Banking On My Bodyguard

chapter 27

A week later and we'd settled back into the swing of school. It was growing increasingly hard, our exams were in a few months and the amount of content we still had to cover seemed endless.

As I scribbled notes from the board I wondered about the future. Soon I would graduate and enter into the real world. I knew what I wanted to do, but getting there was complicated. But part of me was thankful for the challenge ahead, having a goal kept me motivated to study.

I thought about my mother and father, they'd worked really hard to achieve what they had. My father had grown up very differently to me, his family struggled to pay for bills, sometimes having to go without food as a compromise. It was what had driven him so much and I wondered how it felt to go from having nothing to everything.

I tuned back into the teacher as they explained a business model in depth, emphasising the key aspects that might come up on the exams.

As my eyes scanned the diagram, I felt a prickle run down my spine and looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, Kingsley was staring at me but he looked away quickly once he saw that I'd noticed.

It was the first time he'd really acknowledged me in the last two weeks and it felt strange that it had been that long. Naila had been wrong, things weren't getting any better but perhaps this was a sign I wasn't completely dead to him.

I continued looking at him for a while, taking advantage of the chance to absorb his face for the first time in a long time. I hadn't dared to before, feeling that it was somehow an invasion when he detested me so much.

He still had faint traces of dark circles under his eyes, similar to my own, but I was thankful he didn't look so haunted anymore. His hair was swept out of his face and he was wearing a white shirt with a few buttons undone and the Academy tie loose around his neck. He looked perfectly handsome, as always had, and my heart ached to be close to him.

He seemed to sense my stare and looked up, catching my eye. Now it was my turn to look away and I swivelled back around in my seat as the bell rang for the end of class.

I sighed slightly and began packing up my stuff as the class was dismissed.

Students filed out of the room and I headed towards the door too, making my way down the corridor to the cafeteria.

Lunch had become my favourite time of day recently. It was a relief to be surrounded by my friends and have the distraction of conversation.

"Vee, wait up!"

I turned at the sound of my name to see Eli running to catch up with me. Kingsley glared at him as he ran past and came to stand next to me. I guess some things didn't change.

"Oh hey Eli, what's up?" My tone was flat, I couldn't even summon up fake enthusiasm. He'd been his usual sweet self since we'd returned to school but his affections were even more unwelcome after the realisation about my own feelings.

"Nothing much... I wanted to ask you something actually." He grinned at me.

"Is it about the business homework? Because I think I'm going to write the essay instead of doing the diagrams." My bag began to slide off my shoulder and I quickly hoisted it back up.

He shook his head, "no nothing about that. I was just wondering if maybe you... wanted to hang out with me?"

I blinked at him, confused about the meaning behind his words.

"Like at lunch? Because we do that everyday, you don't have to ask."

"Sorry maybe I should rephrase. I meant, do you want to go on a date with me?" He scratched the back of his neck, clearly nervous.