Saviour

Arrival

We woke to bright, early morning Los Angeles sunshine. Ann shook us awake with a small smile on her lips, telling us to buckle up for landing.

I quickly disentangled myself from Harry’s arms, and looked out the window to hide my blush. I had been snuggled up with a boy I barely knew like we were a married couple, not twelve year olds. Except that I didn’t feel twelve with Harry. I felt so much younger, so innocent and carefree. 

I rolled my eyes. How love-struck I sounded. 

Wait. Was I love-struck?

No. Harry and I were just friends.

He could never love me anyways. I was just too plain. 

“What did you say?” 

Oops. I said that last part out loud.

I turned to face Harry.

“You’re not too plain, Jen. I think you’re beautiful.” He stated matter-of-fact-ly.

Jen. He called me Jen. I thought, completely missing the fact that Harry thought I was beautiful.Only my granddad had ever called me Jen. I bit my lip in protest against the sudden onslaught of grief. 

“Jen? Oh no, I’ve done it again. Jenna?” Harry cried, nervously pulling on his hair.

I snapped out of it just in time. “Shhh, Harry.” I said in my most soothing voice, brushing his hair out of his eyes. I then went beet red. I touched his hair! I’m acting so weird! All lovey-dovey with a kid I barely know! And I’m twelve! But he... he called me... beautiful.

“Jen? What did I say before? You had that look in your eyes again.” Harry prompted.

What look? I thought, but answered anyways. “Oh, you just called me Jen. Only my granddad calls .... called me Jen.”

A pained look crossed Harry’s face.

“Don’t worry, Harry. It’s ok. I like being called Jen.” I smiled tentatively. 

“Ok.” He chirped, twisting further left to look out the window. “Wow!”

“What?” I said, turning to look as well.

“Look at all the cars and stuff!” Harry exclaimed. I was suddenly hyper-aware of his breath, warm on the back of my neck. 

I felt myself blushing yet again and rolled my eyes, exasperated at myself.

“We will be landing in ten minutes. Please buckle your seat belts.” The intercom sounded.

“Beat you to it!” Harry yelled, turning to face the front of the plane. I was glad of the distraction, and that Harry had moved. He obviously didn’t like me as much as I liked him. I ran through every interaction that we’d had on the flight in my head. I decided most of those were out of pity and guilt. I sighed. Oh well. I’d never see him again anyways.

That thought stung me more than I thought it would. I would never see him again. He had made me so happy.

A single tear slid down my cheek. 

Harry looked at me out of the corner of his eyes, but kept his mouth shut. I think he was getting used to my emotional instability. 

I felt the plane start to dip downwards, and I couldn’t help the grin from sliding across my face. I loved landing.

Harry gripped my arm. Surprised, I looked over to see him squeezing his green eyes shut in terror. I barely muffled the laugh bubbling up inside me. 

When we finally hit the tarmac I peeled Harry’s strong grip off of my arm, and watched as the skin turned from white to its normal colour. 

“We made it.” Harry breathed deeply.

I couldn’t help laughing this time, especially when he turned to glare at me. 

“Alright kids, we’re going to get you off first. So unbuckle yourselves and follow me.” Ann instructed Harry and I, dragging our bags out of the overhead lockers.

We were paraded past rows of passengers, most of which glared and muttered things at Harry. 

As we finally reached the terminal, Ann dropped our bags at our feet and sadly turned to face us. 

“It has been great having you guys on board. But I have to go now. Can you please promise me that you will wait right here until someone comes to pick you up?” She was mainly speaking to Harry, I don’t think she wanted to set him loose in the airport.

I spoke up on both of our behalf. “Thank you Ann, we will be fine.”

She nodded, and walked away. I noticed Harry watching her go, and slapped him playfully on the arm. 

“She’s way out of your league, mate.” I hissed, grinning my head off.

He glowered at me for a second, and then brightened. “How long are you waiting here for?”

I bit my lip. “I don’t know. I don’t even know who’s picking me up. I think that I’m meant to go to a boarding school. It’s run by my godfather.”

Harry nodded. “I shall wait until your escort arrives.” He declared.

I rolled my eyes and went to sit on a wall. Harry obediently followed me, sliding down to sit next to me. 

Very close to me. 

I felt a blush creeping up on me, and when he slipped his arm around my shoulders I felt the blush come on full force. I gave in, however, resting my head on his chest once more. What a sight we must make. I sighed, but then Harry began to hum. 

It was beautiful.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew I was being gently shaken awake.

“Jenna.”

“Harry?”

There was a chuckle. Definitely not Harry.

I sat up quickly. “Oh. Hi. Are you my godfather?”

The old man leaning over smiled gently. He had a nice face, and twinkling eyes. “Sure am, honey. You can call me Uncle Jeff.”

I noticed he had an accent, and thought how strange that was until I realised I was in Los Angeles. 

The memories of the plane ride suddenly flooded my memory, and it was too much to handle. 

“He left me.” I whispered. “He just left.” 

Uncle Jeff smiled sadly, obviously not understanding me, then scooped me up in his arms. “Let’s get you home, pumpkin.”

I normally would have protested against being carried as a twelve year old, but I was just too worn out to care. 

I didn’t even notice that when Uncle Jeff picked up my bag, he made sure to collect the piece of paper sitting next to it, right where Harry once sat.