- David Bowie, Jean Genie -

"Thanks for talking me up before the contest," Ethan said at lunch.

We were sat alone at 'our' table. Just the two of us.

"No problem. It's what friends do," I replied.

"Friends," he smiled.

"Yeah... I mean... You're pretty high up on my list of favourite people. Telling you that you're awsome is all part of the package," I told him with a smile.

I loved these relaxed moments with him. When we could just talk.
About anything.
When it felt natural.
Comfortable.
Like slipping on a pair of woollen socks and drinking hot chocolate on a cold winter evening.

"You're pretty awsome too, Izzy," he smiled.

"Thanks," I replied.

"So. How high exactly am I on that list of people?" He asked with a curious twist of his lip.

"Fairly close to the top. Within the top five," I said with a wide smile back.

"I'm guessing that guy you're crushing on has the top spot?" He asked without looking at me.

"Huh?" I asked feeling confused.

That guy? What guy?

"Yeah... I mean... You've been all giggly and stuff," he muttered.

I sat there feeling slightly hollow. And bewildered. I stayed quiet.

"And the Roberta Flack song? We didn't even play that at the valentine gig, but you rehearsed it for someone," he said quietly.

I stared at him wondering if my moment had come. But he wasn't looking at me. I couldn't read his face. I didn't know if he was teasing me or trying to be an encouraging friend.

"He should be grateful. Whoever it is," Ethan mumbled.

I tried pulling in a breath but realised I was already holding hard onto the last inhale I took. I exhaled slowly trying to find even a small trace of courage to say "It's you".

He looked up at me with a small, crooked smile.
My brain scrambled.
There was a wild animal inside my ribcage. Beating at the bars for its freedom. Wanting to run across the table.
To him.
My inner fangirl was screaming at top volume, begging me to say three small words that would change everything.
And I was terrified.
Of his reaction.
Of his rejection.

"The next time he's at one of the gigs. We could do a dedication and see if he takes the hint," Ethan suggested looking like it was the worst idea he'd ever had.

It broke my spell. Snapping me out of it.
I started laughing.

"That's a stupid idea," I giggled.

"Why?" He asked.

"It just wouldn't work. I've kinda already tried," I replied, thinking of all the times I had been flirting and singing love songs, lyric lines, straight at him.

"He's that slow, huh?" Ethan asked with a subtle smirk.

"Or my hints are just terrible," I grinned back.

- March 7th -

The Academy Winter Art exhibition was held on the first Saturday of March.
I had three paintings up in the spacious gallery style lobby of the Arts building.

I had painted in an old fashioned japanese style, but given my Geisha a book instead of her traditional fan. Brains over beauty. She was also dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but the drawingstyle made it look like a kimono.
My kabuki actor was based on a photo of Ethan's great grandfather and done as a 1920's kabuki poster. Complete with grimaces. Ethan's dad had helped me with the japanese characters written along the right hand edge from top to bottom. Translated it read "Takumi Katzuo, wanderer among stars", to name the actor and, as a nod to japanese tradition, signal that he was a respected ancestor.
My third painting was a portrait, done in brush and ink on rice paper. I had used a youth picture of Ethan's grandmother in traditional kimono dress as my model.
I was actually rather proud of my work.
I had focused on techniques, culture and looks rather than try to create something modern.
On a sidetable, I had placed a portfolio of my sketchwork so visitors could see how much work I had put into the details.

All students were positioned in front of our own work as the doors opened for the show.
Vero was to my right with a series of surprisingly good fashion designs based on Kenyan tribal costumes.

Simon was on my left in front of a series of notelines where Inuit shaman symbols replaced the notes of a traditional Inuit lullaby. It looked like a complicated code language.
Very original.
Very Simon.

Freddy had an amazing series of photos of his family all dressed up and made up to look like the various incarnations of David Bowie. He claimed that the assignment only stated culture, not a specific country and he'd gotten away with it on account of it being an aspect of modern rock culture.

