... not in love with Kale Eddison

by Joanne McClean

  Kale threw Izzie a feigned look of loathing and made his way up to the stage, looking quite reluctant when Ms Belson handed him a white envelope and planted a kiss on his cheek. Izzie smirked at him and then returned her attention to Mr Rowntree.

  “The winner of the best female costume is … Isis Bell. Come on up here and collect your prize.”

  Izzie watched many of the girls look severely disappointed but she, for one, was glad that the shy girl from her English class had won; her Medusa costume was out of this world and had a headdress of snakes that actually moved mechanically. Izzie’s gaze followed Isis up to the stage and then moved to Kale again; he looked a little disappointed to have lost another bet. Izzie smirked to herself and wondered what film would be best to force Kale to sit through; she would have to check what chick flicks were on.

  When Kale gratefully left the stage, twenty minutes later, he made his way over to Izzie again. Izzie was enjoying teasing him about Ms Belson and was clearly relishing the fact that she had won another bet.

  “Looks like you’ve gained a girlfriend and she’s older too … oh you charmer you.” Izzie smirked at Kale who rolled his eyes.

  “Uh huh, just what I needed … although it would shut the press up about us for a while.” Kale grinned and Izzie raised an eyebrow at him but remained silent; the less she said, the better.

  Izzie decided to change the subject, “So, what did you win then?”

  Kale looked down at the envelope in his hand and shrugged, “Didn’t open it yet but we’re about to find out.” He tore at the flap and pulled out the card that was inside.

  “It’s a meal voucher for somewhere called ‘Wing Ting’s’ … where’s that?” Kale frowned in puzzlement and handed it to Izzie.

  She rolled her eyes at him, “It’s a Chinese Restaurant near my Dad’s bookshop. It’s actually quite nice.”

  Kale grinned, “Ok, how about we hit ‘Wing Ting’s’ before we go to the cinema on the night of your choice? I can only imaging what horrors you have planned for me … you’re going to make me suffer through the most god awful movie, aren’t you?”

  Izzie smiled slyly, “Yeah, one of yours! No, I’m joking, you’ll just have to wait and see, now let’s go dance.”

  Kale let Izzie drag him back to the dance floor and they had a good time competing to see who could come up with the wackiest moves. After a while, the DJ changed the track mid-song and declared, “This is for all you loved up things out there.”

  Izzie groaned at the soppy choice of song and quickly tried to escape the dance floor but Kale was too fast; he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

  “Come on, you’ve ridiculed me all night on my horrible dance moves, the least I can do is show you that I do know how to slow dance.”

  Izzie was unsure; hadn’t she promised herself to avoid such situations until she figured out her exact feelings for Kale? He wasn’t going to make it very easy for her; that was clear. She sighed and decided to limit herself to one dance; she could survive one dance … couldn’t she?

  They moved around the dance floor; Izzie noticed that Kale was quite graceful but she wasn’t going to inflate his ego by admitting it to him. She tried her best to keep as much distance as possible between them but her body seemed to have different ideas; she found herself pulled to him like a magnet. Kale certainly wasn’t doing much to help matters either; he kept pulling her in closer and moved her arms to around his neck. Izzie was feeling uncomfortable now; her heart was thumping wildly and her stomach was doing somersaults. She had nowhere else to look but into his face; his baby blue eyes were shining and Izzie really noticed how handsome he actually was despite what she had claimed about his looks in the past. She shivered, even though she wasn’t cold and was relieved when the song ended. She pulled away from him; the magnet attraction between them had seemed to have disappeared now thankfully. Kale didn’t put up a fight when Izzie led him to the refreshment table once again; he had pushed his luck and he was just happy that he had been able to get that close with Izzie and not screw it up.

  “So,” Izzie began, coughing awkwardly, “you think the reporters are still lurking out there?”

  Kale shook his head, “Dunno but I hope not. What time is it anyway?”

