The Fairest Stars

Chapter Nine: 'Talk of peace.'

A/N: Dedicated to shivikeni for being the first to realise that every chapter is named after a Romeo and Juliet quote! Enjoy <3

Yawning, Isis groaned as she rolled out of bed. Recently, she’d found herself more tired than ever, thanks to now having to do the rehearsals. It wasn’t that she minded. It was just that her body did.

Getting up, she headed into the kitchen, ready to start making lunches. Her sleepiness hadn’t been helped by not sleeping much last night: her head had been spinning with thoughts. Thoughts that mainly revolved around Kael.

Why had he come so close to her? Why had he acted like he wanted to kiss her? Pulling the bread out and starting to slice it, Isis frowned. She supposed that the alcohol did things like that to people. They lost control of their actions.

She buttered the bread far more viciously than she usual did. Kael had bloody kissed her forehead. She could still feel the hot as fire feel of it trailing across her skin. Oh no she couldn’t. This was getting to be ridiculous. One boy paying the slightest bit of attention to her, and she was acting as if he’d got down on one knee and pulled out a ring.

Sighing, she cut the sandwiches in two and packed them into the lunchboxes. It was going to be a very long day, if this was any indication of the way her thoughts would be wandering.

And they were wandering. As she got Freya ready for school, her mind was jumping straight ahead, wondering if Kael would ask her out, and…

Really, thought Isis. She’d be thinking up baby names next.

She didn’t even like him! He got drunk, he was rude, and he was moody. He was handsome, yes, but she wasn’t shallow enough to be swayed by that. Or so she told herself.

Oh for goodness sake. She wasn’t even the romantic sort: she’d never really felt a desire to have a boyfriend like all of the other girls whom she knew. In fact, she’d been rather under whelmed by all the boys she’d met. Yes, she was best friends with a boy, but she wouldn’t want to date him.

However, she couldn’t help a natural curiosity about love. Part of her thought it was overrated: love really couldn’t be as beautiful and magical as it was in the few novels she’d read… or could it? The other part of her wondered about that rush of emotions characters felt in stories, and mused over what it would feel like to have someone look at her with passion burning in their eyes.  Not that it would ever happen.

No, she decided. Love would most likely be a bit of a disappointment. She was happy as she was, and she barely had time for a best friend, let alone for a boyfriend too. She’d have to have them on a rota, and she doubted that any boy would want to be subject to a rota. Not that any boy would want to date her anyway. Isis had forgotten, in the dazed day dreams of her mind, that she wasn’t the sort of girl people wanted to date. She was no fool: when she looked in the mirror, she saw her small, unexceptional face, a face which you’d pass over in a crowd, nothing special about it at all.

 Walking along the path to school, her thoughts still appeared to be following the same path. Was Kael really interested? Probably not. Was she bothered? Probably not. Was the word probably starting to annoy her? Yes. Definitely.

As she made her way through the school gates, someone put their hands across her eyes, blocking out the light. She jumped.

‘Harry! You scared me!’ she protested, pulling his fingers away from her face, and turning to hug him tightly.

‘Sorry, Is,’ he said, with a cheeky grin, ruffling her hair affectionately. ‘How are you today, then?’

‘Alright,’ she replied. ‘Tired, as usual. What about you?’