days
‘cause I’ve agreed to do a conference later today. They’ll get
their story later on and I get to be left alone for a few more days
but I’m not getting my hopes up.”

Izzie found
herself curious, “How do you mean? Surely when the get the story
they give you a bit of privacy, right?”

Kale laughed
humourlessly, “Yeah right, they’re always hiding behind bushes or
some crap like that. They want to catch you doing something that
will shock the world; they are constantly chasing stories … waiting
for you to slip up so they can write about your tragic fall from
grace and turn you into a national hate figure. As they say
‘everyone loves a hero but they’re always waiting for your
downfall’ … just comes with the territory I’m afraid.”

Izzie couldn’t
help but feel a little sorry for him; it was bound to be miserable
being followed all the time and not having a speck of privacy.
“Wow, I know you guys all bitch about lack of privacy but I had no
idea it was that bad. So how did you get them to leave you totally
alone on Friday and all?”

Kale sighed, “A
heck of a lot of money and threats to call the police … seemed to
work pretty well though. Blackmail and tons of money will get you
places …” He laughed humourlessly.

Izzie merely
raised her eyebrows and remained silent so Kale changed the
subject.

“So, can I walk
to class with you?” He flashed another dazzling smile and Izzie
found herself nodding. They walked along the corridor, Kale did
most of the talking but at least Izzie wasn’t telling him to go
away.

“So, where’s
this bookstore you work in? I could really do with something new to
read.”

Izzie looked up
at him, “You read? I had you pegged as a comic-book guy.”

Kale laughed
loudly, “You really are an unusual girl; you know that? No, I never
touch them … a little childish in my opinion.”

“Hmm,” Izzie
was a little sceptic, “What was the last book you read then?”

Kale smirked,
“I shouldn’t admit this but it was ‘Wuthering Heights’.”

Izzie shook her
head, “Uh-uh, no way you read that.”

Kale was
adamant, “Yeah, I did … Kathy, Heathcliff and those creepy moors.
Come on, have you read it?”

Izzie nodded,
“Just once, it’s not really a guy’s usual reading material.”

Kale looked
sheepish, “Well I was researching some stuff for a role … but I did
enjoy it regardless!”

Izzie laughed,
“Uh-huh, sure. Why would you be researching that? You gonna star in
an adaption of it or something? I don’t think that’s likely! It’s
pretty far off your usual fluffy chick flicks.”

Kale just
shrugged, “Believe what you will, anyway, enough chat about what I
read … you never said where this bookstore is.”

Izzie rolled
her eyes, “Fine, it’s in the town centre … ‘Page-Turner’, you can’t
miss it.”

Kale nodded as
they took their seats and looked to the front; Ms Belson had
arrived.

“Good morning
my dears, now I have some news for you all. It’s very important so
make sure you pay close attention … that includes you too Miss
Herring.” Izzie looked over at Maddie; she hadn’t even noticed her
come into the classroom but now she saw her friend look flushed and
stop trying to catch Kale’s eye. Izzie turned back as Ms Belson
ploughed on.

“Now, as you
know, for years we have assessed your Drama skills merely on your
participation in class exercises and performances of a few pieces
of dialogue from the play we have studied … however, this year they
have introduced a new and exciting syllabus. It is with great
pleasure my dears; that I can tell you - from this year - we get to
put on a play which will be open to the public and your part in
this – no matter how small – will be marked towards your final
grade. Everyone has to take part to pass this class and this year
the principal has agreed to ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ as we are
already studying this piece.”

Everyone looked
around at each other excitedly; a chance to actually perform in
front of people!

Ms Belson
raised her voice to be heard above the chatter that had just broken
out, “However, you will all have to audition for your parts; I will
be leaving a sheet with the list of characters and other duties
that will be the ones you can be marked on … choose wisely.”

Izzie saw the
whole class’s attitude change dramatically now; the majority now
had a hungry, competitive look about them; it was going to be a
fight for the best part. Izzie glanced at Kale who looked like he
really didn’t care about which part he got but another glance at
Maddie was a different story; by the look on her face, she was
determined to get the part that would involve her acting opposite
Kale. Izzie rolled her eyes to herself; she really didn’t care
about any of this, she just wanted something small or behind the
scenes – no way was she making a fool of herself going for one of
the leads!

