Chapter 36
A tale of Wyatt and Chloe
It was about two years later that Wyatt's feelings for Chloe became evident to the parents of both Wyatt and Chloe.
Wyatt's drama teacher had decided that the end of term play would be The two Gentlemen of Verona, However the Principal disagreed, deciding that after five years of Shakespeare, It was time for a change and as this term had produced some talented musicians among the pupils, It would be good to have a musical instead.
Particularly as Shakespeare's Scottish play they performed last year had seemed to have gone down like the proverbial lead balloon for both pupils and Parents. And so it was decided by the Principal to put on the musical "Oliver", instead.
However the Drama teacher, a sour faced, mean spirited, middle aged Woman, known by the name of Miss Tibbs, who was in high dudgeon over her disagreement with the Principal over his choice of a musical rather than than one of the Great Bard's plays. And in the spirit of those so called democratic political groups that can't get their own way, She resorted to sabotage.
She sabotaged the musical, by proceeding to select particular pupils and gave them the parts, that they were wholly unsuited to play.
As Miss Tibbs was due to retire she considered such an act of sabotage a fitting retribution for anyone daring to belittle Shakespeare, especially as the Principal had confessed to her that in his opinion, Shakespeare was overrated.
Therefore when Wyatt mentioned to Chloe about the musical, Chloe informed him that she particularly liked watching Lionel Bart's version, and then she gushed at length over how good Jack Wilde was in the part of the Artful Dodger, and thus over her admiration for Mr Wilde, Immediately prompted a jealous Wyatt to audition for that same part, in order to show Chloe that Wyatt could perform it just as well, and also so that Chloe would gush over Wyatt instead.
Therefore Wyatt with the considerable help of Mike, who being a native from London's east end could teach accurately the accent required, therefore Wyatt practiced diligently at home to the chagrin of Leonard, who was by now heartily sick of the cockney accent in his house, but with the full support from Penny who also learned to speak it correctly, to help Wyatt, and hoping in her heart, that Wyatt would choose acting for his career.
So Wyatt was flabbergasted when Miss Tibbs chose Jeremy Davison for the part instead of Wyatt despite Wyatt being the best Artful Dodger in the school. And was, to his utter disgust, relegated to a non speaking role as one of Fagin's gang of pickpockets.
"What is going on with her, Jeremy is awful at playing the Dodger, and I'm going to look so stupid when I tell Chloe I won't be playing the part. She was so excited when I told her, that she has talked her Mom and Dad into going to watch me too, now all she and her Mom and Dad will see of me now is right at the back of the stage behind everyone else, great, just great, Chloe is going to be so mad at me now", Wyatt said at length to his Mother, and feeling quite demoralized.
Penny turned to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, "Honey, you are very good, I've watched your rehearsals here at home myself, I'm sure that there has been some mistake?, try and be positive something may turn up?", Penny told him, hoping that it might cheer him up a little.
But Wyatt went to his room and listlessly laid on his bed all evening, and imagined hearing Chloe's mocking words in his ears.
And as the week moved inexorably towards the Weekend, where Chloe had made plans for Wyatt to accompany her Mother Kay and Herself to the stables for an afternoon hack, Wyatt's spirits sank lower and lower.
About mid morning on the Thursday, Miss Tibbs, in rearranging desks around for a small rehearsal of a particular scene in the classroom, put her back out in a particularly painful fashion and had to be taken home, where the Principal himself took charge of the class and quickly discovered from the rehearsal Miss Tibbs scheme to undermine the musical, then after asking who would like to play, Oliver, The Artful Dodger, Mr Sowerberry, Noah Claypole, Charlotte, and others.
Soon to the immense relief of Jeremy Davison, who was a quiet shy sort of boy, and who was absolutely dreading his appearing before a large audience in such a major role. It was quickly decided to award the part of the Artful Dodger to Wyatt Hofstadter, who was so relieved at this turn of events that when he returned home after school he announced his arrival as, "Mr Jack Dawkins at yer service Milady", at which Penny replied, " And greetings to a very fine Gennelman yerself if I may make so bold, Sir", after which they both laughed uproariously.
