Cruel Sanctuary

Chapter 5

The last thing I remember from last night was watching Jack and Sally kiss under the moon and longing for that kind of love so I placed my head on Noah's shoulder through intense tiredness and then all was calm in the world as my eyes drooped and my body relaxed. Now here I am, lay on his sofa.

Then I realise how annoyed Owen will be that I didn't return last night and that Noah will be seen driving me to school. It will most definitely wound his 'reputation' so I do the rational thing to try to keep Owen happy, "Wake up, Noah," I shake him so we can arrive at school on time with minimal drama caused, "We're going to be late for school!" I shake him again, more roughly this time.

He stirs awake, "What time is it?" He croaks, his morning voice hoarse and marginally sexy as he rubs his eyes. Immediately reminding myself of the lecture I don't want to receive from Owen, I clamber to get to my phone, "It's quarter to eight, we have forty-five minutes until school starts and it's a ten-minute drive so we have thirty-five minutes to get out of the front door and be on time so that we don't cause too much attention because otherwise we'll upset Owen and-" I look down at my day old clothes, "Oh, crap!" I begin to jump around in panic as Noah rises from the sofa, "I'm in the same clothes as yesterday and everyone's bound to notice and think I'm cheating on Owen even though I'm not but you get the point-" Noah cuts me off.

"Skylar!" He slams his hands down on my shoulders, holding my eyesight, "Calm down, I'll get you some of my mum's clothes, it's all okay," He hushes me and I sigh in relief, "She won't mind, will she? I mean, if she does mind then I'm okay going to school in these clothes even though it'd be humiliating but it's okay-" Noah cuts off my rambling again, "It's fine, just follow me and I'll get you some clothes," He gestures for me to follow him and I do.

We enter the kitchen where Lucy is cooking up pancakes, "Morning, mum. You don't mind if Sky borrows some of your clothes, do you?" He asks and she turns to us and smiles, "Morning! No, no, go ahead and take what you want. Here's your recipes, Skylar," She replies and we thank her as I take the paper from her and head to her room.

"Just choose something and then throw it on, I'll get you a toothbrush and that," Noah smiles before shutting the door, leaving me in privacy. Hesitantly, I open Lucy's closet to reveal clothes I could only dream of owning. Luckily, we are roughly the same size judging by our builds so I choose out a white pleated skirt and a navy blue jumper with two white stripes across the chest.

I have to fold the waist over a few times to make the skirt shorter because Lucy is a lot taller than me. After the adjustments it reaches my mid-thigh and the jumper fits perfectly as I tuck it into the skirt. After some pondering, I pick out some smart navy lace-up pumps. Then I take my hair out of the two plaits it was in before to be pleasantly surprised with the waves that are left in them, so I run my fingers through it a few times and use some of the hair spray I noticed on her dressing table.

Just on time to stick to schedule, I exit the room and bump straight into Noah who was about to knock on the door, "You took your sweet time," He checks out my outfit, "So, uhh, follow me," He says awkwardly and I follow him into the bathroom. He goes into a cabinet below the sink and pulls out a new toothbrush and hands it to me with some toothpaste, "Be quick, we've got about ten minutes to be out of the door," He rushes and I thank him as he steps out of the room.

***

"Well, we made it," Noah sighs out in relief as people start to stare and whisper, "Unfortunately," I mumble in response since I am very anxious and it is showing. As if picking up on my anxiety, he turns to me with an intense stare, "Hey, stop that. We're going go into that hell-hole and kick it's ass today, okay? And if you need anything just come and find me. I'm a loner and everyone's scared of me, so yeah," He encourages and I take in a deep breath, "Thanks," I smile and we exit the car when I spot Emma, staring at me in awe.