by Zac Moore
“It is” he says.
He tries to lean in but I move away, causing him to fall over.
“Ow! Haha!” he says.
I help him up and put him back to bed. I see some of our classmates at the door, whispering their approval, “About time”, “Go Alex!”, “Go Lizzy babe!”.
“I see you out there, Cal, Hayley, and Ellen, get to bed before the curfew enforcers come out to play” I say.
“Sorry Lizzy!” they all scream, running back to their respective rooms.
The morning comes and goes quickly, about 10 different people ask Alex and I if we’re in a relationship, we give vague answers so they’re left guessing, but we decide to meet at lunch to discuss when or even if we should announce our relationship.
“Absolutely not, at least not until you’re 16” says Alex.
“Alex, it’s just announcing our relationship, not boasting about our sex lives” I say.
“Oh, right, well mid-year exams are coming up, maybe we should wait until after so the class can focus on their studies and not what we do in bed?” he suggests.
“A sound idea, there is gossip going about the class surrounding us but that should quickly die down” I say.
So we agree to leave it be until after mid-year exams.
The gossip takes a few days to die down but eventually, with the help of Hayley and Tracy, who now both know the truth about Alex and me (though obviously Hayley knew since the night we got together), the class start to focus on studying for exams.
A few weeks later Alex and I address the class at the morning announcements.
“By the way, I know many of you are curious about the relations between Alex and I, the rumours are true, we are now dating” I say to the class “But for now we would like to keep this a secret within the class, we’ll reveal it to others when we’re both ready”.
Alex and I both agreed that I should deliver the announcement to the class, as they’re less likely to defy me than him. The class move on but Alex and I stick around for a private chat.
“Nicely done” says Alex.
“Thanks babe” I say, “It’s a new dawn for us”.
“That it is, Lizzy” he says, hugging me.
“No threats, no insults, just hugs and kisses, oh, and occasional beatings!” I say, punching him in the back.
“Ow! Heh, I love you Elizabeth Gotthold” he says.
“I love you too Alexander Luna Moore” I say, pecking him on the forehead.
We live our lives as we have been before my confession, and then the end-of-term class leaders meeting happened. Ellen stands to address the class leaders.
“The female leader of 7G has the call” says Ms Janson.
“Thank very much advisor, ladies and gentlemen, I stand today to bring something to everybody’s attention, it appears the leaders of 7W have become infatuated with each other! As class leaders, we are to maintain a strictly professional relationship with our partners, and while I have no problem with them having relations outside of school, in school I believe they should keep their more-than-friendly relationship to themselves! I thank the hall” says Ellen.
Ellen, why?
“An interesting accusation, I’d like to hear what the leaders of 7W have to say for themselves” says Ms Janson.
“Alex, what are we supposed to do? We can’t lie, it could result in us being charged with contempt!” I say.
“Don’t worry, I got this!” says Alex “Class leaders, year leaders, and year advisors, it is a pleasure to be addressing the hall regarding these extremely personal matters raised by the honourable female leader for 7G, and I ask you this: Have my relations with my partner affected my work at all? The answer is of course no, I’ve continued to make representations on behalf of my students, I’ve continued to attend meetings, and most importantly, I haven’t broken any rules during my relations with my partner! The same is of course just as, if not more so true of my partner. Advisor, I rest my, I mean our, case”.
“A very compelling argument from 7W. It is very true that they haven’t broken any rules nor has their performance declined. I will give the female leader of 7G one chance to withdraw penalty-free, before I charge you with contempt” says Ms Janson.
“I humbly withdraw, advisor, and for the record, I am very happy for Lizzy and-” says Ellen before being interrupted.
“Titles not names!” screams David.
“Sorry, I am very happy for the leaders of 7W” says Ellen.
I think I might have a word with her after this.
“Alright, anybody else want to accuse somebody of something meaningless? Oh, wait time has expired for that item, and with that this meeting of the class of 2012 class leaders is adjourned” says Ms Janson.
