Piper ~ H.S

~Forty-Three~

A/N: As per many of your requests, here is yet another double update lol (for those of you who voted for Protector smut, that's next I promise). I've posted it quick because I've been writing it for 3-4 hours straight lol. And it's quite long, so I hope you enjoy it xx

This move to London was actually happening way faster than I expected. Piper and I are only gonna be in Worthing for three more days – and then it's off to the big city to start settling in with Harry.

Harry & I were already talking about sending Piper to Highgate Primary School. It wasn't a prestigious private school or anything like that – because even though Harry was more than willing to be open to the more esteemed options, and even looked up the best primary schools in London for Piper, they were all way too far from Harry's place, anyway – with the closest one being Fryent Primary School that was still a 17-minute drive away from Harry's, as opposed to Highgate which was only 8 minutes away. So, even though Highgate wasn't a really fancy place, we found out that there are still a lot of parents who speak very highly of the school – and we both agreed that it might be the best place for Piper to go, because we figured that sending her to a public school could still help her feel like a normal kid – despite the fact that someone like Harry is basically her second father.

Having a celebrity for a surrogate dad isn't exactly something that happens to everyone – and we were both worried about how she'd initially handle the huge spotlight on Harry that shines on both of us, too – and it'll just light us up even more once people start figuring out that we've moved into Harry's house. So, we were both hoping that sending her to Highgate would help her cope with it a little more – because outside the school walls, she could be seen as a celebrity child – but inside the school walls, she'll be treated as an equal. And that was exactly what me and Harry wanted.

Today was Tuesday, and it was actually quite a sunny afternoon. Aidan and Ashley had rallied together to prepare a surprise leaving party for me & Harry, while Piper still had a couple hours left to go at Chappell Croft. Aidan had been working on sorting out a student loan for himself lately, so he can start pursuing his dreams in culinary arts – but today, he took a break from it just for me, and Ashley had taken the day off work. They didn't need to wait until I had a day off – since I had already resigned from my job at Christa's Flowers. Unsurprisingly, Christa was very understanding about my reasons for leaving and wished me the best of luck in my move – but she still said that she would miss me and my 'outstanding talents' terribly.

The leaving party consisted only of the four of us – Harry, Aidan, Ashley and me – but me and Harry were still delighted by the surprise all the same. And soon enough, we were all having a lively and amicable conversation over a round of farewell drinks at the Thomas A. Becket pub.

"Well, Leah, Worthing really isn't gonna be the same without you," Aidan said to me, "but, I do have to say thank you for passing on your old room in your flat to me."

I laughed. "Don't thank me. It was Ashley's idea. She was the one who wanted to be roomies with you, brother."

Ashley's eyes immediately widened at my words, and she vigorously shook her head at me before swiping her hand across her throat – but I only flashed her an innocent smile as I took another sip of my cocktail.

Aidan turned to Ashley and smiled. "Is that so?"

Ashley blushed furiously. "Er, well...I just...I-I felt bad for you, after Leah told me you sleep on a sofa bed at a mate's..."

I had to hold back a chuckle once I saw how flustered she was. She can usually keep her cool around Aidan quite easily...but it is definitely not happening this time.