Star-Crossed (11 page)

As soon as the door shuts behind you, you turn to Reuben. He carries on walking calmly along, in a very calm way, with a very calm smile on his face, which makes you want to shake him violently until he says something, anything, about the huge thing that has just happened. He doesn't look at you and stays silent. The two of you turn the corner and The Caf goes out of sight. Reuben checks casually over his shoulder that there is no one behind the two of you, then jumps up in the air so fast that you leap back in surprise.

“Heaskedmeout, heaskedmeout,
he
asked
me
OUT!” Rubes cries, punching the air in what could be a manly way, if he wasn't leaping about like some kind of hyper Easter bunny.

You laugh and envelop him into a big, congratulatory hug.

“
He asked me OUT
!” Reuben's voice is muffled in your coat.

You let go, and see the biggest smile on your friend's face. That smile makes you happy even when everything else is falling apart. You grin back.

“Damn right he did. How could he resist? You're hot stuff, Mr Lucan!”

He bounces along beside you and laughs for no particular reason. Suddenly, he stops dead in the middle of his bouncing, frozen like a statue. You turn and stop too, worried, as the smile fades from his face.

“What?” you say anxiously. “Oh no, don't tell me you already have plans, Rube, 'cause that would just be—”

He shakes his head violently, and looks at you like his world has just collapsed. He finally manages to squeak, “I don't have anything to wear!”

You shake your head and link his arm in a comforting way, while he floats along beside you, half ecstatic, half mortified. You have a big smile on your face and you're loving having your friend back by your side. But you just wish that your own problems were so simple.

 

“So this is it?” Will looks up from his bag to see Ethan at the door. They catch each other's eyes, then quickly look away.

“And now it's not a game,” Will says, clearing his throat. “We're not little boys any more. We're actually doing it. We're joining the army…”

Ethan nods. “The only thing I've ever dreamed of. This is my chance. This is it. One more night, and then we're gone…”

“And my dad is proud of me. I've finally done something right,” Will says.

“We'd better make it count.” Ethan gives a grin.

Will grins back.

“I'll catch you up later,” he says. “Mum's got a meal planned. Where will you be at about nine?”

At this, Ethan's smile goes shy, and he rubs the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with his friend. Will's eyes narrow.

“What's going on, Banner?” he asks, smiling. “What are you doing tonight?”

“I'm going to Jess's house…” He blushes. “I'm going to tell her how I feel.”

Will grabs his best friend's hand. He knows how much this means to Ethan.

“You're going to tell her? Wow! Good luck, Eeth. After all these years of pining … but we're going in the morning. . .”

“Yeah, but this is something I have to do. Let's just hope that I don't get completely heartbroken.”

Will sees the panic behind his eyes. “Don't worry. You'll do fine. Good luck, I'll see you in the morning.”

Ethan looks around the room once, then back at his friend. Neither of them say what they are feeling, but they don't have to. They know they are thinking the same things.

“See you tomorrow, brother,” Ethan says, turning and walking out of the room.

“Tomorrow,” echoes Will, a smile on his face.

You are searching through your wardrobe in a mad frenzy, waiting for Rubes to come round. You give up and collapse back on your bed. You've been searching for an outfit for about half an hour with no luck. Now you just want to relax for a second. You close your eyes and sigh, remembering the conversation that you have just had at the first rehearsal you haven't been Juliet in.

At least I'm still helping with part of the play…
you think.

You think back a few hours to when you had gone into the hall, where practice is sometimes held after school. You had had PE in there earlier, and left your gym bag in there by accident. Reuben told you that there was no rehearsal in there this afternoon, as it would be in the drama studio, so you felt OK to go and retrieve your bag.

You had walked into the room slowly, and seen Walker with Miss Phillips, who was up a ladder, fixing the lighting. Walker put a palm to her head in exasperation and Phillips came back down, snagging her tights as she awkwardly shuffled back down from the ceiling. You took this as your chance to enter. You looked around the room and saw your bag to the left.

As you slipped in, Walker turned to you cautiously, and greeted you with a comforting smile that didn't quite mask the apprehensiveness of her speech.

“Jen. How are you?”

You were about to answer, but got distracted as Phillips missed the last couple of steps and collapsed to the ground in a small, smock-covered heap. You ran over to Phillips, who always looks like she would break in two.

“Are you OK, Miss Phillips?” you asked your English teacher, after you and Walker had helped her over to a seat.

