Palas

13. "You'll be fine."

When I wake up, Rosie already left, leaving me a note to wish me well for the test. I love that she wished me good luck when she herself didn’t pass it. Harry’s voice haunted me all night telling me not to trust her. I know, in his way, he was warning me for her, but I don’t see any danger in her.

Whatever she did to Harry to piss him off that much is still a mystery to me but I hope he at least can be civil to her. After five days here I have grown to care about them both and I don’t want to stand in between.

After a shower and a quick breakfast I leave our room to wait at Harry’s car. To my surprise I woke up with almost no nerves and I feel better than expected after my three beers from the night before. I even have faith that I’ll pass the test. There are a few nerves flying around in my stomach but I ignore them. I have to learn to let things go and although I am doing more than fine after such a short time here, I believe I still have to improve.

The heat is overwhelming when I step outside the gravel beneath my feet scratching against my slippers. I’m wearing a jeans short with a simple tee shirt. My bag is slung around my shoulder filled with towels and my lifeguard bathing suite. I’m not sure if I have to wear it but since it is the only bathing suite I own and I don’t want to swim in a bikini this time, I don’t have much of a choice.

Harry’s waiting in his car wearing some kind of hat. I won’t deny it, even now he looks good. Better than me at least.

“Good morning,” he calls when I stand next to his car. Standing still is a mistake in this heat and I wonder if it will get any worse.

“Is this normal weather for this time of day?” I ask opening the car door to almost fall in my seat.

“No.” He starts the car while looking at me. “This is cold.”

“Cold?” I groan although I had a feeling this is just the start of summer.

“Yeah, this is nothing. There’s been some rain right before we came here, but imagine the heat when there hasn’t been a raindrop for months.”

“God, I’m not cutout for English summers let alone this sort of warmth,” I whine wishing I had sunglasses like Harry because the sun is blinding me when we take off to the swimming pool.

“Then you’ll suffer.” I hear the humor in his voice and I can’t help but smile because he’s being nice again as if what happened yesterday is forgotten.

“If this is suffering then I’ll take it,” I say looking up to the sky to watch the beautiful high palm trees.

It’s something about the trees that makes me love this place. I never thought there would be palm trees here so to see so many of them is breath taking sometimes. Combined with the blue sky, hills and old buildings make me want to discover more of this place. It seems that on every corner of the street is something new and it excites me. Although I still wish that I could discover it with James, I won’t deny that I like the company of my flat mates. Even the company of my annoying neighbor.

“Good,” Harry answers me a bit later as if he too was thinking about the beauty of Palas. “’Cause after today you have to stay here for a while.”

“I think so too.” I nod feeling ready for the test.

We drive some more in silence and I take the opportunity to study Harry again. His hat looks good on his long curly hair that has a golden glow because of the sun. His plain white tee looks not so plain on him. The fabric is almost see through and I wonder about his tattoos again. Maybe this is the time to ask him about his seemingly random tattoos.

“What was your first tattoo?”

Harry glances to me for a moment before he keeps his eyes on the road again. He raises his arm to show me some undiscovered tattoos underneath it.