by Alex Dyson
‘Um, I’d better just check with Mum first, I think. She still doesn’t even know any of this is happening.’
‘Caleb!’ Rachel seemed a bit shocked. ‘I looked over them, it’s fine!’
Jai chuckled. ‘You’re a smart kid. It’s good to check.’ He took the papers back and returned them to the glove box.
Rachel looked at Caleb. ‘Come on, Caleb. What would Dad do? This is a great opportunity – you should leap at it.’
Caleb thought about it. Is that what Dad would do? He tried to imagine his father’s voice.
Go ask your mother.
Dad seemed to say that a lot. But then again, he also used to say something else a lot …
Don’t tell your mother.
Caleb was confused. How could he know which one applied to signing a record contract?!
‘No, look, it’s fine,’ Jai said again. ‘A few days won’t hurt. It might mean Spotify is pushed back a bit, but we can work with it.’
‘Are you sure?’ Rachel asked.
‘Yeah, it’s not ideal, but it’s typical of young artists to be nervous about signing their first contract. If he’s too nervous, it’s okay, there’s no rush to –’
‘Give them here.’ Caleb, stung by yet another person taking pity on him, said it a lot more forcefully than he intended. Rachel and Jai turned to look at him. He had his toes over the edge of the diving board already, he may as well take the plunge. ‘I’m not nervous. I’ll sign it. Give me the contract.’
Jai handed him the papers. Caleb took the pen and hovered it over the signature line before deciding on doing one final piece of negotiating.
‘On one condition,’ he said. ‘I get to keep this towel. It’s fluffy.’
Jai laughed. ‘Mate, you sign this, and I’ll give you all the fluffy towels you want!’
Caleb smiled, and then – even though he didn’t really have a signature, and even though the line he had to sign was solid and not a dotted line like he’d imagined, and even though he couldn’t really play a traditional instrument, and even though he was just sixteen, and even though the concept of people watching him and finding out how awkward he was scared the crap out of him – there, in the back seat of a stationary Audi A4, in a wet shirt, on a Thursday, Caleb Clifford signed his very first record deal.
Without even asking his mum.
CHAPTER 9
‘I can’t believe you’re making me go back to school.’
Caleb sat in the car, semi-dry and back in his school uniform. The trio drove along the school driveway at the end of lunch, watching heads turning towards the flashy Audi.
‘Education is important, Caleb,’ Rachel said as the Audi rolled to a stop.
Caleb was sceptical. ‘Is that true, Jai?’
‘For you? Now? I wouldn’t think –’
Rachel cleared her throat.
‘Ah – yes, of course it is! What class do you have this afternoon?’
‘Media studies. We’re looking at the differences between The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise.’
‘Well, that should be … great. Have fun!’ said Rachel. ‘I’ll see you after school.’
Caleb grabbed his bag and flopped out of the car.
‘And I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for the Phresh FM interview, mate! Bring your A-game!’ Jai yelled out the window as he pulled away. Some year seven girls who were walking past looked at him weirdly.
Caleb put in his earbuds for the walk to the locker room, while his mind engaged in its favourite pastime of overthinking everything.
A-game. Did he even have an A-game? He didn’t usually get A’s in class – how was he meant to ace an interview first go? And what if people from school heard it? Would they introduce him as Caleb, or BVTTON? Could he disguise his voice? Maybe he could tell Jai that after this one, he’d take a break from media appearances. At least until he released a new song that wasn’t named after a girl in his class.
Caleb arrived at his locker and came face to face with an A4 sheet sticky-taped to it. When he saw what was on it, his face turned as white as the paper.
He looked around. Everyone was staring at him. The whole locker room was full of posters, which were crudely plastered along any flat surface at random intervals.
No.
This couldn’t be happening.
Who could have done this? Miralee had said she’d told Dana, but – no, not her – surely. It didn’t matter anyway.
He dropped his books and snatched the paper off his locker, then ran to his right and snatched another, and another. The bell rang, but Caleb kept grabbing at the posters. He walked outside. There were more on poles. He grabbed them too. But there were still more – all over the school. How had he not noticed them on his walk here?
