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‘That looks good,’ a voice said behind her.

She spun around. ‘Oh, hi Gabe. Yeah, it’s actually pretty boring, except it’s on Turkish bread.’

‘Better than this,’ he said, holding up a vegemite sandwich made with Wonder White.

She laughed. ‘Anything would be better than that. You want some of mine? I’m probably not going to finish it.’

‘Really?’ He looked pleased.

‘Sure. Sit down.’

He sat right beside her so their thighs were almost touching. She handed him half the sandwich.

‘Oh my God. This is amazing,’ he moaned as he bit into it. ‘It even has aioli on it or something. Your mum rocks.’

‘Actually, I made it,’ she admitted.

His eyes bugged out. ‘My dear Lizzie. How is it that I never knew you could cook or beatbox until today?’

‘Well we’ve never exactly hung out before.’

‘My loss,’ he said ruefully. ‘So did you have a good summer holiday?’

‘It was OK. I didn’t go anywhere, but it was better than coming here, I guess. You?’

‘My parents took my little sister and I to Hawaii.’

‘Nice. What was it like?’

‘Amazing. Just as you would expect. I surfed heaps and swam in the pool most of the time.’

‘Did you go to a luau?’

‘Yeah. It was alright. A bit touristy, but kind of fun, I suppose.’

Taylor re-appeared and plonked herself down on Lizzie’s other side.

‘Hey Gabe,’ she said, with zero enthusiasm.

‘Hey.’

Lizzie could immediately sense his indifference.

‘Gabe went to Hawaii for the summer,’ she informed Taylor.

‘Oh yeah? Did you stay at the Halekulani in Waikiki?’ she asked, half interested. ‘My cousin went there last year and it’s supposed to be
the
place to stay.’

‘No. We just booked somewhere a few blocks back from the main drag. But I liked it.’

Taylor focused on unwrapping her salad roll. ‘Oh right.’ She then retrieved her phone from her pocket and started texting someone.

Gabe frowned, but then turned his attention back to Lizzie.

‘Have you met the newbies yet? We got two guys and one girl.’

‘No. Have you?’

‘Yeah. The girl is pretty quiet. Her name’s Ashley and she transferred from New South Wales. But the two guys seem cool. Josh and Nick.’

‘Great. I’ll have to introduce myself later.’

‘If you like, you can come to mine after school. I’ve invited the guys over to hang out.’

‘That’s really sweet of you. Taylor, you want to go?’

She looked up, seemingly distracted. ‘Sorry, what?’

‘Did you want to go to Gabe’s this afternoon?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe,’ she said noncommittally.

‘Well I think I will,’ Lizzie said, smiling at Gabe.

Gabe’s face lit up. ‘Awesome. Do you want to just leave with us or would you like to meet after?’

‘I might go home first and change. And then I’ll pick up Taylor if she wants to come too.’

‘Alright. Here’s my address.’ He pulled a pen out of his pocket and scrawled it on Lizzie’s arm.

She laughed. ‘Thanks. See you around four thirty.’

Taylor had already gone back to her phone. When Gabe left, she looked at Lizzie.

‘Why are you encouraging him? He’s like an annoying puppy.’

‘He’s sweet. And you were mean.’

‘He’ll get over it. In fact, I’m sure he would have been shocked if I had actually been nice to him.’

‘What are you doing anyway?’

‘I was organising a night in with the girls, which we’ll discuss later. But now I’m googling Brandon Thomas to see if I can find any dirt on him.’

‘And?’

‘His name is too common. And there’s some American NFL player who shows up on all the top results. I’m going to need more info.’

‘I’m sure you’ll find a way,’ Lizzie said dryly.

‘You’re not really going to Gabe’s house this afternoon, are you?’

‘Why not?’

‘Because he is lame!’

‘How about we just go for an hour and then we can grab some dinner after, just the two of us?’

‘OK, but I’m only saying yes because you’re my best friend and you have a car.’

