Part of the Promise (Book 3 in the 'Part of' Series)

Chapter 12 Catching Up

Chapter 12 Catching up

Karim's POV

Emi was tapping her foot impatiently whilst Harlow continued to hug me. I was not at all complaining as I held him close to me. I didn't know what was wrong with me but I had missed him. He was one of the first people that I actually cared to get to know. He was Emi's friend, I had told myself plenty of times that I was doing this for her. It began like that anyway.

"Harlow." I smiled into his hair as I tried to step back, I couldn't without using some force, so I stayed there for a moment. "We can't stay like this forever." I tried to keep my tone level. He still didn't move.

"We can try." He mumbled into my chest, I rolled my eyes and tried to peel his arms from around me. I eventually had to look to Emi for help and she just shook her head before coming over and pulling on Harlow's arm.

"You two can do plenty of that in private later." Harlow's cheeks turned bright red whilst I blinked in surprise and suppressed a blush. "So, we can talk about what's been happening." Harlow shifted slightly.

"Are you sure?" He was rubbing his hands together and looking around at each corner of the dark room. "Nothing's been bugged? Surely if they don't know technology too well then others would?" Emi looked at him before bursting into laughter.

"Oh Harlow, I've got no clue where you get your imagination from." Harlow's shoulders slumped and he sent her a glare. "I feel like we'd know if we were bugged, honestly." She waved the comment off briskly. "They're no good at technology and we haven't seen anyone else since we were stuck in that darn house."

"A little naive, okay." Harlow shrugged lightly. "So what has been going on?" Emi and I shared a look before we each shrugged.

"Nothing," Emi shrugged enthusiastically. "We just stayed in the house the entire time. It was torture." She moved further into the drama cube and sat down on a discarded chair.

"Absolutely nothing." I agreed with her and followed but I didn't sit down. "We just basically did the same as we would do over a prolonged weekend. Hung out, played cards, avoided the family at all costs." Harlow chuckled and shook his head, leaning on the wall.

"Sounds like it was torture." I couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not. "Found anything out?" It was clear this was what he was wanting to get to. I shook my head and sighed.

"Other than that we need to see more walls?" Emi's sarcasm was a little bit irritating at this point. This was a serious matter. "Nothing."

"They killed Lathen, you know?" I felt my eyes widen as Harlow spoke. "They dropped off his corpse in the middle of the woods." Emi shifted uncomfortably, moving so that she was sideways on the chair. I rubbed my face, where the remainder of the blisters were from the acid. It was still a little bit painful and was definitely going to scar. You couldn't see it where we were as we didn't put the lights on.

"I'm sorry to hear that." She said sadly. "It's been a bit too easy to pretend it didn't happen." Harlow sucked in a breath and I was prepared to be shouted at, for the disappointment he felt to overwhelm us and for him to storm out. He didn't.

"I get that." He lent his head backwards onto the wall. "I agree it has been very tempting to do that." There was a moment of silence. "So do you come to school everyday?" He was looking at me.

"Nope, just sneak out when I can. I had college today so it was useful." I kicked the backpack which was on the floor which contained my books. "It's your first day back right?" He nodded slowly.

"Yeah, we have exams coming up." Emi immediately groaned at the word 'exam' whilst I just chuckled. "We're kind of like sitting ducks at the moment, just waiting for something to happen. So there's no real point in missing school." I nodded in understanding.

"Sitting ducks are no fun." Emi pouted before she stood up. "Think that's all we can manage without being suspicious." Her shoulder swerve slumped and she had a frown on her face. "At least we kind of got to catch up and see each other?"

Harlow nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's good to see that you two are alright. I'll probably still be coming to school, so I'll see you here." His awkwardness was a little strange. He pulled me in for another hug and then went to hug Emi but she stopped him.

"Wolfie senses." She said sadly before raising her hand, it was still a bit too dark to see so he missed her hand slightly. That just led to more giggles. "See you tomorrow How-low-can-you-go."

I smiled at him and ruffled his hair. "Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow." We each left the drama cube and headed down the stairs. We didn't talk to each other as we left the room, Emi didn't look back to him. She would probably run to him if she did. I turned to look at him and he was looking at us, he went a different way to us still. Since there are two gates to get off the premises. He gave me a smile and a wave as he ran off.

"We'll be alright." I turned to Emi who gave me a weak smile.

"Yeah, we'll all be alright." Then we headed off back to the mansion, stopping at a lake first to get Harlow's scent off me. It wasn't too unusual for me to go for a swim in my clothes, I would usually shift first but in this instance, I didn't want my clothes to give any hints away, so I just left them. The water helped cool my thoughts and grounded me as I wondered what on earth we were going to do.