Free ... not in love with Kale Eddison by Joanne McClean

down for
some character you didn’t want to audition for?”
    Kale gave her a
small half-smile, “Ms Belson beat you to it.”
    Izzie had been
about to continue her rant but she stopped what she was about to
say, “I – oh, why … what’d she make you do?” She was curious
against her will.
    Kale laughed,
“It wasn’t that bad – you’ll actually like to know you were right –
she made me audition for ‘Benedick’ while I was there. I tried to
refuse but she insisted; I had to comply.”
    Izzie smiled,
“Ha! It’s not the same thing but at least I was right and you were
wrong.”
    “Yeah, yeah,
yeah,” Kale rolled his eyes like Izzie would’ve done and she
laughed. “So are we even now? Can you forgive me?” He stuck out his
lower lip in a comical pout and Izzie couldn’t help but laugh.
    “Ok, I just
hope she casts you as ‘Benedick’; ‘cause then I get a free
dinner!”
    Kale’s mouth
pulled up a one corner into a crooked smile, “Well you won’t have
to wait long; she told me she’ll be announcing them at the end of
the day on the main notice board.”
    Izzie felt a
knot in her stomach and hoped Ms Belson took pity on her and cast
her as ‘Margaret’; she couldn’t mess that up too badly when they
performed on opening night. She pushed these thoughts away and
changed the topic as she and Kale walked along to their free
period.
     
    During the last
class of the day, Izzie felt sick; the cast list would be up in
less than twenty minutes. Kale glanced up from his novel and saw
Izzie’s pale complexion.
    “You ok?” he
whispered; his voice full of concern.
    Izzie shook her
head, “No,” she muttered when Mr Rowntree wasn’t looking, “I’m
nervous about the casting.”
    Kale smiled,
“You’ll be fine; Ms Belson knows what she’s doing. Look, try not to
worry about it … think about where you want to go for dinner which
I will inevitably have to pay for, judging by our good Drama
teacher’s excitement at my audition.”
    Izzie laughed
despite herself, “In that case I’ll have to research the most
expensive place in town!”
    Kale chuckled,
“It’s your choice … now stop worrying; you’re distracting me from
‘Jane Eyre’!”
    Izzie
sniggered, “Yeah and you looked so engrossed before! Although, I
guess you’re right; we’ll find out soon enough … now, I may return
to ‘Mr Brocklehurst’ myself.”
    They both
quickly returned to their books as Mr Rowntree swept past them and
they remained silent until the bell rang.
    “So, time to
find out who’s made the cut.” Kale raised his eyebrows at Izzie in
a comical way and she laughed.
    They walked
along the corridor to where the main notice board was located and
found that the entire Drama class had beaten them to it. They
waited until some people had moved away and gradually edged closer
but they still couldn’t see. Izzie did see Maddie, however, and she
didn’t look very happy. She beckoned her friend over; she hadn’t
really spoken her since Saturday and she wanted to catch up.
    “Well Maddie,
who’d you get?” Izzie smiled at her encouragingly.
    Maddie looked
like she was sucking on some lemons, “I got the part of
‘Hero’.”
    Izzie hugged
her friend and exclaimed, “Well that’s brilliant but why do you
look so sad? I mean it’s a main role … who’s your ‘Claudio’
then?”
    Maddie still
looked peeved off, “I really was looking to play ‘Beatrice’ but
whatever. Oh, Jake’s been cast as ‘Claudio’.”
    Izzie found
herself not really caring that Jake was one of the main characters;
she had totally forgotten about him regardless of what Maddie had
said on Saturday. She shrugged and settled for a polite, “Oh,
that’s good.”
    Maddie nodded
but had a peculiar look on her face; she looked like she was sizing
Izzie up, like she wanted tell Izzie what she really thought of
her. Izzie felt awkward but was saved from Maddie’s withering looks
when Kale interrupted them.
    “Hey Maddie,
how