I’m living with Constance full time now. I can see why she barely goes out; she has everyone to do things for her all the time, so she doesn’t need to go out to do shopping or anything, as she has servants who will do it for her instantly. She let me go to the same school, so I didn’t lose all my friends on the move, but some of the people who purposely bully whoever they can all the time are starting to bully me because of the wealth I have now, I’m the heir to the Dove fortune. I hadn’t let anyone come over yet, just like I had at the orphanage, but I may start inviting people over soon. Anyway, I was acting like I’d lived her three years, let alone three days! I had also found out that Spring and Cogg fixed all the clocks around the manor, as there were hundreds over the whole area that Dove Manor occupied.
I’d just arrived at school for another day there. I had started Oakenlodge Secondary just months ago but was settling in well. Most of Oakenlodge Primary went to the same school, but some had moved to other schools or children from other local Primary Schools had moved here. It was a lot more crowded, but it felt similar to when all the servants were talking to Constance.
Climbing out of the car, I walked through the school gates to find that there was a large crowd in a circular formation around something I couldn’t see. Walking over to see what on earth was going on, I managed to see something, and I hated the sight of it. Haven was on the floor, covered in scars and breathing heavily. It was horrible to see, and I couldn’t bear looking. That’s when one of the teachers came to see what was going on. “What’s happened here? All of you leave! Haven Franks? Oh, you look horrible. We need to take you to first aid”
“Can-Clive-come?” she managed to say in-between coughing.
The teacher who came up, who I’d not yet had but knew as Miss McAshen, looked up at me then. “Is that you?”
“Yes” I replied.
“OK then, you look the nice sort of boy” she said, smiling lightly.
As we walked into the first aid room, Haven limping, we all sat down to examine Haven’s wounds. “What exactly happened, my dear?” Miss McAshen asked.
“Well, one of the boys tripped me up, then they all came, and I can’t remember!” Haven cried.
“It’ll be alright” Miss McAshen said calmly. “We can sort out those fairly quickly, and it’ll hardly hurt”
“Hardly!” Haven said.
“Let me just go and get some disinfectant and some bandage” Miss McAshen said.
Once she was gone, Haven looked at me. “What happened?” I breathed.
Haven looked at me with big, innocent eyes, she looked like she was going to burst out crying at any moment. “I don’t know” she said faintly. “Oh Clive” she whined, it looked like she had got a sudden cramp, because she moaned after saying that.
“Look Haven, you’ll be fine. I promise” I said.
Then Haven did something I really didn’t expect. She pulled closer to me, and kissed me on the lips. It took me quite a while to realise that I was kissing her back, and I was actually enjoying it. Once we pulled out of it, Haven smirked. “What’s with the smirk?” I asked.
Haven laughed then. That was when Miss McAshen walked in, disinfectant and bandage at hand. Once she had sorted out Havens wounds, we were free to go. Looking at the time, we saw we were going to be walking in halfway through Science. When we were outside the door, which was shut, we saw we were the only ones around. They must have gone outside to do an experiment. Haven looked at me with big, innocent eyes, and pushed up a thick lock of my hair that had grown like that over the years. “I love you, Clive”
“I love you too”