Caleb was frantic, his fist scrunching tighter and tighter around every crumpled piece. The trail kept going until Caleb rounded the corner and stopped in his tracks – right where the line of posters finally ended at two figures.
Two stupid, mulleted figures.
They seemed to sense Caleb’s presence and looked up at the same time. The one on the right looked shocked. The one on the left – the one holding a fresh stack of posters – the one related to Caleb – grinned the shit-eating-est grin ever to have been grinned.
Nathaniel.
Without thinking, Caleb pounced.
CHAPTER 10
‘Thanks for coming in, Mrs Clifford.’
Mrs Li, the school principal, welcomed Caleb’s mum into her office. It was a smallish room with a desk, a couch, bookcases at the back, a university degree in a frame on one side, and inspirational posters filling the rest. Also, it was now adorned with one worried mother.
The two Clifford boys sat on the couch. One of them looked pretty terrible – and not just because of his ridiculous haircut. Caleb had been sitting there since the end of lunch. Nathaniel had joined him fifteen minutes ago, after a visit to the nurse’s office. They sat beneath a framed photo of a frog holding a leaf like an umbrella, with the words ‘Put-downs are bad!’ Caleb wasn’t sure if the poster made sense.
Mrs Li took her seat behind the desk.
‘Nathaniel? Caleb? What happened?’ Monica Clifford said.
Mrs Li took a deep, disappointed breath. ‘Unfortunately, Mrs Clifford, your boys seem to have had a disagreement, and they’ve decided to take it out on each other in a very unproductive way.’
Mrs Li had a weird, hippie way of explaining things. It was technically true, of course, but Caleb thought that it was a pretty roundabout way of saying that, after a brief and scrappy tug of war, Nathaniel’s front left canine tooth had popped out of his mouth.
‘Caleb hit me!’ Nat piped up.
‘Goodness. I’m sure that’s not what happened, Champ. Caleb has never so much as …’ their mum paused at the look on Caleb’s face. The look contained many things, but mainly, Caleb suspected, guilt. ‘Is this true, Caleb?’ she said, disbelievingly.
Caleb said nothing. Despite his usual hatred of silence, he was trying to invoke his right to remain within it. Of course, he hadn’t actually hit his brother. But there was a high possibility that, in the struggle, his elbow had accidentally swung around and come into contact with Nathaniel’s jaw, causing his tooth to hit the eject button. But, due to the content of the posters Nat and his mate had stuck up, Caleb was finding it hard to care.
‘I can’t believe this.’ Their mum looked shocked. ‘I’m just … I’m so sorry, Mrs Li, I really wouldn’t have expected this.’
Mrs Li nodded. ‘Unfortunately, Mrs Clifford, these types of incidents can occur between young males. However, given the severity of what has occurred, we would grade this incident as being of a level two rub variety, and using the school’s code of conduct policy –’
‘Sorry?’ Monica Clifford interjected. ‘Rub variety? What’s that?’
‘Oh, I beg your pardon. RUB stands for Rough, Undisciplined Boys, which is one of many categories we utilise here at
Riverview for administrative and disciplinary purposes. For example, occasionally we encounter a GIMP at this school, or Girl Initiating Malevolent Practices. Last week we had quite a serious outbreak of HERPES, or Hurtful Event Rendering Pupil Extremely Sad. And just yesterday I was unlucky enough to catch some year twelve students in the middle of an ORGY.’
‘What does ORGY mean?’
‘Oh, that was a group sex session, sorry, that’s not an acronym. That was … unprecedented.’ Mrs Li momentarily descended into the thousand-yard stare of a war veteran experiencing flashbacks, then composed herself. ‘But that’s beside the point!’ she exclaimed. ‘The point is, despite your children being model students the majority of the time, we do not allow RUB-ing at this school. Even between brothers.’
Nathaniel sniggered, finally revealing the bloody gap in his mouth where his tooth had once been.
‘Oh my goodness!’ their mum said, shocked. ‘Champ, your tooth!’ She held Nathaniel to her chest and looked at Caleb with a mix of anger and confusion.