Alex and I go to confront Ellen about what she said.
“Ellen, what the hell was that about?” I ask.
“I’m sorry for deceiving you, Lizzy babe. That was a test that Alex asked me to give him” says Ellen.
A test?
“I know what you’re thinking, but Alex wanted to show you that no matter what, he would fight for you, it was kind of cute actually” says Ellen “We cool?”.
“Yeah, we’re cool Elly babe” I say.
Alex and I head back home, then go to check our emails, wait, is that what I think it is?
“Alex?” I say, with fear.
“Lizzy?” says Alex, also with fear.
“Is that” I say.
“The announcement for” he says.
“THE YEARLY CLASS LEADER RETREAT?!” we say in chorus “AHHHHHHHHH! WE’RE NOT EVEN PREPARED!”.
Every year the school holds a summit of all class leaders, it’s meant to allow us to “relax and unwind after a year of hard work” but really, we’re quite stressed because it’s always held right in the middle of end-of-year business for us! There have numerous petitions for the principal to put it at the end of the year close period, and every time the response has been “I’ll consider it”, which really means “I’ll think about it for two weeks, and decide against it anyway”.
“We’re screwed” Alex and I say in chorus.
Chapter 8
You must take a vacation, you must have fun, you must enjoy life
It’s the 30th of November, end-of-year exams are finally over, results have come back, Alex and I have announced them to the class, and now we’re just entering them onto the computer, or rather, I’m entering the results for all 20 students in our class, while Alex is anxiously packing his bags for the retreat… which isn’t until Monday!
“Hey, Mister Stress-Way-Too-Early, you want to take care of our end-of-year budget return while I fight with SRRS which keeps crashing every 5 minutes?” I ask Alex.
“Sorry Lizzy, but if I do this later I won’t have time to check I have everything, if only somebody would do my packing for me?” says Alex.
As if on cue, Ellen and David from 7G come in.
“Ellen!” I scream.
“Lizzy!” screams Ellen.
“Hey David” says Alex.
“Hey Alex” says David.
“Do you guys need a hand with anything, David and I have finished all our end-of-year business” says Ellen.
“Actually, yeah, could you guys help Alex pack his bags for the retreat while he takes care of our budget return?” I ask.
“Sure, we can do that” says David.
“Thanks guys. Get on that budget return, Alexander!” I say.
“Yes dear” says Alex.
So now Ellen and David are going through Alex’s bags and figuring out what else he needs, I’m entering the last of our exam results, and Alex is working on the budget return. It takes a few hours but we finish in time for dinner. Monday comes faster than any of us imagine, and now we’re just sitting with the other stage 4 class leaders waiting for the bus.
“So, does anybody actually know what we’re supposed to do on this retreat?” I ask “Is it anything like the SRC retreats we had in primary school?
“It feels like we’re living under a dictatorship, ‘You must take a vacation, you must have fun, you must enjoy life!’” I say.
“I, don’t think you quite understand dictatorships, Lizzy, normally they don’t want their people to enjoy life” he says, “And besides, we’ve got everything covered back home, at least until the 22nd of January when we have to start entering new enrolments onto the computer”.
He has a point, but that bit about entering new enrolments worries me!
“Alex, quit stressing your woman about stuff that’s not even happening for another month!” says Ms Janson.
Yeah, you tell him Ms Janson!
“My apologies Ms Janson, I have a tendency to think about stuff that’s far off” says Alex.
It’s about a 2-hour trip to our accommodation, we check in, unpack our bags, and gather in the hall for a quick meeting.
“Lisa Hills class leader, from year 7 to year 12, and related staff! The Sydney Sports and Relaxation Park welcomes you!” says the site director “I hope you’re ready for 5 days of relaxation, oh, except for you year 11s, you’re going to have a few days of team building and then 2 days of relaxation”.
