Imago

Chapter IX

On Saturday I plan to just hang around at home and finish some assignments, so I'm quite surprised when I hear a knock at the door and mum announces I have a visitor. I'm expecting to see Izzy or Donna at the door, but it's Isaac, with his usual lopsided grin.

"Oh, hi," I try my best to sound casual around mum and dad. I can already see Dad's heckles going up. This is the first time he's seen Isaac, I realise.

"Hey," Isaac replies, before stepping in and holding his hand out to shake my dad's hand. "Isaac."

"John."

Isaac looks back to me and I'm instantly lost in his eyes. "So, um, my family's having a BBQ dinner tonight and they wanted to know if you'd like to come?" He looks up at my mum and dad. "Izzy was going to ring and ask, but she got roped into helping to clean the house. I've just been to the shop so I said I'd drop past and ask." He holds up a plastic bag he's holding as proof, and glances back to me. "I figured, if you're not busy, maybe you could come hang out with Izzy and I'll walk you there now?"

I turn and look at mum with pleading eyes. "Can I?"

Mum looks to dad to garner his reaction and then grimaces at me. "What about your homework?"

"I've finished it."

"Really?" She doesn't believe me.

"Most of it," I admit. "Like ninety five percent of it. I'll do the rest tomorrow, I promise."

"Well, if your dad's okay with it ..."

We all look to dad and he seems a little put on the spot. "I guess it's alright."

I only just manage to stop myself from doing a little jig in excitement and then tell Isaac I need to get changed and to give me five.

When I come back out of my room, Isaac is telling dad all about his plans to get into computer science, and Dad actually seems impressed.

When Isaac sees me, his smile tells me he approves of my shorts and tank ensemble.

The whole walk to the park is strangely silent. Isaac seems lost in his thoughts and I know that I just need to leave him with them for a while. As soon as we hit the playground though, he finally speaks.

"Come stand here." He leads me to the bottom of the slide and encourages me to stand on it, like I was when we first kissed. Once I'm up there, he links our fingers, kisses me gently and then rests his forehead on mine. He sighs deeply and my gut churns instinctively. Bad news is coming. I can feel it.

"I need to tell you something," he says finally.

"Okay." I do my best to keep my voice from shaking.

He pulls away and smiles at me adoringly, before closing his eyes and sighing again. When he opens them again, they have an edge of sadness to them.

"Remember how I told you I wanted to eventually get into that course in Sydney after school?" I nod. "Well, it turns out that last year I got enough credits to apply, so I did ... and I got in."

"That's awesome!" I try my best to slow my thoughts down. So what? We have about eight months together and then he moves away. It's better than no time together, right?

"They do a mid-year intake. I start in July," he adds, sadly.

"Oh." I look down at my feet. Okay, so that shortens it to about two months together. No biggie.

"I leave on Monday to give myself time to find a job and more stable accommodation before I start. I'm going to stay with my uncle for a while, but I need that time to get settled and find a job."