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So it was arranged for Chloe's parents, Kay and J.G. to take their seats after the lights had gone down, in order that being such famous stars from Hollywood, people might not cause a disturbance by asking for their autographs, and they proceeded to sit next to Leonard and Penny.
Kay was immediately struck at the enormous talent shown by Wyatt who absolutely stole the show, and Kay could tell that Wyatt had worked very hard on his portrayal indeed, Kay had also not failed to notice how Chloe never took her eyes off of Wyatt the whole time, her eyes growing wider with admiration the more Wyatt's scenes went on.
Though Kay was quite worried for Chloe, as she had few friends and if Chloe's friendship with Wyatt ever foundered, Kay knew very well that Chloe would find it very hard to recover from it indeed.
The audience laughed at the pompous Mr Bumble, who was played by the Principal himself, while the Physical training teacher, played a very convincing Bill Sikes, the art department too, did themselves proud by their accurately grim backdrops of the slums of London's East end, producing quite a realistic feel to the musical.
At the end the audience applauded loudly, and much more enthusiastically than they did last year. Which wholly convinced the Principal that he was right to stick to his guns over choosing a musical.
Wyatt feeling happy with his performance immediately sought out Chloe for her opinion but was accosted by Kathy Lewis, Who had played Charlotte the girlfriend of Noah Claypole, who then proceeded to congratulate Wyatt on his performance, and then, although Chloe was not a pupil of Wyatt's school, Kathy, who lived in the same street as Wyatt and had become aware of the close friendship between Wyatt and Chloe, suddenly in a spirit of mischief, threw her arms around Wyatt, as she spotted Chloe approaching them and Kathy began kissing him passionately, while Wyatt to his surprise at Kathy's reaction, placed his hands on Kathy's waist in order to push her away from himself, But Chloe interpreted Wyatt's action as embracing Kathy, and now as her tears began to flow Chloe hurriedly made her way back to her parents and asked to be taken home.
"What the hell are you doing?", Wyatt demanded of Kathy.
"Just playing a game", Kathy replied smirking, then she left to find her friends to have a laugh together over her scheme to destroy the friendship.
Wyatt looked for Chloe in vain and sadly left with Leonard and Penny, wondering to himself why on earth did Chloe leave so suddenly.
When the Saturday arrived Chloe rang Wyatt and canceled his usual visit to her and told him quite tersely, "I Guess you would rather see Kathy anyway after you kissed her in that disgusting manner ", Then she rang off before Wyatt could reply.
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Chloe, as Kay feared was utterly heartbroken, and for the next few days She would just sit in her room and cry.
Wyatt too, felt quite distressed, and thought hard how he could restore things back to how they were between himself and Chloe, then getting an idea he withdrew all his savings and purchased a necklace, hoping that this gift, along with an explanation that Kathy's advances were unwanted , It may then convince Chloe to resume their friendship.
But when Wyatt called at Chloe's house and tried to explain and give her her present, Chloe at the sight of the necklace just grew even angrier and slammed the door in Wyatt's face.
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Leonard passed the girls rooms and sighed as he saw their tidy bedrooms, and wished that they were home and Leonard for the umpteenth time telling the three girls to tidy their bedrooms, Leonard sighed and prayed his Daughter's were keeping OK at Princeton. He moved on down the hall and was just passing Wyatt's room, when, on catching sight of Wyatt just lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling Leonard knocked and entered.
"You OK?", Leonard asked Wyatt, knowing full well that Wyatt was far from OK.
"She just got angry Dad?, why did she get angry? She barely looked at it?", Wyatt asked, still in some disbelief at Chloe's action.
"Looked at What, Son?", Leonard asked.
Wyatt reached for his bedside cabinet and retrieved the necklace from the drawer, "This!", He said simply, handing the necklace to his Father.
"Wow, how much was this?", Leonard asked, examining the expensive looking jewelry.