Oh yeah this takes place at the same time as the year 11 camp, poor souls.
“Thank you for having us, Director Margret, our students and staff very much enjoy being here” says Principal Bay “Alright guys, that concludes the meeting, years 7 to 10 and year 12, if you want to go back to your rooms, that’s fine, if you want to make use of the facilities, that’s fine too, remember, this is YOUR week, do as you please, feel free to partake in the activities we have planned for you, or don’t, it’s all good, year 11, follow me, you don’t have much freedom this week, BUT YOU WILL NEXT YEAR!”.
Alex and I decide to go back to our cabin, and go over the planned activities.
“Hey, this looks interesting” says Alex pointing at a cooking class.
“I thought you hated cooking?” I say, “I don’t want to go there just for you to complain the whole time!”
“I don’t hate cooking, I just hate cleaning afterwards” he says.
“Well, it doesn’t say cleaning up is part of the class, so yeah, let’s do that!” I say, enthusiastically.
I really quite enjoy cooking; Food Technology was one of my favourite subjects this year! We also decide to go bushwalking on day 3, and spend the remaining two days at our leisure. I hear Ellen and David come in.
“Lizzy, Alex, can you guys help us out, we have NO CLUE what optional activities to do!” says Ellen.
“Well, on day 2 we’re doing the cooking class, on day 3 we’re going bushwalking, and we’re using days 4 and 5 as free days” says Alex.
“You could join us if you want, Ellen?” I suggest.
“How’s that sound, David?” asks Ellen.
“Sounds good to me” says David.
“Awesome!” I say, “We’ll call it a Green-and-White day!”
“Green-and-White?” asks Alex.
“Yeah I recently found out that the letters relate to colours” I explain “Ms Janson told me”.
We spend the rest of the day walking around the park, discussing various things like life as a class leader and what it’s like living at the school. We also asked Alex how he came to be enrolled at Lisa Hills.
“Well, I spent my primary school years at White Cockatoo Public School, it was a pretty good school, though the uniform wasn’t the best looking, I mean really, it was yellow and brown for goodness sake. Initially my parents tried to enrol me at Pademelon Wallaby Sports High, which on a side note is another school involved in the School Life project, but due to my Cerebral Palsy, I wouldn’t be able to navigate the school very well, so after a few months of checking out different schools, it was decided that Lisa Hills was the best one for me to attend” says Alex.
“That’s quite interesting” I say, “But there’s still one question I’m curious about, at the start of the year you mentioned there was a specific reason you had to stay at the school; what is it exactly?”.
“My parents are overseas on work business, representing Australia at something called the United Nations International Corrections and Nursing Convention” says Alex “I miss them every day, but still, it’s thanks to their work commitments that I’ve become so close to my class, and that I’ve become romantically involved with somebody who I used to be indifferent towards to!”.
Alex, you would have to be the sweetest guy I’ve ever met!
“Actually Alex you should also be thanking your Ep-“ I say before being interrupted.
“NO! DON’T SAY IT!” screams Ellen “I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT THAT AFTERNOON!”.
Poor Ellen, I didn’t even consider her!
“Sorry Ellen, I didn’t know you were even having nightmares about that” I say.
“All good Lizzy babe” says Ellen.
It’s getting dark so we start heading back to our cabins, we make it halfway before bumping into Mr Davin.
“Hey, Eliza G, Alexander Hamilton! I hear you guys are together now!” says Mr Davin.
God I hate that nickname.
“You hear correctly Dav-man, Lizzy and I are indeed together, in fact we have been since the election in term 1, you know, since we were chosen as class leaders?” says Alex, who then laughs.
…Alex, leave the bad jokes to Davin.
“Oh, very funny mister! I meant romantically, you know, all that ‘I love you so much babe’, ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you’ stuff?” says Mr Davin.
“Well, we’re not quite at the ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you’ part yet, but yes Alex and I are dating” I say.
