Waiting for the Sun

4. So Selfish

“The monarch in France during this period was King Charles the fifth who came into power in 1364.”

     “So who’s sexier, Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine or Joseph Gordon-Levitt as that bruiting bum in Hesher?”

     All I wanted to do was smack her in the face. Here I was taking time away from my ever growing pile of work to help Kit with her history exam and she repaid my by not being able to concentrate for more than three seconds after which she started going on about some hideous rumour going around about the plastics or her precious Gordon-Levitt. Against Gosling he wouldn’t stand a chance.
     I started speaking louder and hoped she would get the hint so we could finish in the next three years.

     “He is said to have brought back the prestige to the House of Valois and turned the…”

     “Gordon-Levitt,” Kit said nodding her head firmly. “Definitely.”

     I chucked the thick book on the floor and suddenly twenty pair of eyes were watching my every move. The librarian Mrs Keats, who usually never gave me any trouble when I lingered behind the film shelves after-hours, stepped in front of her desk and gave me a stern look.

     “Keep it down.”

     It was the first time I heard any trace of anger in her voice and all I could do in response was to nod like a brain dead dummy. With her mousy face and eyes that definitely could see through the shelves, she actually gave me the creeps.

     “What’s up with you?” Kit hushed under her breath while brushing off what appeared to be a ball of hair from her book.

     “What’s up with you? Do you realise that I have the most important exam of the year tomorrow? I don’t know why I even bother with you anymore since you clearly don’t take anything besides Gordon-Levitt’s ass seriously. Are you even gonna pass without a fat donation from daddy?”

     I didn’t want to say it but it rolled off my tongue too quickly for me to stop. It was no big secret that Kit’s parents were posh stuck-ups but I had never before thrown it in her face like that. I really liked her dad, he always laughed when I was there and hugged Kit like he would never let her go. Now a coldness fell down like a veil over her face and her blank reflection stared back at me. Ever since we did a chemistry lab together and she made it explode right in Joe’s petrified face, we’d been close. Two years of cram-sessions, boy talk and gossip but only once had I seen this look on her face. The question was when.

     “I didn’t realise your highness was so preoccupied”, she said in a dead voice. “I’ll leave you to your many important obligations.”

     Kit made a stiff bow and swiftly disappeared from the library that still had its eyes on me. What was up with these people didn’t they own a TV or were their lives just boring? As I hurled my multi-coloured pencils into my bag with unnecessary force I heard several nervous giggles and whispers which could only mean one thing: a hottie was on the move between the bookshelves and the nerds were going bonkers. Wonderful, precisely what this school needs, more “pretty” boys who think that all they have to do is give you one look and you’ll drop your knickers and please him right then and there. Call me in three years when you’ve turned into Cole Sprouse and then we’ll talk.
     When I’d successfully fit all my things in the bag without breaking the zipper and decided it was more than time for me to leave, I jumped when I saw Joe standing two inches behind me.

     “Creep! How long you’ve been standing there? God!”

     His mouth curled up in a smirk when he put his hands in the air.