‘I’m sure the car bit was the deciding factor.’

‘Stop it. You know I love my little Lizzie.’

‘You’re like one inch taller than me. And one month older.’

‘You’re still my little Lizzie. And you’re so lucky that your dad has been onto the whole driving thing so you can actually take the car out unsupervised. My mum is too busy to practice with me, so I swear I won’t get my P’s until after I finish uni.’

‘I could talk to Dad about helping you.’

‘No thanks. I told you, the guy scares me. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the road.’

‘Well just let me know if you change your mind.’

‘I can’t believe we still have P.E. this afternoon.’

‘Please don’t skip out early.’

‘I’m thinking I might have a sudden onset of PMS.’

‘No! Keep me company!’

‘Fine. For you only.’

Lizzie wrapped an arm around Taylor’s neck.

‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’

CHAPTER 2

After an excruciating afternoon of basketball, Lizzie and Taylor meandered up to the school gate to head home.

‘Wait, I just want to see what kind of car Brandon drives,’ Taylor said, detouring via the staff car park.

‘Give it up already. What difference does it make?’

‘All the difference. Imagine if he drove a Suzuki Swift or something.’

‘That would be fine.’

‘No it wouldn’t be. A Suzuki Swift is a girl’s car.’

‘You’re so judgy.’

‘I bet he drives a Prius. Or some other kind of hybrid. He looks like he cares about the environment.’

‘He might not be going home for ages. Are you just going to sit here like a stalker until he comes out?’

‘Just wait a couple of minutes.’

Lizzie sighed. ‘Fine.’

They sat leaning against the fence separating the car park from the rest of the school grounds. Taylor got out her phone again. Lizzie pulled out her copy of
High Fidelity
.

Taylor glanced over.

‘Are you seriously going to read that?’

‘Um, yes. Aren’t you?’

‘No! There’ll be crib notes online somewhere. I’ll download the movie later and then make up some bullshit about dealing with relationship break-ups.’

‘How do you know that’s a theme?’

‘I looked it up already,’ she said, holding up her phone.

‘You’re resourceful at least, I’ll give you that.’

‘Hey, look!’ Taylor pointed to a car driving in from the main road.

‘Is that him? Why’s he coming back in?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe he forgot something. But I like what he drives, even if it isn’t exactly environmentally friendly.’

Lizzie had to agree. It was a restored Kombi van painted red and white. It stopped about ten metres away, and the door opened.

Lizzie frowned.

‘Is he wearing a beanie?’

‘I think so.’

‘Did he change clothes?’

‘Looks like it.’

‘But the bell only went like ten minutes ago. How could he have changed, driven off and come back in that time?’

‘I don’t know. Let’s ask.’

‘No!’ hissed Lizzie. ‘That would be weird.’

‘Relax,’ she said, smoothing out her ponytail and approaching the van.

‘Mr Thomas?’ she called.

A head popped up from around the other side of the van.

‘Yeah?’

‘I was just going to ask how your first day went. What do you think of our school?’

Lizzie covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.

‘What?’ He looked confused for a second, before breaking out into a grin. ‘Oh, you think I’m him.’

Taylor stared at him blankly. ‘Sorry, I’m lost.’

The guy came over and held out a hand. ‘I’m Jason. Brandon’s brother.’

Taylor almost squealed with excitement.

‘You’re twins?’

‘Last time I checked.’

‘This is perfect.’

Jason laughed. ‘OK then.’

‘So what are you doing here?’

‘Picking up Brandon. I borrowed his van today, so I promised to meet him this afternoon.’

‘You guys look exactly the same. And I mean, exactly!’

Lizzie stood back, mortified at Taylor’s behaviour.

Jason pulled the hat off his head.

‘Not quite.’

A cascade of long dreadlocks fell about his shoulders. Taylor was even more delighted.

‘I love dreads!’

‘Good to know, sweetheart. What did you say your name was?’

‘Taylor Walsh.’