Caleb squirmed. He wanted to defend himself, but telling his mum anything would just lead to more difficult questions. Questions like, ‘Why did you skip school earlier today to take photos and sign a record contract?’, for example.
‘It was an accident –’
‘I was just trying to help him, Mum,’ Nat whined in his best baby voice. It was nauseating, but effective.
‘It’s okay, sweetheart.’ She stroked his mullet. ‘Caleb – I just … I don’t know how you could do this.’
Silence.
‘Well? What do you have to say for yourself?’
Despite the debilitating quiet, Caleb couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
Mrs Li piped up again. ‘It appears that this is what sparked the confrontation, Mrs Clifford.’
The principal handed their mum one of the offending A4 sheets of paper. Dozens more copies remained plastered up out there, ruining Caleb’s life. He couldn’t bear to look as his mother unfolded it.
‘What is this?’ she said. ‘Who is Bee-Vee-Ton?’
‘It’s pronounced BUTTON, Mum,’ whimpered Nathaniel. ‘That’s Caleb’s artist name. The radio is playing a song he wrote, and’ – sniff – ‘and, he’s going in for an interview tomorrow. I just … wanted to let people know so they could support him –’
‘Oh, shut up, Nat, you absolute –’ Caleb started, but the exhausted look on his mum’s face made him trail off.
‘I’m so sorry about this, Mrs Li,’ she said, extremely softly, before pulling herself together. ‘Caleb, I know it’s annoying to have your brother make up things about you, but violence isn’t the answer.’
‘But … it’s true. He is going on the radio tomorrow,’ Nat said.
‘Caleb? What is Nat talking about?’
Caleb just sat there with his jaw clenched.
‘Well – I don’t know what’s going on here, but we’ll sort this out at home.’
Mrs Li sighed. ‘Unfortunately, Mrs Clifford, there is another peripheral issue we need to discuss. We’ve also had multiple reports of a boob sighting today, and we have reason to believe it may be yours.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘A BOOB. A Boy Out Of Bounds? Your son, Caleb, was spotted getting into a car this morning at recess.’
‘Is this true, Caleb?’
Caleb sighed. This was just getting worse. ‘Rachel picked me up,’ he managed to mumble, trying to shift a bit of blame.
‘Rachel? Why would she –’
‘It was for a photo shoot!’ Nathaniel piped up. ‘Or something …’
Their mother looked like she was struggling to take everything in. ‘I don’t know what’s gotten into you, Caleb Clifford. Going behind my back, fighting with your brother – I know it’s been a tough year for all of us, but this is just … unacceptable. Your father would be so disappointed.’
This cut Caleb deep. He finally found his voice. ‘But Nat provoked me!’
‘That’s not an excuse, Caleb! Look at your brother’s tooth! I’m sorry, but you’re grounded.’
‘What? For how long?’
‘I’ll figure that out later,’ she said, pulling Nat to his feet and shepherding them to the door. ‘Thank you, Mrs Li. Will that be all?’
‘Yes. Unless you’d like a refreshing mint before you go?’
Sad and mintless, the trio left Mrs Li’s office.
‘I’m sorry, Mum,’ Caleb whispered.
She didn’t respond. Instead, she held Nathaniel to her side as they walked through the corridors, Nat and Trent’s posters still papered along the route.
‘I didn’t say anything because you were on nightshift, that’s all! I was going to tell you soon –’
Their mum continued her march in silence.
‘But it’s actually pretty exciting!’ Caleb prodded. ‘Maybe if you’re not too tired tomorrow, you could come along to the interview and see for yourself?’
‘Caleb, I have no idea what all this is about, but I’m not going to any “interview” tomorrow, and neither are you. I said you’re grounded, and that’s final.’
Caleb’s heart sank. Mum kept up her quick pace with Nathaniel beside her. Caleb caught a glimpse of his brother’s face, but Nat didn’t seem to be enjoying this as much anymore. Maybe he’d only been aiming for public humiliation, but things had got out of hand.