Ms Belson ran
through a few more scenes from the play and just before the bell
had rang, handed the sheet around for everybody to put their name
down.

Eventually it
was passed to Izzie, she took a quick scan down the list and
noticed a lot of the girls had scrawled their names under either
‘Beatrice’ or ‘Hero’; clearly hoping Kale would go for either
‘Benedick’ or ‘Claudio’. She scoffed and looked further down the
list for some small role … ‘Margaret’ – that would do. She scrawled
her name under it and passed the sheet to Kale.

Kale studied
the list intently; of course the female population would go for two
of the leads. He scratched his head; he put his name under two of
the characters, then looked again and added another one. He nodded
and handed the sheet to Ms Belson on his way out; she took it and
Kale made his way along the corridor to catch up with Izzie.

“So …
‘Margaret’, why’d you not go for something bigger?” Kale stole a
glance at Izzie and saw her roll her eyes at him.

“I don’t care
about being a lead … I just wanna pass the damn class – and not
embarrass myself while doing so.”

Kale nodded,
“Fair enough, seems you’d have to beat every girl in the class
anyway.”

He laughed and
Izzie found herself joining him.

“Yep,” she
began eventually, once she managed to be serious again, “Ms
Belson’s got her work cut out for her, I tell you. So, did you go
for ‘Benedick’ or ‘Claudio’?”

Kale smirked,
“None of the above, ‘Don John’ and ‘Don Pedro’.”

Izzie raised
her eyebrows and said nothing.

“What?” Kale
asked, a smirk playing on his beautiful lips, “You don’t think I
can handle it?”

Izzie shrugged,
“I didn’t say anything! I just can’t see you playing the villain,
that’s all.”

Kale nodded, “I
know but it was time for a change, I’m tired of playing the same
character over and over again in the movies. My agents all tell me
to stick with it – ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ – but they
don’t get a say in this. I’ve been dying to play a baddie for ages,
now’s my chance.”

Izzie nodded,
“Yeah, try telling that to Ms Belson; she’ll have you gunning for
‘Benedick’ or ‘Claudio’ – I’ll bet my life on it.”

Kale raised his
eyebrows, “I’m intrigued; you seem so sure. How about we put a
wager on it?”

Izzie smirked
at him, “Ok, I’m interested, what are the terms?”

Kale thought
for a moment; this was the perfect chance to get her to agree to
something she would otherwise decline.

“Ok, if Ms
Belson casts me as ‘Benedick’ or ‘Claudio’; I’ll pay for us to go
out for dinner after the roles are announced … but if she doesn’t,
you pay. What do you say?”

Izzie shook her
head in disbelief, “I say that involves me, you and dinner, no
matter what the outcome is.”

Kale looked
smug, “Yeah and? Come on, what do you say? If you’re right you get
a free dinner?”

Izzie shook her
head and laughed at him, “You’re a trier; I’ll give you that. Fine
but I pick the place, deal?”

Kale held out
his hand, “It’s a deal.” Izzie grasped his hand and shook it and as
she did so, she felt the most peculiar sensation shoot through her;
she actually felt butterflies in her stomach; surely she, of all
people, couldn’t be getting excited at the prospect of eating
dinner with Kale Eddison? She shook her head to clear her thoughts
and made her way to English Lit.; Kale following her closely
behind.