“Yes, Jen, I'm OK, thank you,” she squeaked. “But my ankle does hurt quite a lot.” She turned to Walker. “I don't think I should climb that ladder again…”

Walker nodded to her colleague. “I quite agree, Anne. I'll sort it out later.”

This could be your chance to get back in on the play. You beamed at Phillips.

“Would you like me to do the lighting, Miss?”

“Would you?” she asked, pleadingly. Phillips looked like you had just offered her a million pounds.

You smiled gratefully. “If you want me to.”

Walker frowned. “I was going to ask you to do another favour for me, Jen,” she began. “I was going to offer you Misha's old part – the Nurse.” She watched you questioningly.

You thought about it for a minute.
If I take this part, I'll be acting, but I will get jealous. Chris would have a field day! Demoted after giving him all that crap? No, not likely! But … if I take the lighting job, I could say that I was offered a part but I turned it down, that I wanted to do the lighting … yeah… That would be better…

You turned towards Walker.

“No, thanks,” you had said with ease. “I think lighting would be cool.”

Phillips let out a sigh of relief.

Walker studied you closely, then nodded. “OK. If that's what you want to do…?” You nodded. “Then lighting you will do. We'll only need you for the last few rehearsals, so I'll tell you which ones to come to.”

When it was time to go, you were leaning against a wall, listening to your shared iPod on full, when Reuben ran up to you with his face white with panic. You pulled an earphone out just in time to catch the last few words:

“…so what the hell are we going to do?”

“About what?” you asked, turning off the MP3 and handing it back to him.

“Did you even listen to a word I said? Think about it – I'm
just
sixteen. You are only
fifteen
. This club – it's eighteens and over. You know what that means? It means we'll need ID. I don't
have
an ID card! I don't even have a
library
card! What are we going to do?”

You didn't say a word, but just smiled at your best friend as he got more and more frustrated with your silence.

“Why aren't you saying anything? This is my love life we are talking about. It is crucial that I get there tonight! What if he doesn't ask again? What if—”

“I've got that covered,” you announced.

Reuben stopped talking and gazed at you, half confused, half amazed. “Huh?”

You continued to grin. “It's no problem – I've got a plan.”

Reuben's face lit up. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. We're on.”

After that, you walked Reuben back to his place, with him talking fast all the way and you just happily nodding along, before walking home yourself.

That's where you are now, sitting on your bed. Nobody's home. Maddy's gone back to university and your mum and dad won't be back until about seven, by which time you will be out. You told your mum that you would be staying at Reuben's house and going “out to the cinema”, which she was fine with. She knows nothing about the gig. You've never been too worried about lying to them before – you've felt guilty, but not worried. This time, you're excited, but a little apprehensive. This time, you are going to an actual club.

It's going to be awesome.

Everything is planned. You already have clothes for tomorrow at Reuben's, so you don't need to worry about that. You can't wait to hear Mina's band. You remember Rubes telling you this morning about the gig.

J says it's the band's first gig at Mercury, and the first time a band plays at Mercury, they set a theme for the night. Mina thought that famous rebels would be quite fitting. So that means Heroes, Villains, Anarchy – whatever! As long as it's chaotic. J says to come as what you want – to leave it to your imagination. He said he'd be there about eight. Oh my God, I'll be seeing him at eight…

You've spent all day thinking about who or what to be without any progress, and you are still really confused. Then it hits you.

I know exactly what I need…

You get out the stepladder and push open the loft hatch on the ceiling in the landing. You pull yourself through the hole and sneeze twice. The dust is thick and heavy, irritating your senses and stinging your eyes.
Jeez,
you think.
When did someone last come in here?

After crawling around in the dust for a while, you find the box that you've been looking for. You pull it out, drop it on the landing, and make your way down carefully, shutting the hatch behind you. You saunter into your room, humming to yourself. You find your black boots and pull them out of your closet, tossing them on to your bed. Then, out of the box, you pull a lime-green catsuit. A huge smile crosses your face.
Poison Ivy! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!
you think, as you slip into your mother's old gym costume. It fits like a dream, with hooks that go over your middle finger to keep the sleeves down. You stretch across your bed and pick up your boots, and pull them delicately on to your legs.

Next, you walk into Maddy's room and open up her wardrobe. You smile as you survey your sister's treasure trove of sequins and jewellery.
Time to get ready…

 

An hour later you are just finishing off your hair, when the doorbell rings.

“Coming!” you yell down the stairs.

