Promise

chapter 65

Elijah
After I left the school I headed to work. I didn't want to ruin my mood so I decided to stay away from gang related issues today and stuck to my legal business.
"Sir your 10am appointment is here" my assistant told me and I put on my business face, no nonsense and no emotion "send them in" I say and seconds later a woman entered. She wore a tight red dress which went to her knees and her blonde hair was tied back. "Good morning Mr West, I'm Jessica Evans" she introduced and I decided to ignore the attraction I had for her and get on with the meeting.
"good morning miss Evans"

Avery

Class wasnt as difficult as I thought it would be after missing quite some time I thought I'd be lost.
I was currently in Maths and  it went by so quick for a change that when the bell rang I jumped with suprise. "Ok please make sure you do the homework class and remember to go the main hall next where you will be sorted into groups"  she announced and I was confused but went along with it all. As soon as I left the classroom I turned to Nathan "what groups" and he smiles "the school are having us all learn basic self defense, apparently the school board think it's now a nessacity" he explained and I nodded "fantastic" I muttered, my tone laced in sarcasm causing Nathan to laugh "come on" he said and we headed towards the hall.

Now you might be thinking after everything I've been through, I should be happy learning self defense and the truth was, I was glad to be learning a little but the idea of it I hated because of why self defense was needed. There was monsters in the world and if it wasn't for them I wouldnt need it.

We met up with Beth in the hall, I noticed it was only our year group when I saw Alec wasn't here. The principal spoke for a bit about the importance of self defense and how it could save our lives one day. Then he brought two men on stage
"Good afternoon class I'm Wes and this is my friend Rico" my attention was brought to Rico and to my surprise it was him. But did that mean Elijah had a part in all this. "I will be taking this short course, Rico is here because I needed someone to help me with examples. Now  you will be split into groups and throughout the day you will come here and we will show you self defense" Wes announced.

The group's were then announced and I was placed in the last group of the day, thankfully Nathan was in my group too but unfortunately Beth wasnt. "If you are not in the first group please go back to class and come to the hall at your allocated tim" the principal announced and most students including me left the hall.

*Time skip*

The day went by quickly and soon me and Nathan found ourselves standing in the hall with around 20 other students. Wes was giving us a speech about the dangers in the streets.
"And I know most of you will hate knowing this as it might scare you but it's important we teach you in case you are assulted sexually, this can happen to both genders and that's why it's important we teach you multiple techniques that will help if your attacker is either gender" Wes concluded and I felt fearful. I didn't want anyone to see but I felt a hand grab mine and I look across and see Nathan was now holding my hand and looking at me with concern.

I gave him a reassuring smile but never removed my hand, I actually quite like it in his hand.  Suddenly the door opened and in walked Rico, my eyes snapped to him and he must have felt someone watching him because he looked around and our eyes met. A smile made its way onto his face but he quickly masked it when Wes called him over and told him to introduce himself. "Hi everyone, I'm Rico and yes I know I look way to young to be a teacher" he started but Wes interrupted him. "You are not a teacher" "of course I am, We are teaching self defense, key word being teach and those who teach are teachers" Rico said causing a few laughs from the group. "As I was saying I'm here to help Wes, i don't have much background in this like Wes but I have experience in providing security for important people" he continued and I immediately knew he was talking about Elijah.
"How old are you"
"Who are those important people"
And many more questions were asked.
He answered them all truthfully but when he came to the important people question his smile dropped "classified" of course it was classified, Elijah would probably have his head.
"So let's begin, first does anyone have any experience in self defense" Wes then asked. A few hands were raised and Wes nodded in acknowledgment. "Great, I would like you all to get into partners, make sure it's someone you trust as things will get intense" he said and everyone split into pairs. "Wanna work together" Nathan asked and I nodded. I trusted him so it should be easy. "You're safe with me, don't worry" he said and honesly it helped. I felt better about this already.

Wes gave us instructions and had us test out multiple techniques. We both had to play the attacker and victim, Nathan offered to be the victim first and I carefully wrapped my arms around him. It was a struggle as he was so much taller than me. Wes demonstrated slowly with Rico of what we should do and we all copied.

After they said to experiment and they started to come around and see what we did.