  Izzie glanced at her watch, “Wow, it’s nearly midnight; I’d better get going … my mother won’t sleep until she knows I’m home safe.”

  Kale nodded, “I think I’d better go too. I’ll walk you to your car.”

  They walked down the deserted corridor and, very hesitantly, opened the door before they stepped outside. Thankfully, all the reporters had left so they could go to their cars without hassle. Kale walked Izzie to her car but stopped her from getting in right away.

  “Izzie, I …” he trailed off; there was a peculiar look on his face and Izzie noticed that he turned his face from her for a moment. Kale shook his head and turned to face Izzie again; his face was expressionless now but it looked forced … whatever he was feeling right now; he was determined to hide it. He cleared his throat and stepped back to allow Izzie to get into her car, when she had settled herself in the driver’s seat, he made to close the door for her but paused.

  “I’ll see you Monday,” was all he said before he closed the door and started to make his way over to his car; leaving Izzie sitting in her car feeling very perplexed indeed.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The weeks that followed the Halloween Dance and Kale’s odd behaviour in the car park, were actually quite normal; by Izzie’s standards anyway. Kale never mentioned his strange behaviour that night and neither did Izzie; they merely carried on as if it had never happened. They were both tied up with the play rehearsals and were getting on swimmingly but they didn’t discuss anything that would veer into dangerous territory and they both avoided the ‘kiss scene’ for as long as possible. However, there was no real awkwardness between them and Izzie felt that they were – at last – building what she hoped would end up to be a solid friendship.

  So, it was a great surprise to them when they both realised it was merely a week until Christmas Eve. It was the last day of school before the Christmas break and they were just finishing their last rehearsal for the play which was due to open the final week in January. Ms Belson prowled around everyone, making sure that they knew their lines and were totally prepared for the opening night.

  “Alright everyone,” she spoke loudly above the noise, “I think we’ll call it a day. Now, I know that this is considered to be a break by all of you … but it is not a chance to neglect rehearsing altogether; I expect you all to keep running through your lines and improving your performance, even if you think you can’t do anymore … there is always room for improvement. Ok, you can all scram … oh and Merry Christmas.”

  After everyone had exchanged Christmas wishes – apart from Maddie or Jake; they had since become a couple from the Halloween Dance and neither had bothered with Izzie or Kale which suited Izzie just fine; her friendship with Maddie was well and truly over now – they all began to file out of the room until it was just Kale and Izzie left. Izzie finished packing her bag while Kale rummaged around, trying to find where he had left his own. Eventually, Kale spotted it under a table and pulled it out. He glanced over at Izzie; she was still putting the last of her notes into her bag. Kale extracted a gift box from the depths of his bag and looked at it hesitantly. He sucked in a deep breath; he could do this, it was only a Christmas present. He turned to take another quick peek at Izzie and found her looking at him strangely. “Kale, you ok? You ready to go?”

  Kale shrugged, “Yeah, I’m fine but hold on a second. I have something for you.”

  Izzie had been about to leave the room but she stopped suddenly in her tracks when he said that. She slowly turned around to face him; Kale closed the gap between them and held out his hand, offering her the small gift box. Izzie took it reluctantly but then smiled sheepishly at him as she removed a package from the inside of her coat while Kale looked at her, puzzled.r />
  “Great minds think alike … I didn’t know if we were going to do presents or not but I couldn’t resist when I spotted this.” She handed him the package, Kale smiled at her and Izzie added, “Look, let’s not open them until Christmas Day, ok?”

  Kale nodded and they made their way out to the car park where they had parked side by side. Before he got into his car, Kale called to Izzie, “Hey, I forgot to say … Merry Christmas.”

  Izzie smiled, “Merry Christmas Kale.” She watched him start his car and back out, then he was gone. Izzie started her car and quickly turned down ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ that was blaring from the radio before she pulled out onto the main road. She found herself distracted the whole journey home; she was utterly mystified as to why on earth she felt so sad.