I looked at the door to see family members and friends search the room for their artists. Among them were my mum, Sarah and Mark, closely followed by Josh.

"I'm so proud of you!" My mum said and hugged me.

Josh was looking at my art with a confused look on his face. Art was not his strong point.

As my mum let me out of my hug, a big, tall, human brick wall lifted me up into the air.

"Oddball!" I squealed.

He put me down with a big goofy grin.
Behind him I spotted Elsie.
She shook her head at her brother, as if she was the adult and he was the kid.

I had told the guys about the fanclub.
They had found the concept hilarious.
Elsie was apparently not happy about Abby and my new connection.
Oddball had been told off for being a crap brother who didn't even give her a CD, when I had given Abby 'loads of cool stuff'. To make up for it, he had burned a few CD's of everything we had recorded and told Elsie it was the fan club edition.
She had reluctantly let him back in her good books. But only if he took her with him to cool places.
And now she was here. With three out of four of Obstruction. And her arms around me in a hug.
I hugged her back.
Just because she was Oddball's sister and 100% adorable.
My mum and Josh moved over to look at Simon's artwork. I followed them over. It was next to mine and I could quickly move back if anyone stopped to look.

Sarah wrapped me in a big hug.

"I haven't seen you for ages, Izzy," she said.

"I know. I've been so busy," I replied.

"Yeah. Keeping three boys in check can't be easy," she laughed.

"Hey. I'm no trouble. Right Izzy?" Simon teased.

"You're the worst! The other two are limited to the band room. I never get away from you," I huffed with a laugh.

"You know you love me," Simon winked.

I shook my head at him and turned to my own station.

Oddball studied my artwork with a nod.

"Do me a favour, Izzy?" He asked.

"Yeah. What do you need?" I asked.

"A tattoodesign," he said.

Elsie stared at her brother in disbelief.
I grinned and nodded. The ultimate compliment.

"No... no... Don't you dare! " Elsie said whacking Oddball's arm.

He just wrapped her up in a hug.

"Izzy will make something pretty for me," he said.

Elsie frowned.

"And you get final say," he told his baby sister.

"What sort of thing did you have in mind?" I asked.

"Not sure yet. Something about the music," he said.

"We'll sketch it up. Simon might have some ideas too," I nodded.

The look on his face changed just a fraction as he looked behind me towards Simon's end of things.

"And the awsome foursome are united," he grinned.

I turned to see the Ethan and Simon doing some weird bro-hug over by Simon's artwork.

I was momentarily distracted by a pair of tight bootcut jeans.
If cleanliness was next to godliness, I was definitely going to a very special hell.
Guiltily, I added tight jeans on my Ethan-related fetish list.
Just below tuxedoes.
There seemed to be no end to the ways this boy could mess with my head.
I lifted my eyes before my motorfunctions ceased up and noticed he was wearing the beanie I gave him for christmas. He'd hardly worn it all winter. I almost feared he hadn't liked it, but he looked really cute in it with his messy hair poking out.

He turned and walked over to Oddball and me with a smile.

"The beanie!" I blurted.

"Yeah. I had misplaced it.... in Mio's room for some reason," he smiled at me.

Looking around I saw his parents in front of my artwork, with my mum.
Ken was leafing through my sketches.

"My mum insisted on coming along," he said nodding at them.

My own mum was saying something to Rose and they both looked towards us.
It was time to intervene before my mum's lack of filter kicked in.

"Thanks for lending me your pictures. It really helped," I said.

Rose nodded back with a smile.

"It looks like you put them to good use," she said.

"You have outdone yourself, Izzy," my mum said with a proud smile.

"It was easy once I figured the details," I replied modestly.

"You spent lots of time on research though. Always with a book in your hand or doing sketches," Ethan said at my shoulder.

I hadn't realised that he followed me over. I looked up at him feeling very self conscious.
He was so close I could smell him.
There was so little space between us that I was loosing my sense of balance, tipping in his direction. Not a good idea with multiple parents present.
Flustered I turned my face from him to see a smirk on my mum's face.

