Banking On My Bodyguard

chapter 19

Eric took my suitcase and slipped it into the boot as Kingsley held the car door open for me. I climb into the seat and he jogged to other side and did the same.

We were leaving the Academy for Christmas break. To say I was relieved would be an understatement, the work was getting increasingly hard and the more time I spent away from my family, the more I missed them.

I was relieved that Kingsley would be coming home with me, dad had decided to invite Isaac and his wife Maria to stay with us over
the holidays so my companion was included as a guest too.

I glanced at him as he typed away on his phone, he seemed excited to be having a proper holiday. He'd told me that since it was usually only the three of them, they had kept the celebration small in previous years.

In our family, the winter holiday was a big affair. My mother liked to do it properly since it was one of the only times she wasn't travelling during the year, and my dad always hosted an annual New Years ball for his work associates.

Eric started the car and I gazed at the Academy one last time as we proceeded down the gravel pathway. I was already exhausted, I hadn't been sleeping well since the attempted break in and was relieved to be returning to the fortress that was our London home.

They still hadn't found any new information even though the security breach happened a week ago. The police had said that there were no leads since the security cameras had been destroyed.

The events of that evening had been widely debated amongst the students and the rumours had only grown wilder with each passing day. I tried my best not to pay attention to them, but I could tell that something about what happened really bothered Kingsley, and in turn that bothered me.

My phone dinged in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a text from Eli.

E: I know we already said goodbye but have a good Christmas Vee. I miss you already x

I cringed slightly at his affectionate message, it had become blatantly obvious that he had a thing for me but I knew I didn't feel the same for him. On paper he seemed perfect, but some spark was missing.

He'd even gone so far as to buy me an early Christmas present and made me open it in front of him. It was a very expensive diamanté watch with an engraving on the back that read, All The Time In the World For You. The message was clear and I felt guilty for putting it back in the box and not having worn it since, but it wasn't really my taste.

I sent back a quick and friendly reply before putting my phone in my pocket. I turned to face Kingsley to find him already staring at me, he had a piece of paper in his hand with a 9-square grid drawn onto it.

"Do you want to play naughts and crosses? We've got a lot of time to kill."

I nodded and we spent the next hour swapping between that and hangman. He won most times but I let it go, he was clearly the more competitive of us.

As the journey plodded along I began to get drowsy and so leant my head against his shoulder, falling into a much needed sleep.

***

By the time I woke up hours later and looked out the window, we were home.

I sat up straight and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Kingsley came around to open my door and I got out quickly, excited to be reunited with the family. I stretched out my limbs and breathed in the city air. It smelt horribly polluted, but that was home.

I lead the way through the iron gate to the front door and knocked loudly. A few moments later it was opened by a smiling Rose and she squealed in excitement when she saw me.