‘And how old are you, Taylor Walsh?’

‘Seventeen.’

‘Legal then,’ he said, pleased.

Legal for what? Lizzie thought. Not to drink or enter a club. And then she belatedly realised what he meant.

Oh.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about Jason.

‘Jase!’

Lizzie and Taylor looked over and saw Brandon approaching.

‘You’re not harassing my students, are you?’ he joked.

‘Not at all. Although I must say the girls here are much hotter than when we were at school.’ He winked at Taylor.

‘You can’t say stuff like that! This is my school now. I need to be professional,’ Brandon said, annoyed.

‘Settle down, dude. I was just playing.’ He looked at Lizzie and shook his head while mouthing the word ‘not’.

‘Come on. Let’s get out of here before you have me investigated for paedophilia.’

‘They’re legal, man. Seventeen.’

‘I’m still not allowed to fraternise with the students. And that means you can’t either.’ Brandon pushed his brother towards the van.

Jason wriggled his fingers at Lizzie and Taylor in a cheeky wave before hopping in the passenger side of the vehicle.

‘Sorry about that,’ Brandon said, heading over to the driver’s side. ‘I’ll see you girls tomorrow.’

‘Looking forward to it!’ Taylor called out in a cutesy voice.

Brandon revved the engine and took off faster than was probably acceptable for a school car park. Lizzie noted his angry expression as she watched the van drive away.

‘This is officially my favourite school year,’ Taylor said happily.

‘Please be careful,’ Lizzie warned.

‘Don’t worry about me,’ Taylor said breezily. ‘I know what I’m doing.’

‘I hope so.’

‘Don’t be such a downer. Come on! Let’s go and get that car of yours so you can impress your new boyfriend!’

***

‘He’s not my boyfriend!’ Lizzie said exasperatedly after the fifth time Taylor had teased her about it. They were standing in Lizzie’s bedroom at her house in Indooroopilly.

‘Are you saving yourself for Brandon?’ Taylor chortled.

‘No. And stop going on about him!’

‘Fine.’ Taylor flicked through Lizzie’s wardrobe. ‘You need to go on a shopping spree. Can you borrow Daddy’s credit card this weekend?’

‘No. I promised I’d help him sort out the garden. But maybe the weekend after. And for your information, I’ll be using my own money.’

‘Oh, yeah. How is Macca’s this year?’

‘Same as always.’ Lizzie stood at the foot of her bed and looked at the pile of discarded clothes strewn about.

‘You seem to care an awful lot about what you’re going to wear to Gabe’s to say you’re not interested in him,’ Taylor observed.

‘I didn’t say I wasn’t interested in him. I just said he wasn’t my boyfriend.’

‘Do you want him to be?’

‘Maybe,’ she said, blushing.

‘Ooh. We are totally going to make that boy go crazy for you. OK, here.’ She handed Lizzie a white tank top and some tiny pink shorts.

‘You think?’

‘Yep. And those cute Holster sandals with the diamantes.’

‘Alright. You wanna borrow anything?’

‘Nope. I already have a change of clothes in here,’ she said, pointing to her school bag on the floor. ‘What did you think I had in there? Books?’

‘No, of course not. Who would think to put books in a school bag?’

Taylor pulled out a blue and white striped midriff top and paired it with white shorts that were even smaller than Lizzie’s.

‘Look who’s making the effort now!’ Lizzie nudged Taylor with her elbow.

‘Shut up. I only packed one outfit. I hadn’t planned on wasting it on Gabe.’

‘The newbies will be there too. The guys at least.’

‘Saw them already. They’re nothing special,’ Taylor sniffed.

‘You never know. They might be really cool.’

‘Doubtful. But we’ll see.’

Taylor produced her makeup case and proceeded to load up on mascara, eyeliner and eye shadow. She completed the look by painting her lips bright red. Lizzie settled for a quick slick of brown mascara and an almost nude shade for her mouth.