I sent her a warning look. She hid her smirk with a cough.

I swear. I could have whacked her.
My own mum...

And who was my mum's best friend? Sarah, of course. Who stood to the side watching my mum and me with badly hidden amusement.
The urge to facepalm was definetely present.

"Oh... Did you see Simon't thing? It's like this amazing, crazy code," I said trying to distract various potential onlookers from breaking my calm.

"He did all that this week you know," Ethan informed me dryly.

"I know," I muttered.

"Yeah... Guess who drew up the notes for him," He mumbled.

"You shouldn't have had to do that. Simon reads notes," I said certainly.

"No... Simon reads bassnotes. If it goes above a G he gets all confused," Odd chuckled by my wall.

I shook my head towards Simon who winked over at us as if he was the messiah of creativity.

"He didn't even know what to do until last week. He's got three ruined canvases upstairs in the studio," I huffed.

"Procrastination is his religion!" Oddball laughed.

"Hey. That would work as a lyric for that song," Ethan cheered and between them they started singing the melodyline of our most recent original.

"He uses procrastination,
As if it was a religion.
never on time,
Still he never comes late," Oddball sang as Ethan did some weird air-guitaring, jumping around.

I shook my head and left them to it.

Monkeys in a cage. Only, the cage door was wide open.

"What on earth have you done to him?" Rose asked with a wide-eyed look towards her son.

I looked over and recalled his normally shy and quiet manner.

"Nothing to do with me. That is all him... It's probably just one of those crazy days?" I said with a shrug.

She looked at me with a suspicious squint for a moment before she patted my arm and went into the lobby to look at other student's work.

My mum and Josh had drifted away to look at other stuff too.
I stood alone watching my classmates with their friends and family.

Next to me was Vero.
I suddenly realised that the people looking at her designs were all just drifting past, asking polite questions about her work before moving on.
There was not a single person lingering. No friends or family had given her congratulatory hugs.

I walked over.

"You okay, Vero?" I asked.

She loked up with a sad look in her eyes as she nodded.

"Your work is ace," I said looking at a bronze coloured wrap dress design.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"Bet your family are proud of you," I said.

She gave a short chuckle.

"They couldn't care less," she muttered.

There were a lot of stuff about Vero that I didn't get. That mix between bombshell and needy suddenly made sense.

"Don't worry, Izzy. I'm used to it," she said quietly.

"Well... Your designs are awsome. I'll totally hire you to make my dress when Obstruction hits the MTV-awards," I grinned, trying to snap out of the pity I felt for her.

"That would be cool. But you will have forgotten me by then," she muttered.

"No, I won't. Cos your name will be up there with Calvin and Coco," I replied.

She smiled gratefully and I drifted back to my own space to talk to some visitors. Once they had gone I found myself alone with Elsie.

"So. How are you doing kiddo?" I asked.

"Apart from wanting to swap places with Abby... fine," She huffed.

"Why do you want to swap with Abby?" I asked.

"Because... Brother... Embarassing me in public," She said sending a glare in the direction of two creative souls who had found a seat and were furiously writing ideas for lyrics on what I recognised as my sketchpad.

I threw a look at my bag which they had opened and rummaged through.

"Thieving miscreants!" I muttered and put my bag back behind my display.

Elsie went over to Oddball who simply handed over his whole wallet and pointed towards the cafeteria. She disappeared out he door with her brother's warm smile on her back. He turned to look at me with that same happy look before miming about food with a questioning look. I thought about it and mimed a drink back. He nodded, said something to Ethan and followed Elsie.
There was a curious look in Ethan's eyes as he looked up at me, and I suddenly realised he was holding my little lined notebook in his hand. In their hunt for writing materials they had taken, not just my sketchpad, but also the book I wrote my poetry and song ideas in.
I cringed.
With a brief look around, he licked his lips and stood up. His eyes flickered from the notebook to the floor and around the room as he slowly approached me. He threw a few looks around us to make sure no one would overhear before he looked at me.

