When Storm Clouds Hover

5: Izzy - Em's plan

That evening after school, Izzy loaded up her tray at the cafeteria. She was ravenous; her team had been forced to run so much at netball training that afternoon, she'd thought she would pass out.

She reached for a juice box before weaving her way between the tables towards her regular seat. On the left side of the grand hall was where the unpopular kids sat, hanging in a tight knit group of their own as if safety in numbers were a thing. For reasons unknown to Izzy, fate had determined those girls be termed the 'nerds' and forever doomed them to isolation from the rest of the girls, or at least until the end of the school year. Up by the window, as far from the teacher's table as possible, was a table of unusually slim girls, unkindly labeled the 'ano's'. These were girls who found their kinship in swapping tricks to evade adult detection of their various eating disorders. Izzy ignored them all. She'd been sitting with her same group for years and didn't question the way things were. They weren't exactly the most popular girls in school, but they weren't far off either. She'd heard her group was called the 'normal people'. They sat somewhere in the middle of the hall on a long table with benches on either side. Izzy loved her friends and was secure in her place in the pecking order, never feeling the need to usurp her station.

Occasionally, one of her friends would pick an argument with another, that typically led to someone storming off with tray in hand, to be slammed down on another table. Most of the time, though, there was chatting, laughter, and no shortage of gossip at the table—the latest news of Pascal's downfall, case in point.

To most people, Pascal's plight would garner some sympathy, but not Em.

'Well, there goes that!' she gleamed. 'The baby's not Dominic's—phew!'

'How do you know that?' Tal asked skeptically.

'A little bird...' Em said.

'Ollie?' Zara asked.

Em nodded. 'Poor guy.'

Forget Ollie, it was Pascal that Izzy felt for. So late in the pregnancy, there was no choice in the matter; she would have to have the baby.

All day it had played on Izzy's mind, why Pascal would have waited so long to tell anyone but at the same time, she suspected she knew the answer. Windsor was a close-knit semi-rural community. Everyone knew everyone's business, especially if you were part of the church. Pascal's family had suffered the shame of her father's time in prison. That news had fed the town's gossipmongers for years. An abortion would have been out of the question.

Izzy felt grateful for her parents, who didn't push the religious angle much. They trusted that their girls would find their path to spirituality on their own.

In any event, the news of Pascal's pregnancy had to have been a shock to everyone, including the school headmistress. Watford was not the sort of school where girls got pregnant!

When all the girls had taken their place in the dining hall, the head prefect, a tall and willowy young woman with a posh accent and stern demeanor, asked them to bow their heads and say grace. The gigantic hall filled with the hum of hundreds of teenage voices in prayer.

'For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly grateful...'

Izzy found it challenging to keep her eyes closed throughout prayers. It was as though she'd been saying the same words for years without ever truly hearing them. Her mind drifted towards her recent insecurities. When they'd started taking mixed classes, she'd found it a bit awkward. Having spent the past four years in the safety of a relatively small all-girls school, talking to boys had been a lot harder than she anticipated. She wondered at how some of her friends could be so confident. She resolved to try harder to be more outgoing. More like her friends.

As grace ended, the girls all struggled to swing their legs over the slim benches to sit for dinner.

'My prayers have been answered!' Em announced jubilantly to the table. She was in high spirits because she'd spoken to one of the boys at school that day who'd mentioned that Dom would be back at school the following day.

Looking up, Tal tugged her fingers through her cropped hair, and grinned at Em: 'D'you really think that now Dom's girlfriend is off having someone else's baby; he's going to want to start up something with you?'

'No smart mouth,' Em responded. 'You've got to have a plan.' She shrugged. 'First, I'll be the friend he needs. Y'know, the shoulder to cry on. We'll spend lots of time together talking about Pascal and what a fuck up she is and how much she's hurt him until...one day... ta da! He realizes he can't live without me!'

'Em, no offence, but Dom's never showed the slightest bit of interest in you,' said Zara.

'True. But... this is where (air quotes) 'said' ...plan comes into play,' said Em. 'I'm moving into his English class tomorrow. I'll be the first girl he notices now that she's gone.'

'What the..! When did this happen?' Tal squawked.

'How did this happen?' asked Izzy simultaneously. She was surprised. Em hadn't said anything to her about moving classes when they were up talking last night.

'Yesterday, I made a complaint about Mr. McCleary staring at me,' said Em a little too casually. 'I requested a transfer to Ms. Zeiman's class, and they gave it to me.'

Izzy sighed. 'Em, you can't do that.'

'It's done,' Em said nonchalantly. 'He shouldn't be such a perv.'

Izzy rolled her eyes.

Em ignored her. 'Can you pass the salt, please?'

But Izzy wasn't done. 'Em, that's unfair,' she said huffily. 'Teachers can lose their jobs over stuff like that.'

'Rubbish, I didn't accuse him of anything serious,' Em responded. 'Besides, he does make me uncomfortable.'

'Since when?' asked Zara, with a distinct bite in her tone.

Em waved dismissively. 'They'll just talk to him, no biggie,' she said, unaffected. 'Iz, can you pass the freaking salt, please!'

Izzy picked up the salt and slammed it down in front of Em. 'Nice work,' she said, furious with disappointment in her friend.

Em laughed off Izzy's huff: 'So, I guess you don't want my ice-cream today?' She slid her bowl across the table before whipping it back.

Izzy ignored her.

After a pause, Tal glanced at Izzy and then back towards Em. 'Give it here!' she said, leaning across the table and sliding the bowel towards her.

Em laughed.

Tal shrugged. 'I'm mad at you too but not that mad.'