‘Mr Quinten’s never going to let this even get through to the school board. He’s an army man. He’s all about discipline and rising early,’ Jelena said.
She stopped walking and wheeled around to face Alex. Alex stopped too, and a crowd gathered to watch what looked like a showdown.
‘It’s a tried and true fact that just about every political party makes promises that they’re unable to implement once elected,’ Jelena continued. ‘I might not have as dramatic a selling point as you do, but then I’m not running a campaign full of false promises. My ideas are actually likely to become realities.’
‘Funny you say that, because Mr Quinten’s actually really interested in One Hour Later,’ Alex replied coolly. ‘He’s concerned about the levels of stress and anxiety amongst our Year Twelve students. I’ve already set up a meeting for him on Wednesday with my uncle, who’s on the Board of Studies. He’s overseen many of the schools that have decided to reconfigure their school days.’ Alex smiled, looking like a cat that had backed a mouse into a corner. ‘You know, you can’t let my personal rejection of you colour this entire election, Jelena. Remember, this is about the students, not your dented ego.’
Jelena’s eyes resembled the Medusa’s — I was surprised the fury in them didn’t turn Alex to stone.
‘That’s enough, Alex,’ Hayden said. ‘We all know the details behind that rejection. If you want to know the opinion of someone who’s on the school council, it’s going to take considerable effort on your part for your fellow students to see you as the honest type.’
‘I think everyone will realise before long that my reputation was unfairly blackened,’ Alex replied, before heading off to class.
Jelena shook her head. ‘He’s delusional. Thanks, Hayden.’
Hayden gave her a smile, and ducked round to give me a quick kiss on the cheek before he headed off to his maths class.
Sara wandered up, pushing Johannes in his wheelchair. I knew she’d spent most of the past two days by Johannes’s side. She’d pretty much cried the entire bus trip back from camp, so was obviously doing all she could to relieve her guilt over Johannes’s fall, even though we’d all assured her it was an accident.
‘Alex won’t win,’ she told Jelena. ‘Everyone remembers what he did to you and Aurora. Do our schoolmates want a leader who’s capable of things like that?’
‘For an hour more sleep, most of our schoolmates would forgive anything! Plus, his uncle’s on the Board of Studies.’ Jelena looked infuriated by Alex’s connections. ‘That’s complete nepotism. You know what’s going to happen if he gets in? He’ll be a complete tyrant and make our lives hell.’
‘Well, we can’t let him then,’ Sara said. ‘Just let us know what we can do to support you. Posters, badges, slogans — whatever. We’re behind you one hundred per cent, aren’t we, Aurora?’
‘Completely and utterly.’
Jelena and Sara might clash heads occasionally, but I knew Sara, like me, didn’t like seeing Jelena bullied by an alpha male.
‘Are you fully on board with the Find a Prince/Princess Program™ then?’ Jelena asked Sara. ‘It’s crucial. There are a number of people at Jefferson who value what we have to offer and I want to prove to them that Aurora’s ideas work.’
‘I promised I’d act loved up with Johannes if you needed me to,’ Sara replied without hesitation.
Johannes looked put out. ‘Act? I don’t know about being on board with that.’
‘Johannes, you know that my focus is my career,’ Sara said, squatting down next to his wheelchair. ‘I had so much fun hanging out with you this weekend, and I’m sure you would make a perfect boyfriend for any girl, but I’m not looking for that. I want to be your friend though, very much.’
Johannes looked glumly at the ground. It was obvious he’d got his hopes up after having Sara as his nursemaid all weekend. I could tell Sara had developed an affection for Johannes too, because her lips turned downwards as she watched his face fall. She quickly moved closer and pressed them to his cheek. Johannes looked up with a start.
Sara put her hand on his arm. ‘We need to ensure Jelena wins. You told me you come from a country where gender doesn’t inhibit anyone’s chances of success, where women experience exceptional standards of equality. We need to implement that here, by preventing a chauvinistic male from taking what Jelena deserves by publicly bullying her.’ Sara looked at Johannes with pleading eyes. ‘Some hugs and kisses while we pretend to be a couple for two weeks can’t be that bad. Plus, you’ll score so many girls after being temporarily off the market.’