  Izzie had managed to push her confusing thoughts to the back of her mind by the time she had arrived home. However, she now found herself faced with the dilemma of debating about whether to open the present Kale had given her or not; she was extremely curious and came close to caving and opening it on more than one occasion but she managed to resist at the last minute. She eventually set in under the Christmas tree near the back; it would be easier to avoid temptation if it was out of sight.

  When Christmas morning arrived, Izzie was wide awake at the freakishly early time of 6.30am. She knew it was too early to go downstairs but her curiosity about Kale’s present had been killing her all week; she really felt like she couldn’t wait any longer. She sighed and tried to convince herself that she could wait a few hours more; it wouldn’t kill her.

  However, just as she was about to attempt trying to sleep, Izzie heard a faint noise coming from the kitchen. Curious, she got up, stuck her head out her bedroom door and strained to hear what the ruckus was. After a few seconds, Izzie concluded it was her father; judging by the noise of pots and pans banging, her dad was getting started on cooking the turkey. Izzie smiled to herself; this was the perfect excuse to explain why she was up so early. She grabbed her dressing gown and headed down to the kitchen to get a coffee before opening her presents; she didn’t want to appear too eager.

  When she entered the kitchen, she was met by the sight of her father struggling to fit a rather abnormally large turkey into the oven.

  “Jeez Dad, are you sure that turkey’s big enough? I mean it does have to feed four mouths.” Izzie smirked as her father turned to her red-faced and sweating profusely.

  “Izzie, it’s too early for your sarcasm. Now, if you’re just gonna stand and look at me, you’d better get what you’re looking and vamoose out of here.”

  Izzie chuckled but hurriedly made a quick cup of coffee for herself and hastily left the kitchen. She wandered into the living room to find both her mother and grandmother yawning and making their way to the kitchen in search of some caffeine.

  “Better watch out in there,” Izzie warned them, “Dad’s having his usual tussle with the turkey.”

  Izzie heard her mother groan and mutter what sounded like, “Not again” before she made her way into the kitchen to help her husband.

  Izzie looked over at her grandmother who had chuckled, “I think I’ll leave them to it. Now dear, how about we deal with the presents.” She winked at Izzie and lifted the first present from under the tree and handed it to Izzie.

  Izzie looked at the label and discovered it was from her grandmother, she ripped it open as her grandmother plonked herself down on the armchair nearest the TV. Izzie discovered a beautiful dress inside the wrappings and hugged her grandmother.

  “Gran, it’s the one I had been looking at a few weeks ago but how did you know?”

  Izzie watched her grandmother smile, “I have my sources,” she merely chuckled and Izzie frowned at her but examined the dress in her hands further. The dress was even more beautiful on closer inspection; it was floor length and a silky material in a teal colour, it also had delicate little straps and lots of tiny embroidered flowers on it, along with a silk sash around the waist.

  Izzie looked at her grandmother sternly, “Gran, this dress must have cost a fortune. I don’t deserve it.”

  Her grandmother scolded her, “Izzie! It doesn’t matter how much it cost, I know you wanted it so I got if for you – end of. Besides, you never know when you might need a slinky little number like that.”

  Izzie rolled her eyes, “Where could I possibly wear this Gran?”

  Her grandmother tutted at her, “Really Izzie, don’t you have a formal coming up?”

  Izzie nodded, comprehension slowly dawning on her face, “Thanks Gran, it’s perfect for it.”

  Her grandmother nodded, “Right, that’s it settled. Now, let’s get cracking with the rest of these, shall we?”

  Izzie agreed and attacked the small pile of presents with much gusto.

  Within fifteen minutes, they were down to the last two; one of which was the present from Kale. Izzie had hoped her grandmother wouldn’t spot it but it was the next one her grandmother was holding out for her to open.

  “Alright dear, this one has a card taped to it so I don’t know who it’s from but it’s addressed to you and this last one is mine … why don’t we open them together before your parents join us to open theirs?”

