𝐼𝓃𝒻𝒶𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒹

Chapter 41- Hard Hit

Chase's P.O.V.

I woke up rather early the next morning, the strong scent of coffee and waffles infiltrating my senses, forcing me to wake up. I was a little too used to the scents to be allured to the kitchen right away, but my stomach rumbled. Damn, Lois's waffles always get me.
I huffed, jumped up and went over to the bathroom. Before that: I looked at the clock. It was 6 AM.

After a while, I came out of the bathroom, chose a black track suit that I knew would bring out the colour of my eyes and make the girls at the park blush and wave at me shyly, then jogged into the living room. Lois, my housekeeper, was present in the one-wall kitchen, and I came over to the bar table in front of the kitchen, and gulped down the glass of water kept for me. I knew she'd come in at 5 AM by the spare keys, as usual.

She wore a long, simple white dress with full sleeves and a cherry blossom pattern. Her light brown hair, with a few streaks of silver, were in a neat up-do. She was short and slightly rotund, and her warm jade eyes and kind smile had made a homesick and nervous me immediately feel welcomed and at peace, when I'd first arrived at Boston and met her. She'd been my guardian, living in my condo till I reached twelfth grade, as per dad's instructions. She was a perfect housekeeper, and though it had been hard to find her, her prompt and perfect services were worth it all. Dad was proud of me for finding her. So was I. Ever since, she'd grown into more of a guardian than a housekeeper to me.

"Good morning, Charles." She said, without turning around. She was busy preparing food, placing all the pots and pans she'd bought from her house to cook in. She usually did that when a guest came over at the condo.

"Good morning, Lois. And it's Chase, please." I corrected her. She was quite old fashioned, always calling people by their proper first names. "Why are you cooking up such a storm?" I asked.

Lois turned around, her usual, sweet smile on her face. "Your father called up and told me that Elaine had arrived yesterday. And her friend Leah would be coming this morning. He asked me to set up Elaine's room for the two guests. And I decided that a nice breakfast would be a sweet welcome for them."

I rolled my eyes on remembering that. "It's my condo, in case he forgot."

"Of course it is, dear. But he pays the bills, isn't it?" She gave a slightly evil, teasing smile.

I huffed. "Sadly. Anyway, is El still asleep?"

"Mm-hm. I'm sure she was tired after the journey." Lois said. She brushed off her hands on her flowery apron. Then she looked at me. "Have you considered my advice, by the way?"

I furrowed my brows. "Which, exactly?" She really was giving me advice often, on a lot of stuff. Though it was completely different from nagging.

She gave me a slight roll of her eyes. I smirked. "The advice about going to gym less."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I'm even using that advice. You told me to do my morning workouts in the park, in nature, and I did. That's one of the reasons I'm up so early. But it's hard to maintain my impressive abs with no gym equipment," I smirked wider as she shook her head at me. "So I decided to spend half my workout time in the park, and half of it in the gym. What do you think?"

"Hm. If you think it's a good idea, then I'm on board with it too." She said simply, with a smile. "Now, off you go. I'll give you your breakfast when you're back."

I smiled, rolled my eyes, and jogged out of my condo, ready to excite the senses of some early-morning joggers.

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I'd chosen a black jumper and faded white ripped jeans for school. Over that, I'd worn an eye-catching black bomber jacket too. I arrived at school with my gang, this time in Cassie's black Jeep Wrangler. I hopped out, and all of us walked over to our usual bench. Ellis went off, saying she had to return her book to the library. Cassie and Jennifer decided to go for a quick visit to Starbucks, before classes started. As my friends and I talked, my eyes unconsciously scanned the entire school ground scene in front of me.