You walk downstairs and open your front door to a boy with bleach-blonde, short spiky hair, dressed from head to toe in black leather with a silver-stud leather belt and wristband. He has a silver cross dangling around his neck, the pendant swinging near his navel. Small silver hoops hang in his ears, and he smiles at you cockily from under dark blue eyelids. You laugh delightedly.

“My God, you've dyed your hair! Mr Billy Idol, I do believe?”

You extend a hand with green polished nails to Rubes, and he takes it roughly and kisses it. He looks you up and down and growls appreciatively.

“That's right, Miss Ivy – Poison Ivy.” Rubes comes out of character and self-consciously touches his hair. “I know … I cut it too … but my God, I hardly recognize
you
…”

You look down at yourself. You're wearing your black knee-high boots, your mother's cat suit, a black leather belt, and Maddy's long red wig – the signature mark of Poison Ivy from
Batman
. You're also wearing an orange mask over your green-shadowed eyes and fake golden lashes. You feel fantastic, and by Reuben's reaction, you know you look good.

“Ready to go?” he asks.

 

“Your idea better be really good to get us through
that
…” Reuben declares as you walk round the corner and see the queue.

The line is huge. Various Robin Hoods, pirates and other famous rebels are queuing down the street, their breath rising in front of them in the cold night air. As you get closer, you recognize some of the faces in the crowd from past years – some Year Thirteens, and some who have gone on to college – but you don't make eye contact with any of them, and just make your way to the entrance. Reuben is walking close behind you, looking straight at the ground, and clicking his fingers.

He's nervous
, you think.
He only clicks when he's nervous
.

“What's the big plan?”

You jerk your head towards the doors. The young, muscular guy standing there is wearing a dark suit and an earpiece wired up through his shirt, and is busy turning on the charm for the girls waiting to get in. He looks smart, sharp and pretty damn cute, but even if he was the cutest guy on the earth he would still make your skin crawl.

Reuben follows the direction of your head, and his face darkens.

“
Watts?
” His tone drops harshly. “Steve
Watts
? He's your plan?”

You look straight at Reuben.

“How do I look?”

He looks from Steve, to you, back to Steve, and then back to you. Realization dawns on his face. He shakes his head.

“You are
not
going over there, Jen. No way. You are
not
…”

You turn on your heel, slinking over towards where Steve is standing. He stops talking to the girl on his left and stares at you, his eyes travelling up and down your body, checking out you and your outfit. You resist the urge to smack him over the head, and somehow manage to smile sexily and place a hand on your hip.

His eyes fill with lust.

“Well, if it isn't Jen Anderson! Didn't I tell you that sometime soon you would be here?”

The girl who he was talking to turns away, annoyed, but Steve doesn't care. His eyes are all over you. You are all he wants right now.

And you know it.

This how we're going to get in.

“And here I am.” You make your smile that little bit sexier. “So what do you intend to do about it?”

He steps a little closer to you, and puts his hand on your hips. You inwardly cringe at his touch, but stay focused.

Just get Reuben in, just get him inside
…

“I'm going to meet you inside at eleven when my shift finishes, and I'll decide then.”

You look into his eyes, hold contact for a second, then wink. His smile grows wider, and you can see the hunger leering through his eyes. You want to get away. Fast.

Steve gestures for you to go down the stairs and into the club. You beckon Reuben and he slouches past, looking down at the floor. You can tell that he is mad, but you say nothing. As you go past Steve, you smile at him.

“See you later…” you whisper.

Turning to follow Reuben, you take a deep breath.

The hard part is done.
Now I can enjoy myself.

The two of you get to the bottom of the staircase. The music is even louder now. You can't wait to get in, but before you can walk through the door Reuben rounds on you.

“What the hell are you playing at, Jen? Steve Watts?! It's like juggling fire wearing petrol-soaked gloves!”

“I got us in, didn't I?” you argue. Reuben doesn't reply, but the look on his face says it all. You sigh. “I'll be careful, don't worry. Steve Watts is nothing I can't handle.”

I hope that's true.

Reuben looks doubtful, but before he can say another word, you push open the inner door and let yourself into the heaving club.

The crowd is jumping in front of your eyes, and the heavy beat of the bass line makes you want to join the mass of teens that fill the dance floor. The music is so loud you can't hear yourself think. You see Mina up on stage, rocking the hell out of her pink guitar. You smile, listening to the lyrics of the song.

 

“
The pain was numb,

I was gone,

But you made it start to bleed again.

Don't think that I

Can carry on,

You'll make me go insane again.

The danger in your heart…

It calls to me…

I won't be free,