I couldn’t tell what was going through Johannes’s mind after Sara’s offer. Maybe he was insulted by the idea of play-acting as her boyfriend when he clearly wanted the real thing. I felt kind of guilty running a program where we promised love and then delivered a façade. But who was to say that Sara wouldn’t be won over? This was Johannes’s chance to convince Sara just how brilliant a boyfriend (and how understanding of her career) he could be.
As I watched him slowly nod his agreement to Sara’s proposal, I realised this was probably his thinking as well.
‘Okay. But this kissing you speak of, it must start now,’ he said. ‘We have to build support for the campaign quickly.’
Sara shrugged. ‘Okay.’ She pecked Johannes’s cheek again, happy to have got her way.
Johannes shook his head, looking disapproving. ‘That is never going to win us the election, Sara. If we are a couple, as you say, a new couple, then there are no pecks. It should be kisses that are like what you call pashes.’
And with that, his lips landed on Sara’s.
I clapped a hand over my mouth to smother a gasp. Lindsay wasn’t so discreet — she let out a soft shriek. Jelena smiled her first smile since Alex’s announcement. We tried not to stare as Johannes put his all into this very public kiss. Throngs of students started whispering and pointing as the kiss stretched on. Sara’s hands were tensed against Johannes’s chest as if to push him away, but as his mouth caressed hers repeatedly her fingers relaxed. Johannes pulled her onto his lap in one quick motion, so they were cuddled up together on the wheelchair.
‘Break it up!’ Mr Quinten said, tapping Johannes on the shoulder as he went by.
Johannes pulled away. Sara’s mouth was stained red from the passionate kiss. She sat in his lap, looking stunned.
‘That’s a kiss that will win us an election,’ Johannes said firmly.
‘Sara, I got a shot of the kiss,’ Jelena said. ‘I’m just uploading it and adding tags of the two of you. It’s so good to know I have your support! Johannes, are you happy with the picture? We could always repeat the kiss if you aren’t.’
‘We’re late for class,’ Sara said quickly. She leapt up from Johannes’s lap and started pushing his wheelchair down the path.
‘Okay, I’ll tag this one then!’ Jelena shouted after them. ‘Album: The Find a Prince/Princess Program™: Successes!’
‘You’re thinking the same thing I am, aren’t you?’ I said to her. ‘Sara’s going to start feeling it for real.’
‘I’m just happy that we have one sure result from the three couples,’ Jelena said matter-of-factly.
She could make out that she was all about power and position, but I could tell that matters of the heart were just as important to her as they were to me.
Chloe came running up and threw her arms round me. ‘I hope you can add a second success story to the list. Aurora, I nearly cried like Harriet did during the Symphonie Fantastique. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, we basically spent the whole last two days of camp together, and he was texting me almost every hour on the weekend until we had our date yesterday —’
‘You guys had a date?’
I felt totally out of the loop. I’d kind of hoped the candidates would allow me to arrange any meet-ups, like I had originally proposed. That way I’d be able to tailor the location and activity to the couple.
‘I didn’t have your number,’ Chloe said.
‘I Facebook-inboxed you, hoping you’d give me some tips, but I didn’t see a reply so I just ended up going.’
‘Good. You have to trust your own instincts,’ Jelena said.
I looked at her. She was completely contradicting the principles of the program!
‘I’m really sorry, Chloe,’ I said.
With everything else happening over the weekend I’d completely forgotten to check my texts, let alone my Facebook. I still hadn’t looked through my news feed.
Chloe laughed. ‘Don’t be silly! He took me out on the family sailboat. We talked a lot about our former relationships. It’s so great to hang out with a guy who’s open about his past and his relationship wounds. I was able to be honest in return. By the time we sailed home, I felt like our intimacy level was the same as if we’d been dating a month or more. And then today! He’s told me several times how cautious he is after what he went through with his ex, so that public mention of Berlioz and Harriet was a huge thing. Aurora, I know for sure now — I don’t want you to set me up with anyone else. I think Hunter might be the one.’