‘You’ll have to let me do your face some other time, but we’ll never get out of here if we don’t leave now,’ Taylor said, looking at her watch. ‘Let’s get this out of the way so we can go have dinner. I want to try that new American diner in the Valley.’

‘Oh yeah. I’ve heard good things about that place.’

The two girls ran downstairs, and Lizzie grabbed the keys from the kitchen bench. Her dad never got home until after six, so she’d text him later to say she wasn’t going to be back to eat with him.

Lizzie’s dad’s car was a bronze Ford Kuga. The colour reminded Lizzie of those over-tanned, leathery-skinned old people she occasionally saw down at the Gold Coast.

She jumped into the driver’s seat and waited for Taylor to get in the passenger side.

‘I love that your dad has a motorbike he takes to work so you can drive the car,’ Taylor commented.

‘It’s only because it’s so hard for him to find somewhere to park this thing. But if it’s raining, I’m out of luck.’

‘Let’s pray for blue skies all year.’

Lizzie smiled to herself. Taylor was so superficial. She liked to pretend it was her car too.

‘Can you put this address in the GPS?’ Lizzie asked holding out her arm, which was still covered in Gabe’s scrawl.

Taylor squinted at the writing.

‘Are you telling me Gabe lives in Teneriffe?’

‘Yes. And?’

‘He’s loaded?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

‘You didn’t tell me he was rich. Now I know why you’re interested.’

‘I don’t know he’s rich, and I don’t appreciate the implication that I’m only going after someone because of their money.’

Taylor held up her hands in surrender. ‘Touchy.’ She quickly programmed the address into the GPS and then switched on the radio. An Ed Sheeran song came on.

‘Boring,’ she said, getting out her iPhone and searching for the Bluetooth connection to the car’s stereo. ‘How about a little dubstep?’ she asked slyly.

‘You love winding me up, don’t you?’

‘I totally do. Brandon gave you this look like… I don’t know. It wasn’t something you normally see between a teacher and a student.’

Lizzie didn’t say anything. She did think Brandon was a hottie, but she wasn’t sure she should be encouraging any untoward thoughts. It was safer to focus on guys her own age. Or at least ones that didn’t teach at her school.

‘Would you be jealous if I made out with him?’ Taylor asked.

‘Brandon?’

‘Yes, Brandon! Who did you think I meant?’

‘I don’t know. I guess I would be more worried for you than anything,’ she fibbed. In actual fact, she
would
be jealous. But she wasn’t going to let Taylor know that.

‘What about Jason? He’s not a teacher.’

‘Yeah but he’s a sleaze. You can tell by looking at him.’

‘He looks just like Brandon!’

‘No, I mean he has this expression. Like his eyes are mean or something.’

‘You got that from a thirty second discussion with the guy?’

‘He was talking about you being legal. As in to sleep with.’

‘So? I am.’

‘You would have sex with him?’

‘I don’t know. Possibly.’

‘Who do you like better? Brandon or Jason?’

‘I think Brandon. But it might only be because I know he’ll be more of a challenge.’

Lizzie shook her head. ‘I think you should stay away from both of them. Besides, you don’t even know them properly yet.’

‘There’s still plenty of time.’

They pulled up out the front of Gabe’s house, and Taylor inhaled sharply.

‘He
is
loaded!’

Lizzie really didn’t care how rich someone was. It was what the person was like that mattered.

They both went up to the door and Taylor rang the doorbell. ‘I might have to take him for myself,’ she said lightly.

‘Really?’ Lizzie couldn’t tell if Taylor was kidding or not.

‘Of course not. Don’t be so serious. What kind of person do you think I am?’

Gabe opened the door, thankfully saving Lizzie from having to respond. She enjoyed Taylor’s company most of the time, but her best friend could be quite fickle. It always seemed like she might abandon Lizzie at any moment if a better situation came along. She’d caught glimpses of it in the past, but nothing that was yet a deal breaker.

She just hoped it stayed that way.