"Umm. This text..." he started and looked at the book again, leafing it open to a specific page.

I nodded. Unsure of what he was going for. And then he tapped the page.

"You should tell this dude.." he said, looking serious.

I shook my head. I couldn't. Not now. With all these people around.
Ethan replied with one of his shy, lopsided smiles that took my breath away.

"We could be
Some kind of friends
I believe
That it's where it ends
Because you don't really see me
And I see you all the time" he read from my book.

I felt the blush crawl up my face as my throat closed up. In front of me, Ethan's eyes studied me.

"No," I said, not really sure of what I was refusing.

"At least...." Ethan started but stopped short. Something in Simon's direction caught his attention.

I looked away to see Ellen heading towards me in what was the miniest miniskirt I had ever seen. She spotted Simon, faltered, straightened her back and neck before she headed to me with a smile.
Simon was facing the floor, but looking up at Ellen through his hair.
I shot him a suspicious look.
Something was badly off.

Raising an eyebrow I turned to Ellen and her uncommon lack of skirtlengh.

"What happened to the rest of your clothes?" I asked.

She shrugged with a giggle.

"And what's the deal with you and Simon?" I asked, knowing a direct line of approach worked best where Ellen was concerned.

Ellen blushed with a guilty look on her face.
I looked between them again. Simon was stood with his hands behind his back and his mouth flattened. I couldn't work out if he was fighting down a smirk or a frown, but he looked like a criminal on the verge of getting caught out.

I looked at Ellen again with a frown.
She sighed.

"Are you two getting back together?" I asked.

She shook her head without looking at me.

"But.... something has happened?" I asked.

Ellen nodded as she bit her top lip, looking like a five year old who has been caught with a hand in the cakefrosting.

Realisation hit me like a train.

"Ellen...." I whinged quietly.

With an innocent look in her eyes, she shrugged.
Simon on his end of things had obviously caught my discovery and was, to his credit, looking ready to sink through the floor.

There was a look of smug embarassment on Ellen's face.
I just sighed.
And then I caught the look in her eyes as she glanced at Simon.

"You're still in love with him, aren't you?" I whispered.

She nodded.

"And he...." I started, but was stopped by a shake of her head.

"He doesn't feel that way about me. But, Izzy, it doesn't matter. Because he's so fucking perfect. I mean... I got what I wanted..." she said in a low whisper.

With a nod, I signaled that I got it.
One single look over her shoulder confirmed how much I actually did get it.
I gave her a hug.
And sent an exasperated look towards Simon who was talking enthusiastically to some visitors.

There was a moment as Ethan was leaving when I realised my notebook was sticking out of his back pocket. I considered running after him and snatching it, but the prospect of hand-to-ass proximity was downright disturbing.
I would have to ask for it back on monday.
And hope he didn't read too much into the more obvious lines.

A few hours later we were packing up. All the visitors had left. The artwork would be staying for a month, but we had to remove personal belongings and sketches.

I walked up to Simon and whacked him over the head. It took a small jump to get the impact I was going for.

"Owww!" He exclaimed rubbing the top of his head.

"She wants your heart. Not your dick!" I huffed.

There was a shameful smirk on his face as he looked at me.

"Jealous, Izzy?" He asked.

I stared him down for a good while.

"Fine... Just.... Be adults!" I huffed.

(A/N:
It was with great sorrow and masses of tears that I found out this morning about David Bowie having left the plane of existence where we mortals live.

My first - I suppose you could call it sexual - awakening to the male form was David Bowie in 'the Labyrinth'.
He stole my heart.
Such a beautiful man.
Modest, talented, creative.

This chapter is therefore dedicated to him, in memory.

"The stars look very different today."

Ps... sorry that the chapter isn't edited. I wanted to publish it for mr. Bowie today...
Or more precicely... I wanted a Bowie tune in the banner as the man isn't actually mentioned that much in the chapter.)