... not in love with Kale Eddison (19 page)

Izzie sighed
and shook her head, “Kale, everything is not that simple. The world
isn’t just black and white.”

Kale smiled, “I
know … but it isn’t just shades of grey either.”

Izzie smirked,
“Touché … but why can’t we just be friends? Is that not enough for
you? I hate when you bring up this crap; it makes me feel all
awkward.”

Kale thought
for a moment, “I’m sorry. I’m being a jerk again. Your friendship
is important to me but I’ll always want more.”

Izzie nodded,
“Fair enough Kale, but you’re going to have to accept the
possibility that that is all it will ever come to.”

Kale didn’t get
his hopes up when Izzie said ‘possibility’; it wasn’t a definite
‘no’ but it wasn’t a definite ‘yes’ either … God women could be so
frustrating! He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked
into Izzie’s eyes.

“Ok, I can
accept that.”

Izzie felt
relieved, “Ok, I think it’s time to change the subject so I don’t
feel awkward again.”

Kale laughed,
“Sorry, it’s my fault … me and my big mouth. Blame the day job;
gushing about our feelings is kind of in the job description.”

Izzie chuckled,
“Sure, no problem … now, it’s getting late; do you think you can
cope without me until we get back to school?”

Kale shook his
head solemnly, “No, I’d die without you,” then he sniggered, “I’m
just messing, of course I can but where’re you going? I thought I’d
see you before we’re due back.”

Izzie smiled,
“I’ve to visit relatives all week so you won’t see me until Friday
but,” she paused for a minute, “we do have these things called
mobile phones … if you wanna talk, I’ll answer.” She looked at him
seriously then, just to show she wasn’t joking about.

Kale looked
grateful, “Thanks … for everything. I’ll see you bright and early
on Friday morning. Let’s hope everybody’s been rehearsing!” He
wagged his finger disapprovingly a lá Ms Belson and Izzie laughed
as she headed out the door.

Friday morning
arrived very quickly and Izzie found herself excited to see Kale
again; she pushed aside any inklings that would suggest that this
was because she really liked him and blamed it on the fact that she
missed him being a nuisance.

“Hey,” Kale
smiled at her and leaned against the wall beside her locker.

“Hey yourself,”
Izzie told him as she slammed her locker shut and fell into step
with him as he starting making his way down the corridor.

“So,” Kale
began, “nice holiday visiting your relatives?”

Izzie rolled
her eyes, “The less said, the better … trust me.”

Kale chortled,
“Ok, I’ll not ask again. So, do you think anyone actually rehearsed
over Christmas? Ms Belson is seriously deluded if she thinks
everyone was running through their lines the entire time.”

Izzie
sniggered, “I know but as long as the main characters know their
lines … it’ll be alright. So, do
you
know your stuff Mr
Movie Star?”

Kale rolled his
eyes, “Mock all you want, I know you love it all too. I’ll have you
know that I am word perfect and I can guess that you are too … as
for the rest, we’ll find out soon enough …” he pointed to the
notice board, “rehearsal today at 11am.”

Izzie groaned,
“Great, there goes my good mood.”

Kale looked
puzzled, “Your ‘good mood’? I wasn’t aware you had such a function,
let alone know the meaning of it!” He smirked at her and Izzie gave
him a dirty look. “Ooh,” he teased, “if looks could kill!”

Izzie bit back
a laugh but a smile slipped out anyway and Kale chuckled, “See …
two can play at that game.”

Izzie smiled,
“Yeah, yeah, shut up and move your ass … we’re going to be
late.”

When school was
over, Izzie was a little disappointed she couldn’t meet up with
Kale since she had to work. However, it would give her the
opportunity to think things over; she hadn’t had the chance over
Christmas break to suss out her feelings for him and work would be
quiet so it was the perfect time to think. Although, she couldn’t
deny, if she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to see Kale
again … didn’t that seem to suggest that she had already made up
her mind about him? Maybe there would be no need to mull things
over so much …

Chapter
Fourteen

After weeks of
rehearsal, the opening night of the play was not far away; it was
the last day before the ‘big night’ and Ms Belson was just running
through some last minute pointers before she dismissed the
class.

