The Prince

Part 30

The next afternoon Skye and Noah were sitting with their books trying to make progress on their schoolwork.

"I'm not getting anywhere!" Noah moaned slamming the book shut.

"I've been tutoring you for the past two hours, did you learn anything?" He looked at Noah in shock.

"I think I need a break, two hours is more than enough," he got up from the table where they were studying.

"Not so fast," Skye grabbed his arm as he was about to leave, "You've still got to go through English lit if you want to get up."

"I can't, my brain is too full and can we stop grabbing me like a naughty child?" He was tired and hungry and ready to stop. Skye refused to let him eat while they were studying, making up some stupid excuse for not being able to do two things at once.

"Who is that?" Skye asked getting up when the doorbell rang.

"Maybe your Dad?" Noah followed him to the front door. When the door opened, Skye's extended family stood in front of them. Noah immediately hid himself behind Skye's tall frame and made a quiet retreat to his room while they weren't looking.

"Grandma, what are all of you doing here?" Standing  back to let them in, he grabbed his uncle Eric who was also in the mix. "You promised not to tell them," he whispered frustrated that his house was being invaded.

"Your grandma was in the room when you spoke to your Dad. Shlly pissed off so let her do what she wants so that the rest of us can have some peace."

"Oh my poor baby," Gillie turned to take Skye's hand. "Do you want to come stay with grandma? We can have the poolhouse converted for both of you. Damon," she turned to her husband who was inspecting the walls.

"Damon, make sure that you get the contractor out immediately. We can have the plans drawn up by tomorrow and have them in by the end of the week. We are going to have so much fun," she lovingly turned to Skye.

Skye knew his grandmother well enough to know that she was on the brink of tears. Leaning down he wrapped his arms around her for a tight hug.

"I'm sorry for making you worry Grandma, but would you be okay if we stayed here for a little while longer?"

"If your grandpa is okay with it, then you can stay," she sniffed quietly, still keeping his hand in a tight hold.

"You did all this by yourself?" Damon went around knocking on walls and beams and inspecting fixtures and fittings. "Thislly impressive Squirt. I think Zenith should move into the construction and renovation." Givinh Skye a wide grin he continued,

"I think you've earned the right to make your own decisions, for now."

In his head Skye heard the silent 'but if you even think of...' threat behind his grandfather's words. He knew well enough ot to overstep the boundaries when his grandfather laid down the law. He'd done it once when they were out in the woods when he was younger and never again. He wouldn't dare to do anything that might earn his grandfather's disapproval and neither would anyone else in the family.

"Thanks, Grandad," he smiled, relieved that he wasn't being marched back home.

"Well, since you'll be staying here, I think you should let your uncle set up a security system, it's not safe for two boys to be alone. Eric," she snapped at her dark-haired son. "I want it done by tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes Mom," he he agreed, smiling mischievously at Skye.

"Where's Noah?" Kelley asked, looking behind a pillow laughing.

"Probably in his room, he's a bit shy," he shrugged, sure that he didn't want everybody to see his bruised face.

"We'll call him for lunch," Gillie said getting up. "Eric, help the driver with the groceries!" she snapped at him again.

Doing what Eric said, Skye silently allowed his grandmother to take over the kitchen and stock every cupboard and shelf with food. The fridge didn't have a much easier time and he feared that the bottom might give in because it was so overladen.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll make sure you have enough to eat," she sniffed, looking like she was about to cry again.

"Let's give the boys a chance to get settled on their own, if they need anything, I'm sure Skye would ask, wouldn't you?" He watched as Skye nodded in agreement.

"Naoh?" Kelley knocked on one of the bedroom doors, quietly opening it to Naoh lying on the bed, reading.

"Hey, do you think we could chat a bit?" Closing the door, she took a seat on the bed next to him, watching as he sat up. She was shocked to see the bruises on his face, wondering what had happened.

 "How's it living with Skye?"

"Worse than living with parents," he moaned. "I'm not allowed to get any chocolates or crisps and he's constantly counting pennies."

"Well, he's tried to work for every cent he got. His parents helped him out, and of course the rest of the family made sure he accepted their help, but he's stubborn and wanted to do all of it without their money. That could be your problem."

"Any ideas on how I can get him to chill a bit?" If things were going to go on in this fashion, he might as well have gone to prison. All they did when they were at home was study, and sometimes Skye would start tinkering away at the house. He tried to help once, but that didn't go as expected, so he stuck to watching from a distance.

"Just be yourself," Kelley assured him. "And you, have you thought about what we talked about before?"

"Sometimes it's the only thing I think of and I still don't know what to do," he sighed looking down at his hands. "What do you think I should  do?"

"Well, I find that working through every problem one at a time helps. Start with the ones that are easier to solve and work from there. But that's only me, you may have to findr own way, will you be okay with that?" She prompted gently watching him fidget with the comforter.

"That doesn't seem so bad," it sounded like something he could do, one step at a time. "But what about Skye though, I don't want to cause him any trouble."

"Skye wouldn't do all this if he didn't think you were worth the trouble, so that is one thing less to worry about," she smiled placing her hand on his shoulder. "I think you two are going to learn a lot from each other."

"Really?" He wondered what they cibly learn, well maybe he could teach Skye how emotions work, he smiled at the thought.

"Now, now come and meet the rest of the family, Skye's grandma is ready to feed the two of you to death."

"Did she bring chocolate?"

"Of course, we all know what Skye is like when he's living on a budget, he was trained for it." Kelley got up and waited for him to join her.

"Eh, Kelley, do you think we could maybe talk again sometime?"