Within minutes Rico was stood next to me and Nathan. "Hi Avery, who is this" Rico spoke with a hint of cheeriness. "This is Nathan, hes a good friend" I introduced and Nathan gave Rico a sceptical look. "How do you know him" Nathan asked. "Babysitter" Rico stated before I could say anything. This made me laugh a little as I had called him that when we first met. "Well you weren't much of a guard were you" I tease and he looks offended. "Yeah Elijah was pretty annoyed that I wasn't standing like a creepy statue in the corner of the room watching your every move" he shrugged and I laughed, it sounds like Elijah. Wes turned his attention to us and gave us a hard luck. "Shit, guys show me what you have been doing or Wes will kill me" Rico said in panic and Nathan snickered.
He watched and nodded with approval before walking off to another group. "So guard" Nathan started the conversation and I nodded "when I was grounded" I mutter and Nathan turns and looks at me with concern "he had a guard watch you, that's not right Avery" and I shrug "I think it was just Elijahs way of protecting me and using the grounding as an excuse  to not worry me. I think the real reason was Garrows" I explain. Nathan didn't say anything, instead he pulled me into a hug and I quickly hugged back. "Typically a victim won't hug their offender" Wes was now in front of us and his presence had me tighten the hug, he definitely made me nervous.

"Everyone swap roles" Wes announced to the class as he walked back to the front. "We don't have to if you're not ok" Nathan asked but I shook my head, I had to get over my fear. "No I'm ready" he nods and puts his hands around me in an attack position. "I won't hurt you,if you want me to let go just say" he reassured and I smiled. "I'm ok" I tell him and we begin.

Rico came over again and I saw a worried look in his eyes as we performed multiple techniques. "Hey Rico does Elijah have some part in this" I ask the question that was on my mind and he shakes his head "nope, I'm here as a favour to Wes" I was glad to know that Elijah hadn't been involved but before I could say anything Wes spoke again "right now we will work on sexual assult. Everyone get on the ground and do 40 push ups. This is important because it works up your strength to push the attacker off. Girls after 40 you will work on high kicks, Boys you will work on punching, two basic self defense methods which we can show you, then you will swap. Of course there are other techniques such as biting, scratching and even gouching their eyes. If you can make as much noise as possible" Wes told us and everything seemed more or less straight forward.

Soon class was over and we had learnt basic self defense, It went ok and as me and Nathan left the hall together I felt a hand on my shoulder. I freaked out and sent a punch to whoever it was. "Fuck" I look and see Rico holding his nose and I apologize"oh god I'm so sorry,I really am, please say something" I kinda freaked out but he smiled "it's ok, Im glad you know how to punch. I just wanted to know if everything was ok, after everything that's happened to you I just wanted to check in" he spoke making me feel even more guilty for punching him but then I think about what he said. How does he know? "How do you know though" I decide to ask and he looks to Nathan wondering if he could speak in front of him "he knows about Garrows" I tell him and Rico looks at me with suprise "I know because Elijah went on a hunt for him, he went all psycho about it and had us all looking then I got to guard you so he told me a little of what was happening. Also the whole...company was notified when he was in a coma so I figured it must have been hard on you" I wasn't expecting such a detailed explanation from him. "Wait so I was right, you were guarding me because of Garrows. Also I'm fine, me and Eli moved to a house and it's a fresh start" I say and his smile widens "I'm so glad to hear that, and yes guarding you was because of Garrows" I was definitely relieved to hear that.

After talking to Rico we made our way to the front of the school "I'll see you tommorow ok" Nathan said before we parted ways. I nodded "definitely"

I got in the car and Elijah turned to me with a smile "did you have a good day" he asked and I nodded "yep it was fun but did you" I reply. "that's good I had a good day too. I also got us some ice-cream to eat while we talk"
That worried me a little, he gave me ice-cream to cheer me up, of course there was other times when I had it but it must be a very important conversation if he was giving me ice-cream. "Ok" I respond and he shoots me a smile "it's nothing to bad, just it's about us, I'll tell you more when we get home" he tries to reassure me but it didn't work. I think back to this morning when I called him dad, that can't be it can it. I mean he wanted to talk before that but maybe he isn't happy with how close we are, or maybe he wants to send me back.