"$400", Wyatt told him.
"Was that your savings?", Leonard asked him, then added, "I thought you were saving for a new computer?".
"I know, but somehow, I can't really put it into words, But Chloe's become so much more important to me than a computer", Wyatt revealed.
Leonard, in order to test Wyatt's feelings for Chloe told him, "You'll get over it in time, then you'll meet someone else and this will all be forgotten".
Wyatt rounded on his Father passionately, "Wrong Dad, I know I won't. Chloe's in my thoughts before I go to sleep, and she's in my thoughts when I wake up. I can never feel the same way about anyone else, I know I can't, I need her Dad".
"It's OK Son, that's what I thought, I just needed to hear it from you though, tell you what I'll discuss it with your Mom and we will see if we can sort this out", Leonard explained soothingly.
"Are you sure that's how he feels?", Penny asked Leonard as they discussed the rift.
"Yes, and do you remember a couple of months ago when the wind blew and slammed Wyatt's bedroom door shut, how Chloe's picture fell off the wall, didn't we have to immediately take him to buy another frame before Chloe's picture got damaged?", Leonard asked her.
"Yeah, you're right, he did make one hell of a fuss didn't he", Penny confirmed.
"And if he feels that way about her portrait, then his feelings are going to be a hell of a lot stronger for the girl herself", Leonard reasoned.
"But do you think they're too young?", Penny asked.
Well, I guess a little, but soon they'll be Sixteen and love's a funny thing like that, I've heard of folks who met at fourteen and stayed together for over sixty years. Sure it's rare, but who knows. Anyway let's see if we can get this mess sorted out and take it from there", Leonard reasoned.
Penny soon discovered for herself Just how strong Wyatt's feelings were for Chloe when he approached her one evening and asked her as she loaded the dishwasher, "I don't think Chloe will ever like me again?, pleas tell me what can I do to change her mind?, I mean, I just don't understand, why did she get mad at me just because I bought her a present?", he said, his voice almost breaking with emotion.
"Oh Sweetie, Chloe likes you a lot", Penny revealed, "It's just that she thought 1) you were kissing Kathy, and 2), that you thought that you could just buy your way into her affections, that's why she behaved the way she did", Penny explained.
"How do you know she likes me?", Wyatt quickly asked her, brightening visibly.
"Well, you see, the Artist who drew Chloe told me that she didn't normally put enormous effort into her portraits at markets because they usually get shoved into a drawer and forgotten, And please don't tell Chloe I told you but she begged the Artist if she could have a very good portrait as it was for someone very special. And I know very well that Kay would very much like that wonderful portrait of her Daughter, hanging in the most prominent position in her lounge , but Chloe insisted quite firmly that it was for you"
"You know your Father did the same thing with me once, thought he could make things better by just waving his credit card I mean", Penny told him.
"He did!, wow were you mad at him too", Wyatt asked her.
"No, I was just so very upset really, but your Auntie Bernadette let him have it both barrels,
"I bet Dad really enjoyed that lecture from aunt Bernadette then", Wyatt smirked.
"Yep she's not very tall but when something's wrong, everyone had better head for the hills, But all the same she has been a very dear friend to both your father and I, And bless him, your Father was really quite upset when he realized thanks to Bernadette's lecture, how much he had hurt me, and then he really put himself out to say sorry, and also in a way that helps me very much when I am stressed", Penny continued.
"What did he do?", Wyatt asked, hoping that this solution might work on Chloe.
"I can't really tell you that, I'm afraid, lets just say it's a Mom and Dad thing. And Wyatt, do think hard on how you, not your money, can do to change this situation around between yourself and Chloe, you had a wonderfully close friendship together, it would be such a shame to see it end like this, wouldn't it?"
And Wyatt sadly nodded his head in reply.
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Meanwhile Kay too, was getting more than a little tired of the situation. And decided that She would try and put an end to the rift.
"You know if you have nothing better to do than lie there and sulk all day there's some weeding in the garden needs doing", Kay informed her Daughter.
