Her Bodyguard

Chapter Four

Calida was ready. And Izar had her breath stuck in her throat or something at the sight of her. Calida wore tight ripped jeans, a white turtle neck sweater and a black Jean jacket over the turtle neck. She wore a chain with a cross pendant around her neck. She probably hid her gun somewhere. Izar tried to do an eye search. Her eyes went over Calida, once, twice. And then she gave up.

She followed the tall slender woman out the door. There was a car parked right outside on the driveway. A 1968 Jaguar 340 saloon. A classic.

"That wasn't there yesterday. How did that get there?" Izar asked, utterly surprised.

"I had someone bring it here. Why?" Calida stared at her, looking particularly unbothered.

"You drive a classic?"

"I do," Calida was unnervingly calm.

Izar gawked at the car again. "Hold on, you let someone drive it here?"

"Nobody drives my car. Only I do. And it has a name." She walked off the porch, towards the car.

The ride to campus wasn't long, but the whole time, Calida and Izar ignored each other. It was better that way. Izar was a drama queen and Calida knew she wasn't patient enough to handle drama.

Calida parked the car and Izar got out. She stretched for a few seconds and then ignored the bodyguard. But as she turned to leave, Calida grabbed her hand.

"Not so fast, Tiny. Change of plans. I'll be attending every class with you. Your father had things redone. So now, I'm your class mate. I'm still your elusive childhood friend who transfered here, so try to make that a little believable."

Izar groaned, but she did not object. After all, Calida was just there to protect her. Calida followed her as they walked to Izar's class. Izar's phone rang as they got closer to her class. She answered the call.

"Hello Han. What's up?" Izar said, completely ignoring her bodyguard as she came to a stop.

"Hey! I've been trying to reach you since last night! Are you okay?" Han asked.

"Um, yeah. I am. I'm on my way to class now. We have Professor Gina this morning, I don't want to be late."

"Oh, that's cool. I'll meet you in class and we can talk. I'm kind of worried about Alyssa," Han replied.

Now that Izar thought of it, Han did sound worried. "I'll meet you in class. We can talk about Alyssa later."

Izar started walking again. This time, she was fast, but Calida was faster, thanks to her long legs. They got to class and Calida followed her inside. Han waved in the crowd of students and Izar saw her. She climbed up the steps until she got to her row. Han had saved her a spot, but there was no other empty space except for the one behind Izar. Calida took it without complaining. She would easily monitor Izar while listening to her conversation with Han.

"How're you, Iz? I thought you'd not be coming back," Han said.

Izar frowned, "I'm okay. But why would you think that?"

"I haven't heard from Alyssa in the last couple of days. I've called, sent texts. Yet I got nothing in response. Nothing at all."

Izar's frown turned into a look of shock. But just as she was about to say something, the professor walked in.

"Good morning everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. It's nice to know some of you made it to Monday without a hangover," the Professor said.

Calida hadn't been paying attention because she had her attention on Izar, but the voice she heard broke her chain of thoughts. She knew that voice. She instantly turned the front of the class. She groaned loud enough to make Izar turn behind to stare at her. She looked irritated.

"I believe I have a new student here? Could Calida Arell please stand up?" Professor Gina asked.

Calida noticed the flicker of emotion that passed through the professor's eyes for only a second. She stood up nonetheless. With every eye turned to her, Calida imagined herself to be giant, with everyone else looking up to her. It was the only way she could deal with the number of eyes she has on her.

"Cal - Ms. Arell, I hope you know you're joining this class a little bit late and you'll need all the possible help you can get?" The professor asked.

"Yes, Ma'am. I have someone who's willing to share everything they've learnt from this class with me," Calida said.

Professor Gina stared at her first, then at Izar, who Calida was staring at as well.

"You're in good hands then. Please sit down."

Calida sat down and tried to ignore the woman teaching. She didn't want to think. Thinking would make her lose focus on more important things like protecting Izar.

"Miss Arell, do you have a problem with my class?"

Calida looked up once more, confused, "excuse me?"

"Could you please tell us why creativity is important for writers?" The professor asked.

Calida sat back and just stared for a few seconds. She had been in this situation before, with this same woman, though she had answered a much different question then.

"As an artist, creativity would naturally be a part of you. Writers are artists too. They paint pictures in the minds of their readers using words. Not everyone can do that, not even painters. But writing is creativity itself."

The class was so quiet, Calida could hear the breathing sounds of the girl sitting next to her.

"Yes, you're not wrong. Now if you would please just listen. I hate when students aren't focused. Could you please do that?" Professor Gina asked.

Calida shrugged, ignoring the air of tension that had filled the room ever since the professor entered the class. When she felt Izar staring at her, she turned towards her. The smaller woman looked confused, but Calida's personal life was non of her concerns, she turned back to the professor who had resumed teaching again.

After the class, Calida left the class quietly, walking in a crowd of students as if she was hiding from something or someone. She waited outside for Izar and her friend. When they came out of the class, Han stopped.

"I knew it! Are you gonna introduce me to the hot chic that's been following you around or not," she said.

Izar groaned, "can we just walk. I'm really hungry and I could really do with some pasta right now."

"We can talk while walking, but if you won't introduce us, that's alright, I'll do it myself," she turned to an unfazed Calida, "hi. I'm Han Lee, Izar's friend. And you're Calida Arell. I caught that part in class. I'm curious, what does your name mean?"