With tears in his eyes, Caleb marched towards the car park, head down. He thought about Rachel, and how disappointed she would be. All her hard work – gone. He thought about his dad. Also gone. And now, according to his mother, disappointed in Caleb, even in death.
Caleb felt hollowed out. And then, just when he thought his life couldn’t get any worse …
He saw her.
Standing next to the noticeboard on the side of the Woodwork rooms. Holding her books to her chest, staring up at a white, A4 sheet of photocopied paper that declared to the world in crudely written, fourteen-year-old-boy handwriting:
BVTTON – NEW SINGLE
‘ELLA’
PHRESH FM FRIDAY
Alongside it was a terrible family photo of Caleb, aged fourteen and wearing a fedora, that Nat had dug up from somewhere.
Caleb watched her read the paper, then put her hand to her mouth and look around.
Their eyes locked.
This wasn’t a daydream.
It was a nightmare.
‘Let’s go, Caleb!’
Caleb’s mum tapped him on the backside to push him towards the car.
Caleb, flushed with an indescribable shame, hung his head, and – because calling shotgun was the furthest thing from his mind – folded himself into the back seat of his mum’s car.
CHAPTER 11
‘What have you done!’ It was the first thing Rachel said to Caleb on the phone after he finally answered her third call attempt.
He sighed. ‘Nat … he was –’
‘I get a text from Mum saying she’s at the dentist, and then something about you being grounded and that I’ve got a lot of explaining to do. What happened, Caleb?’
Caleb was twenty minutes into his alleged two-month grounding, and had spent it sitting in his room while his mum took his brother to the orthodontist. Caleb wondered how to explain the situation to his sister, the only person in the world not currently furious at and/or repulsed by him.
‘It was Nat. He ruined everything.’
‘He what? How?’
‘He put up posters.’
‘And?’
Caleb took a deep breath and the story came tumbling out. ‘… and then Ella saw it, and now everyone’s going to know. I didn’t have a chance to talk to her, and ugh …’ Caleb trailed off, mentally exhausted.
Rachel didn’t seem to have much sympathy, though. ‘Okay, so Nat’s a pest and shouldn’t have done that, but why did you let it make you so angry?’
Caleb hesitated. ‘It’s just, I don’t want people listening yet. I’m not ready, Rach. It’s too fast, I don’t want
people to laugh at me, and I –’
‘Caleb,’ Rachel interrupted. She took a deep breath. ‘Button – like it or not, if you want to be a musician, people are going to listen. Do you really want to be a musician?’
‘Yes, but –’
‘Well then, you’ve got to stop hiding.’
‘That’s easy for you to say,’ Caleb mumbled.
‘It’s easy for you to do. Seriously. What’s the worst that’s going to happen at school?’
‘Um, I dunno? I walk in and everyone laughs at me for writing a song and for liking Ella Westlake, and she hates me for embarrassing her, and I become known as the Westlake chest-ache kid for the rest of my days?’
‘Well, what power do they have over you if you don’t give a shit about any of that?’
Caleb thought about it.
‘And anyway, that’s beside the point. I guarantee the interview won’t be as bad as you think … hello? Caleb?’
‘Yeah … about the interview … Mum kinda grounded me, so …’
‘Caleb –’
‘She said I can’t do it.’
It was at this point that Rachel said quite a few expletives. ‘But it’s locked in! You have to tell her how important it is!’
‘I tried to, but all she said was that I should have thought about that before knocking Nat’s tooth out.’
‘You should have thought about that before knocking Nat’s tooth out!’ Rachel scoffed. ‘Okay, hold tight. I’m going in.’
She hung up.
Rachel’s name appeared on Caleb’s phone screen two minutes and eighteen seconds later. He answered before it even vibrated.
‘Well?’
‘Yeah, Mum’s not going to budge. We’re screwed.’
‘I know.’
‘She wasn’t happy. She said it’s lucky I’m moving out or I’d be grounded too.’
‘So you haven’t told her you’re staying?’
No answer.
‘Rachel? You are staying, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, of course I’m staying. I said I would, so I am.’
Caleb could practically hear Rachel thinking on the other end of the line. The crackle of the phone distorted her breathing.