The Fairest Stars

Chapter Twenty Two: 'My sweet love.'

By the time Isis got to Drama the next day, she had been through at least four retellings of her date with Kael, and she was still smiling. Her mum had been the first to interrogate her, awwing and sighing over the romantic nature of the date, and then producing several more outfits she’d been working on in Isis’s absence, shortening and modernising the old clothes to make them suitable for her. She was wearing one of them today: one of her old tops tucked into a denim skirt her mother had adapted, that was actually on trend, wearing thick tights to keep out the winter cold.

Kael had beamed when he saw her. And that had given her a bigger confidence boost than the most expensive designer clothes could have done.

Seb and Freya had both clamoured for retellings after she’d told her mum, Seb that evening and Freya the next morning, both of them excited for their sister and her shot at romance. Xavier had asked her about it, a sly grin on his face, and now, Isis was about to face Lydia, who, no doubt, had probably been snorkelling in the lake at the time in order to spy on the pair of them.

As expected, Lydia almost leapt on her as soon as she got in. ‘Isis! You look fantastic!’

Isis flushed. ‘Thanks.’

‘Xav just told me you went on a hot date with Kael last night!’ she said, enthusiastically bounding about. ‘Kael’s being uncooperative and not revealing what you did though, which makes me think that the pair of you got naughty together… am I right?’

Isis caught Kael’s eye. He was sat in the corner, watching her with a sweet smile she wanted to remember for as long as she lived. Just to have someone smile at her like that was really enough to keep her romantic side going for quite some time. ‘No!’ she protested. ‘I just went to his house, and had a lovely time.’

Lydia raised an eyebrow. ‘His house, huh?’

Isis gave her a light shove. ‘Nothing scandalous happened.’

‘Not even in his bedroom?’ Lydia probed. ‘You’re both lusty young teenagers, I wouldn’t be surprised if-’

‘Lyds, sorry to burst your bubble, but I didn’t even see his bedroom,’ Isis told her, with a grin at Kael.

Lydia laughed. ‘What good children you are. We wouldn’t want you to get too carried away, now, would we?’

Isis rolled her eyes. ‘You’re ridiculous, Lydia.’

Going over, she sat down next to Kael, who gave her a secretive smile which let her know that he was thinking back over the date, just like she was. She’d barely stopped thinking about it since it had happened.

Part of her felt as if it wasn’t quite real. Things like this only happened in romance novels; they didn’t happen in real life, let alone to people like her.

Sitting back in her seat, she smiled even wider as Kael’s hand gently rested on the top of her thigh, an intimate, yet somehow very casual touch that reassured her that this was most definitely happening in real life, and most certainly happening to her too.

Mrs Robson, dressed in swathes of sequinned red material, held her hands up for silence. ‘I hope you’ve all been learning your lines!’ she called, brandishing a script. ‘Mr Willoughby and Miss McKinley have been working extremely hard on this, along with others, and I think it’s safe to say that the result is absolutely beyond my expectations.’

Isis flushed, shooting a proud glance at Kael, who winked at her.

‘However, do keep in mind that the performance is getting closer and closer by the day, and that we do not,’ she paused, looking sternly around the class, ‘ and I repeat, do not have time to mess around. So, let’s get cracking. Isis, Callum, I’d like you two to work on your scenes in the corner, the rest of you get inot groups and find a scene you can practise. Alright?’