  Izzie swallowed hard; she was very nervous but also excited that she would finally find out what Kale had given her. She nodded her head at her grandmother and proceeded to tear the card off the present first and opened it.

  Izzie, I saw this and thought of you …

  because you are one! Merry Christmas.

  Love Kale xx

  Izzie felt very nervous now and she spotted, out of the corner of her eye, that her grandmother had already opened her own gift of a bath set and was now looking at Izzie curiously. Izzie carefully opened the wrapping paper to find a small jewellery box; she was definitely dying to know what it was inside now. She sneaked a glance at her grandmother and found her still watching with building excitement.

  “Sweet Jesus Izzie … put me out of my misery already and open the damn box!” Her grandmother told her hysterically. Izzie laughed and slowly prised the box open to find a beautiful necklace. She heard her grandmother gasp in admiration and Izzie examined it more closely; it was white gold with a fine chain and the pendant on it was in the shape of a star. Izzie chuckled to herself; so that’s what Kale had been referring to – he believed Izzie was a star. Izzie felt quite touched at this but also confused; her emotions were running high and she didn’t know whether she should be mad at Kale or not. In fact, Izzie could only feel the urge to cry; Kale had been so sweet but it was also making everything a heck of a lot harder. Izzie fought back the tears, feeling ridiculous for even wanting to cry in the first place, and handed it over to her grandmother who was clearly itching to examine the necklace.

  “Oh it’s beautiful Izzie, I’m assuming this is from that lovely young Kale Eddision – am I right?”

  Izzie nodded and then suddenly cringed to herself; boy, now she felt really stupid about what she had given Kale …

  Kale had woken on Christmas morning to find himself all alone; his mother had some concert that she needed to stay in America for and his father was directing some major movie that required a lot of crucial re-shoots. Kale hadn’t been all that surprised when Alicia had passed on the news; it was the story of his life and he was well used to being alone during Christmas. In fact, if he had been shooting a movie, he wouldn’t have had time to celebrate Christmas; he figured he wasn’t missing much and had thought it best to decline Alicia’s kind offer of celebrating with her.

  Kale got up and wandered around the empty house; it was quite strange to not hear noises coming from the kitchen or not see somebody cleaning. Kale felt quite relieved to be alone; it was nice to have a bit of solitude for once; no reporters, no photographers – nothing.

  He made his way to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee, while the kettle boiled; he helped himself to some croissants that Mrs Wilson – the cook – must have left out for him
and that was not all. When Kale went to the fridge for some milk, he noticed a note stuck on the door; Mrs Wilson had plated him a Christmas Dinner and had left it in the fridge for him. Kale was touched at this; the kind, elderly lady always looked out for him more than necessary; it must have been her maternal instinct. Kale smiled to himself; at least he would actually be able to eat some turkey today.

  He grabbed his coffee and made his way into the living room to watch some cheesy Christmas movies since he had nothing better to do. He had just settled in front of the widescreen plasma when his gaze flickered over to the tree; it was a surprise to him to find a few presents under it.

  It wasn’t that he never received presents; it was more the fact that there seemed to be one more than the usual ones from his parents, Alicia and the staff. It was then that Kale remembered that Izzie had given him one; he eagerly abandoned the TV and decided to open hers first. He looked at the neatly wrapped parcel and felt bad about ripping the paper; he tore it off and discovered an early copy of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. He smiled to himself and opened it to the front page where he found an inscription:

  Kale, I thought you might like this to remember at least one good high school experience It will hopefully remind you that you can control your choice of roles and when the right one comes along, you’ll know … just don’t be afraid to go for it!

  Izzie x

  Kale laughed; it was so typical of Izzie to tell him something that was appropriate for his most recent dilemma – to decide whether or not to take the role of playing another dashing hero that he had been offered. Now he felt his choice had been made; he had to turn it down; he wanted something new – a challenge – and he would wait until that opportunity appeared and then he would ‘go for it’!