“Now, I want
you all to have fun tomorrow night and if you make a mistake …” she
paused and waited for them to bleat back the end of her
sentence.

“…we forget
about it and move onto our next line.” They all chanted back to her
and Ms Belson smiled; apparently satisfied that everybody was
prepared.

“Alright,” Ms
Belson smiled, “you can go, see you all tomorrow night.”

Izzie was
relieved, she turned to Kale, “Thank God, I thought she was going
to give us
another
lecture there.”

He laughed,
“She just wants it to be flawless … and it will be.”

Izzie smiled,
“Good to know you have the confidence in yourself not to mess it
up.”

Kale shook his
head, “Oh the cheek! You really should be a comedienne if you don’t
make it as a writer.”

Izzie rolled
her eyes, “Funny, now, you coming or what?”

Kale sighed,
“Yeah, I just can’t find my script. Look, you go on and I’ll meet
you by the lockers, ok?”

Izzie nodded
and made her way out the door with everyone else … well almost
everyone …

Kale had just
located his script behind one of the props when he felt a tap on
his shoulder and he turned to find Maddie.

“What are you
looking Maddie?” he frowned at her; she hadn’t bothered him or
Izzie since before Halloween and he liked it that way.

Maddie smiled,
“Oh come on Kale, what did I ever do on you? I just wanted your
help with something.”

Kale sighed
heavily, “Fine, what is it?”

Maddie
fluttered her eyelashes flirtatiously, “I’ve got an audition and I
just wanted your advice on what way to play the part.”

Kale found it
hard to resist; he always liked the chance to help somebody out …
especially when it involved acting. He nodded, “Ok, what’s the
role? You got the script handy?”

Maddie
obediently extracted the script from her bag and handed it to Kale,
“I’m gunning for the part of the soldier’s girlfriend but I don’t
really know how to play the scene.”

Kale flicked
through the pages, “Which scene is it?”

Maddie pointed
to the appropriate page and Kale nodded, “Ok, since it’s a highly
emotional and intense scene, I’d recommend you stick to the
basics.”

Maddie nodded,
“Ok, what are the basics I should stick to?” She looked at Kale
pleadingly but was also wishing that Jake would hurry up with his
part of the plan.

Izzie was
collecting a textbook from her locker when Jake approached her. She
sighed, “What do you want Jake?”

Jake tried to
look innocent, “Hey, I’ve just come to pass a message on from Ms
Belson; she wants to see you back in the rehearsal room … she
forgot to tell you something important for tomorrow night.”

Izzie was
embarrassed by how sharp her tone had been, “Oh, right, sorry Jake.
Ok, I’ll go now. Thanks.”

She set off
down the corridor and had just reached the door when she heard
voices; Kale and Maddie to be exact. Izzie was curious as to what
they could possibly be discussing but she was also wary that Ms
Belson was probably waiting for her inside too. She pushed the door
open and was quite sickened by what she saw …

Kale had been
frustrated trying to explain the basics of acting out the scene to
Maddie that he came to the conclusion that he would have to
show
her a few simple things.

“Ok,” he began,
trying to keep his cool, “this scene involves you – the girlfriend
– not wanting me – the soldier – to leave and fight for my country,
right?”

Maddie nodded
and looked at Kale with puppy-dog eyes, “Yeah.”

“Ok,” Kale
continued, “one of the simplest actions you can do to really make
the moment intense is hold my face, like this.” He tenderly held a
hand against Maddie’s cheek and looked her directly in the eye.

Maddie mimicked
his actions and he nodded, “Good, now you do this when you say the
line ‘I don’t want you to leave … but I know you have to do this
baby.’ It’ll really convey the anguish your character is feeling at
that particular moment; the torment of the dilemma of allowing my
character to leave but also the selfish need for me to stay.”

Maddie nodded,
“Ok, I think I get it. Could you help me with one practice run and
then I’ll leave you alone … promise.”

Kale agreed,
“Ok, it’s my line first …”

Izzie couldn’t
believe her own eyes when she saw Maddie and Kale kiss, however,
the thing that disturbed her most was the fact that Kale had let
her kiss him. Kale suddenly pulled back and became aware that
Maddie was now looking at someone. He turned, with a dazed look on
his face, to see Izzie standing in the doorway.