"Chloe turned towards her mother and in a sulky tone told her, "I don't feel like it".
"how about I call Wyatt and get him to come over to help you?", Kay asked, and was much encouraged as she saw Chloe's eyes widen in hope, but then resumed back to the sulky pout.
"Don't want him anymore, he likes Kathy anyway", Chloe told her Mother in a annoyed tone of voice.
"Well for your information Miss Pout, Wyatt was being kissed by Kathy, he did not want to kiss her at all", Kay revealed.
Chloe's head turned sharply back towards her Mother, "You're just saying that", She said.
"Tell me?, Do you know Kathy at all?", Kay asked.
"No not to speak to, I've just seen her in the street when I went over to Wyatt's a couple of times, Why?", Chloe asked, wondering where her Mother was going with this.
"A pity, for if you had got to know her, you would have found Kathy to be one of those people who finds it amusing to make mischief at other peoples expense. She saw you approaching and being a girl herself,and aware of your close relationship with Wyatt and decided to put a spanner in the works by kissing Wyatt, which caught Wyatt totally by surprise and he is very angry at her now for causing you this distress", Kay explained, looking for any sign that Chloe might relent.
"Then why didn't Wyatt tell me that then himself?", Chloe asked.
"He tried to Chloe, but you were in such high dudgeon over your emotions being mortally wounded that you cut him off before he could explain", Her Mother revealed, now feeling triumphant as Chloe's face now turned pink with embarrassment.
However the feeling of triumph quickly disappeared as Chloe cried out, "Oh no!, He'll hate me forever now", and began crying bitterly.
Thus the rift continued, each afraid to call the other in fear of escalating tensions and causing a permanent parting of the ways.
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A Month later and Kay was present at the studios, looking over a script for a new movie being shot, with high hopes from Producer and Director that they may well have a big blockbuster on their hands.
Unfortunately the young child Actor had still yet to sign a contract with the studio, owing to the increasingly greedy demands from the Actor's Father, who wrongly believed if he held out long enough the studio would be so desperate to begin filming, that they would pay him any amount he wanted. And the aforementioned Producer and Director were tearing their hair out as filming was set to begin in a weeks time.
Later at Kay's house that night, She discussed the problem at length with J.G, when Chloe, who had until now, only been half listening to her parents conversation suddenly piped up, "Get Wyatt to do it, He's good. I know he is, He must do it, please", she pleaded earnestly.
J.G stared at her, before acknowledging, "She's right, he was really great as the Artful Dodger in that musical".
"But Honey, we have to start filming in a weeks time?, and there is all those lines and directions where he needs to move to", Kay informed him.
"But if this Guy's Father's demands get any more outrageous you might not have a movie at all. The studios don't put up with too much of this garbage nowadays before they decide to cut their losses", J.G. explained.
Kay rang Penny, that very moment. But to her, and Chloe's immense disappointment. Wyatt turned it down. He informed her that the school musical was one thing but a movie?, no way that was too scary.
"Could you take me to Wyatt please", Chloe demanded of her father.
"It won't do any good Honey, Penny tried to reason with him but he's quite adamant".
"I can get him to do it, please, Let me try", Chloe begged as she looked wide eyed, up at her father in a very good imitation of the Shrek Movie's, Puss in Boots.
J.G. at seeing the identical pleading looks on both Chloe and her Mother's faces, relented.
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Leonard opened the door to the insistent ringing of the door bell, and was somewhat startled as Chloe quickly brushed past him, and went looking for Wyatt.
"There you are", she said triumphantly as Wyatt lay in his usual position these last few weeks, listlessly laying on his bed.
"Now you listen here. If you want us to be friends again. Then you are doing that movie, yep, that's it, You Hofstadter can do it for me,Do you understand?", Chloe demanded, in a tone of voice to rival Bernadette's.
"Yes Chloe, OK, whatever you say", Wyatt, wide eyed in surprise, meekly told her.
"Well then, I guess that's OK then", she said, before she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. while Wyatt emitted the biggest sigh of relief ever.