As the school
day drew to a close, Izzie found herself wishing that the week was
over; already she felt she had made a huge mistake agreeing to
dinner with Kale. She quickly pushed these thoughts away as she
made her way to her locker and gathered the books she needed for
her homework later that night. As she made her way out, she noticed
all the television vans and reporters congregated in the car park;
she had forgotten about Kale’s conference. She quickly struggled
through the vast crowd until she made it to her car and got behind
the safety of closed doors. She took a fleeting glance around and
found she was blocked in; she sighed, she knew she’d have to wait
until the conference was over – no way would the T.V. van move now,
not when Kale was about five minutes from greeting them all. All of
a sudden, Izzie noticed the crowd of reporters hurry towards the
front doors of the school; it looked like Kale had presented
himself. She saw them all file into the school and figured that the
conference must be happening in the Staff Room. Before she knew
what she was doing, she found herself getting out of her car and
following the throng of people; she was curious as to how Kale
would act in front of all these journalists. Izzie managed to sneak
in at the back and nobody questioned her so it looked like she was
safe. She ducked behind a rather large man and prayed he wouldn’t
move or Kale would surely spy her sitting there. There was a lot of
fuss and commotion while the reporters got out their notepads and
the interviewers checked their microphones. Finally there was
silence and Kale spoke to them all.

“Hey everyone,
thanks for coming today. Before I answer any of your questions
though, I wanted to say I appreciate you all letting me have my
privacy while I settled in here at Hartside High. So, who’s first?”
Kale looked around the room and tried to look for the reporter that
looked the least invasive. He spied Chuck Simpson; a journalist
from one of the biggest international newspapers and also, one of
the nicest people you’d ever meet. Kale was relieved and pointed to
him; at least he was guaranteed that he wouldn’t get any awkward or
intensely personal questions from him.

“Chuck … how’s
it going big guy? What do you wanna know?”

Chuck smiled at
Kale gratefully; the kid was always so nice to him – giving him the
exclusives - and he appreciated it; it got his boss off his back on
numerous occasions.

“I’m doing
alright kid, thanks for asking. Anyway, how you getting on with the
whole normal school experience? I’m sure it’s a shock to the system
- not to mention that the entire female population that attend here
are probably all falling at your feet.” He held his notepad ready
as Kale leaned into the microphone.

“Always nice to
see you Chuck – anyway, back to your question … well I haven’t had
a chance to totally settle in yet but I’m really liking it so far;
I get to be a normal guy for a change. You know; it’s really
actually quite nice not to be hounded by photographers – no offence
to you guys.” Kale laughed and was relieved the other reporters did
too; hopefully they would pick up the hint that he would appreciate
being left alone more often so he could truly experience a normal
high school education.

“Anyway,” Kale
continued on, “I’ll admit it was a bit strange getting used to
homework and trying to find classrooms but everyone’s been a big
help.”

The reporters
all chuckled and one yelled out, “I bet all the girls have!”

Kale flashed a
charming smile, “Well, it’s not entirely the female pupils but it’s
a fair few with some exceptions.” He smirked a little to himself as
Izzie sniggered at his reference to her and her
less-than-enthusiastic greeting when they had first met. The
reporters all laughed and a female one tossed her hair and shouted
out, “Surely you can’t be suggesting that there are some girls here
that
aren’t
attracted to you?”

Kale smiled,
“Hey Kathy, well I would be lying if I said they all adored me but
yes, there is one girl in particular who has made her dislike for
me very clear.” He chuckled and thought of how much he really liked
Izzie regardless of this fact.

Tom Barton; a
reporter for the local news channel jumped on this, “Who is she
Kale? What did she say to you?”

Kale laughed,
“I’m not revealing her identity but I will tell you this; it was
quite refreshing to hear her describe my latest movie as ‘crap’ –
makes a guy want to try harder in his next role, you know?”

They all
laughed and another female reporter – Kale recognised her as Julie
Falls; a shy young girl who had only been in the field a year –
stuck out her microphone and asked something that caught Kale
completely off guard that he wasn’t sure what was the best way to
answer. She had managed to stutter out, “So, d-do you h-have
f-feelings f-for this g-girl? You j-just look l-like you ad-admire
her f-for not b-being a f-fan of your w-work.”

Kale was
completely thrown; he knew that whether Julie was shy or not, the
girl could ask some tricky but brilliant questions – she was very
perceptive. “Um, I don’t know about having feelings for her but I
think we may be becoming good friends – well more on my part than
hers probably – but for now it’s nice to be with someone who isn’t
afraid to have a different opinion to her friends; she knows what
she believes and goes for it – no matter what other people
think.”