“Good on you two, now remember what Mr King taught you in PE Theory” says Mr Davin.
“Yes, yes, we know” says Alex.
“Use protection, every time” Alex and I say in chorus.
Geez, we’re not having sex yet!
“Alright guys, anyway, it’s about 10 minutes to dinner time, from here it’ll take us about 2 minutes to get to the dining hall, so why don’t we get down there now, and grab some sweet as seats!” suggests Mr Davin.
“Sounds good to me” says Alex.
“Me too!” I say.
We get to the dining hall, and Alex instantly locates the table nearest where the food will be.
“There it is!” screams Alex.
He’s blind in all other situations but suddenly gains full vision when there’s food involved. Alex makes a bee line for the table he identified.
“Dav-man, Lizzy, come, sit” says Alex.
Mr Davin and I go and sit, soon after, Ms Janson arrives with Ellen and David.
“Ellen! David! Ms Janson! We have a few spare seats, come, sit with us” says Alex.
“Thank you, Alex” says Ms Janson “Oh by the way, Alex, we got a message from Mrs Herriot, your parents will be back next week, so after the year is over, you can go home with them”.
“My parents?! YAY!” screams Alex.
Good for him, maybe I should introduce myself to them.
“Oh, but, Lizzy and I agreed that I could go home with her” says Alex, hesitantly.
“Alex, they’re your parents, and you haven’t seen them for the whole year, you can come to my place closer to the start of the new school year, but you should at least spend Christmas and New Years with your family” I say to Alex.
“Yeah, Lizzy, you may be right, I’ll go home, I miss my folks so much. But won’t you be lonely? Since you live alone?” asks Alex, worryingly.
“Don’t worry about me, Alex, it’s been like this since the start of the year, rest assured I’ll be fine” I say, reassuringly, “And besides, I can always call you if I get lonely between the en
d of the school year and Christmas!”.
Oh yeah, my situation is not that different from Alex’s, my parents are ambassadors for Australia in Spain, as such I spend most of the year on my own, I still have family here just in case I ever need help but for the most part I’m very mature for my age, I can cook, clean, do my own laundry, go shopping, I can even change a lightbulb! The look on Alex’s face when I told him this at the end of term 2 was priceless! Eventually all the other class leaders and year 11 students arrive, Alex goes up to get our food, he comes back with a Spaghetti Bolognese, 2 Macaroni and Chesse, a Gnocchi and Pesto, and two steaks with vegetables.
“Alex, how on Earth did you carry back 6 plates?” asks Ms Janson.
“Skill, determination, the will to succeed?” says Alex.
“You’re forgetting one thing, Alexander Hamilton” says Mr Davin.
“Oh yeah” says Alex.
“DISCIPLINE!” screams Mr Davin and Alex in chorus while slamming their fists into their palms.
We eat dinner, stay for post-dinner trivia, after which Ms Janson, Mr Davin, Ellen, and David go back to their cabins, while Alex and I go to watch the sunset. The retreat ends as quickly as it started, and we all head back to school for the remaining 4 weeks of term.
Chapter 9
We’re Moving?!
It’s the 14th of December, the end of the second last week of the school year, and Alex and I are at the last class leader’s meeting for the year, so far we’ve just be discussing things like what our classes have accomplished over the year, and what our goals are for next year, 7W hasn’t had much to report, aside from Alex being appointed class leader for the Support Unit, and next year we’ll be focusing on increasing performance in sport, having formed a sort of rivalry with the R class over it, there’s an item on the agenda simply called “Special Announcement”, and everybody is sort of on edge about it, come to think of it it’s actually the next item.
“Time for end-of-year reflections has expired, next item would be… Oh, the Special Announcement, Advisor Davin you have the floor” says Ms Janson.
“Thank you, Advisor Jaden, so you’re all probably really on edge about this announcement, well, you can rest easy now, because the announcement is…” says Mr Davin.