Seemed like Hunter wasn’t the only one who fell fast and hard. I’d never seen Chloe so glowing and open. ‘Are you sure?’ I said. ‘You’ve only been set up with two of your three matches. Benjamin’s decided to focus on his career for the time being, but I’m more than happy to arrange things with a third candidate. That way you can ensure you’ve evaluated all your options.’
I was hardly the type to discourage the notion of love at first sight, but I felt a responsibility here. I hadn’t organised their date or held a post-date analysis with either Chloe or Hunter. I was meant to be an impartial third party, ensuring that the essential elements of a successful relationship were present for both.
Chloe brushed away my worries. ‘Aurora, I don’t need to. I just have this amazing feeling.’
‘Aurora’s just modest,’ Jelena replied for me. ‘She’s still a little stunned by how effective her techniques really are.’
‘I obviously have faith in the program’s fundamentals, but are you sure it’s wise for Chloe to knock back her other match?’ I asked Jelena after Chloe had virtually skipped off to class. ‘We’re still two weeks out from the election.’
‘Aurora, that whole performance at assembly this morning said it all. Hunter’s gone crazy over Chloe and she feels the same way. So why worry? You know how fast these things can move.’
She had a point. Maybe this was a natural part of being a matchmaker — you always felt overprotective of your matchmakees’ hearts.
‘Let me think about it overnight,’ I said. If I was still concerned tomorrow, I’d have a chat with both Chloe and Hunter.
CHAPTER 25
‘So was Johannes’s kiss like this?’ Hayden asked. ‘Fast and furious?’ His lips moved over mine frantically, as if we were a hero and heroine reunited after a long and hazardous wartime separation. ‘Or long and lingering?’ His lips traced mine with almost agonising slowness before he deepened the kiss. I felt every muscle in my body relax as his hands stroked my arms hypnotically.
How could kissing be so much fun? Now that I’d finally stopped almost hyperventilating every time Hayden moved close to me, I felt like I was addicted to it. As soon as he’d arrived at my place at 4 pm (the NAD and Ms DeForest had gone to their Monday prana yoga class, and were eating out afterwards), my lips had met his before they’d even formed a ‘hello’. Now I was sitting on his lap on the couch and kissing some more.
‘Long and lingering,’ I giggled when our lips finally separated. ‘Not the other one. You can’t name a kiss after the title of a car-racing movie. Girls don’t go for that.’
Hayden mock-pouted. ‘Well, excuse me for trying to educate myself on new techniques.’
‘I’m the one who needs the practice,’ I whispered, ever so close to his lips. ‘Help me banish Lethal Lips forever.’
‘Gladly.’
When we finally broke away from each other, I looked at the clock and gasped. ‘How is it 7 pm? I put this clock here so I’d know to stop kissing you after fifteen minutes! Three hours have passed!’
‘That clock is no fun.’ Hayden grabbed it and hid it behind a couch cushion.
I grabbed it back. ‘We’re seriously running out of time to watch the movie.’
‘Okay, okay, but I warn you, John Keats is only going to heighten the romance.’
Hayden pulled away from me reluctantly, got up and reached for his schoolbag, taking out a DVD. Since Keats was my favourite poet, Hayden had told me that I was officially obliged to watch Bright Star with him.
As we cosied up together on the couch, I was transported to a world where a young impoverished Keats courted the equally young object of his affections, the gorgeously stylish Fanny Brawne, and created remarkable poetry about the beauty of nature and the sacredness of young love.
‘Breathtaking, isn’t it?’ Hayden whispered in my ear as we watched hundreds of butterflies fluttering about Fanny’s room.
Hayden had to fetch the tissues at the end, though, as Keats and Fanny were forced to say an agonising goodbye. Keats was leaving for Rome in the faint hope that the warm weather would improve his health, despite the fact that he was suffering from incurable consumption. It was clear they both knew they would never see each other again in that lifetime.
‘I think you’re close to the end of the box,’ Hayden teased me as I wiped my eyes for the umpteenth time after the film ended, trying to pull myself together.