“Izzie, hey, I
thought I was meeting you by the lockers.” Kale still looked a bit
out of it.

Izzie now dimly
realised something; Kale was an extremely dedicated and brilliant
actor. Before Maddie had kissed him, Izzie had noticed the look in
his eyes; it was the same look he had during all the rehearsals for
the play. The look he had in his eyes now made something very clear
for Izzie; it was different from the one when he was in character.
They always said that your eyes never lie; they always show what
you truly feel and it was crystal clear to Izzie that Kale looked
dazed because he was just pulling himself out of character. It
amazed her how he had the ability to draw himself into a scene so
vividly and emotionally; he literally
became
his character
when he was sucked into a scene. Guess she’d have to stop teasing
him about his crap acting skills; he
definitely
did have
talent. Izzie still found herself a little annoyed though,
regardless of how good an actor Kale actually was; he and Maddie
had still shared a kiss – scripted or not, it was still a kiss. She
knew she shouldn’t feel jealous or betrayed but that was what she
felt bubbling up in her right now. She tried to ignore those
feelings while she looked at Maddie’s satisfied face.

“What exactly
do you think you have achieved here Maddie?” Izzie asked her, still
feeling both annoyed and confused; why was Maddie acting like this
now?

Maddie grinned
slyly, “Oh, just how I can get two men under my spell with ease
while you can’t get your grubby paws on even one.”

Izzie raised
her eyebrow, “
That’s
the point you wanted to prove? Ok, well
done … you can see I’m
truly
destroyed by your actions …
truly!
It’s just too bad that Kale and I aren’t actually
dating.” Izzie laughed and hoped Maddie was smart enough to
recognise the sarcasm in her voice.

Maddie frowned;
clearly irritated that Izzie seemed to be unaffected by her
actions. She flipped her hair and sneered at Izzie, “Well, at least
I got my revenge on you for just snubbing me when you became best
buds with a movie star. Real friends don’t dump you when some
mediocre movie star shows up.”

Izzie laughed
hysterically, “Do you hear yourself? This is ludicrous, all of it.
First of all,
you
snubbed me when Kale arrived, two; real
friends don’t sell stories to the papers to get revenge – yeah”
Izzie paused when a look of guilt flashed across Maddie’s face, “I
know you were the
‘close, personal friend’
quoted; it
doesn’t take a genius to figure out who would spread some bullshit
rumour about me – you made your jealousy of my friendship with Kale
quite clear; I practically followed the trail of breadcrumbs – or
should I say blood, from stabbing me in the back! Anyway, where was
I? Oh yeah, and lastly, how
dare
you call Kale ‘mediocre’;
he’s been acting since he was no age whereas you still wouldn’t
know how to convey emotion of any kind if you studied it until your
dying day!
You
are such a spiteful bitch that you are
incapable of any emotion that is human …
you,
my
friend,
are a robot! And you will still be one, no matter
how many acting lessons you take …
you
will be mediocre –
and
that
is being polite!”

Maddie simply
stared after Izzie had finished her outburst; she looked like she
had just been slapped. Kale, who had been watching the
confrontation with an open mouth, turned to Izzie and gave her a
little round of applause. Izzie snapped out of her bad temper and
smiled at Kale and even took a little bow. Maddie finally woke from
her stupor and glanced at both of them, she looked directly at
Izzie.

“Guess that
means our friendship is over.” She eyed Izzie scornfully.

Izzie smirked,
“
That,
is the most intelligent thing you have said in the
last while … guess you do have a brain inside that metal head after
all.”

Kale was bent
double at that; he was practically choking he was laughing that
hard. Izzie chuckled at him and Maddie quickly left the room; she
knew she had been defeated.

After a few
seconds, Kale had managed to stop laughing and calmed himself back
to seriousness again, his intense gaze bore directly into Izzie’s
eyes and she felt jelly-legged. “Did you really mean what you
said?” Kale asked her.

Izzie shrugged,
“I said anything to shut her up,” but she smirked nonetheless and
Kale realised she was joking.

“So,” Kale
smiled, “I’m really better than ‘mediocre’ huh?”