‘It was so unfair,’ I whispered, barely getting the words past the lump in my throat. ‘And think how many people nowadays give up on love or treat it so lightly. Keats and Fanny would have given anything to have the chances that we do, to live their lives out together.’
‘Life is always fragile,’ Hayden said seriously. ‘You never know what might happen. That’s why you and I have to promise each other never to take things for granted. We have to seize every moment, show each other just how precious we are.’
‘I promise,’ I said, taking his hand. It felt as if I was reciting a vow to both him and myself. ‘I know this is only the beginning, but you mean so much to me.’
Hayden kissed me, taking my other hand and twining our fingers like a bond against whatever might come.
‘I had to kiss you for that,’ he said. ‘Like Keats said, even three days with you, Aurora, would be enough to make me deliriously happy. Let’s rewind to that part.’
Keats’s voice filled the room again. ‘I almost wish we were butterflies and lived but three summer days. Three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.’
‘What happened to your face?’ Jelena said in horror as we all sat down at a picnic table for lunch the next day. ‘It looks like my eye at camp.’
‘I know, I know.’ I shook my head.
Last night’s kissing session had taken its toll, despite how romantic it had been. The film hadn’t only intensified our emotions, it had seemed to do the same thing to our kissing. We’d remained on the couch in the dark, kissing and whispering to each other as the film played on in the background, until Hayden’s mum had called. She hadn’t seemed happy — I’d heard her reminding him that it was 10.30 pm on a school night. We’d finally managed to pull ourselves together and Hayden had headed home. Waking up this morning with a red rash across my entire chin and upper lip area had been a rude shock. Although Hayden didn’t have much facial hair yet, the friction of his skin against mine over what I estimated to be five to six hours of kissing was still enough to make my face feel as if it had been sandpapered.
‘Didn’t Hayden come over last night?’ Cassie asked mischievously.
‘Even your nose is peeling,’ Sara said, giggling. ‘Isn’t that a bit off the target?’
‘We watched Bright Star,’ I said. ‘It’s the most exquisitely beautiful film I’ve ever seen.’ I pulled out my iPad. ‘Listen, I downloaded the soundtrack.’
‘I never knew befo
re, what such a love as you have made me feel, was; I did not believe in it,’ Keats said as the film’s score played in the background. ‘But if you will fully love me, though there may be some fire, it will not be more than we can bear moistened and bedewed with pleasures.’
I sighed and so did Lindsay.
‘Is that what you’ve been listening to all morning?’ Cassie asked. ‘I saw you had your earphones in every chance you could.’
‘It’s beautiful,’ Lindsay said, listening again. ‘I totally get it.’
Jelena was still staring at my face. ‘How long did you guys make out for?’
‘Five to six hours?’
The girls all shrieked and fell about laughing. Sara nearly toppled off the end of the picnic bench.
‘I know, it seems ridiculous,’ I said, ‘but it was our first proper date after Hayden’s grounding.’
‘A little self-control, maybe?’ Jelena sounded bemused. ‘Your skin’s not going to stand up to another session like that between today and the weekend.’
‘I was all set on self-control, but now that I’ve seen that film, I don’t want to waste any moment that could be spent feeling the way I do when I’m with him. Love is the mark that I want to leave on this world, whether that’s through my own relationship or the matches I make for others.’
I’d always held Keats’s proclamation of ‘Love is my religion’ as my mantra, but now I knew the details of his story the words had taken on an even greater meaning for me. What I’d also realised overnight was that I shouldn’t caution Chloe about putting all her eggs into one basket when it came to Hunter. Carpe diem. They both knew what they wanted and they were going for it. Good on them.
‘Aurora, that’s a big risk to take,’ Sara warned. ‘There are a lot of other important things in this world besides love. What if things with Hayden fall through? You might regret making him your entire focus.’
‘Don’t worry, she won’t do anything too silly,’ Cassie told Sara. ‘It’s natural to think like that so early on in a relationship. I felt like I was floating instead of walking when Scott and I first got together.’
How to Convince a Boy to Kiss You Page 32