The Guarded One ✔

Chapter Nineteen

"Hey, you're supposed to be resting" I cry when spotting aunt Laura with her glasses on her head, looking down at a book, "What are you doing?"

"Studying for the bar" she admits.

"Come again?" My eyes widen.

"The bar exam" she continues, "so I can be a lawyer"

"Yeah I know what the bar is" I fold my arms, "you haven't said anything about wanting to continue law, in what? Fifteen years...what's changed?"

Before Aunt Laura was my legal guardian, she was living in New York and studying law. That was back when my mum was still alive. Aunt Laura ended up getting kicked out after getting a DUI.

"Last night when Raff told me that I can't drive any more, I realized that I should have lost my license in 2003 when I hit that guy with my car, after I had a seizure behind the wheel" Aunt Laura begins, "...But I was so scared of losing my license that I said that I was drunk driving and got DUI instead...if I had just been honest fifteen years ago, I would be a practising lawyer right now...and my life would have gone so differently"

"I get it" I half-smile, "but your life hasn't been so bad has it?"

She shakes her head "no it hasn't...I just would have done a lot of things differently if I had just stayed in law school...I would have hurt a lot less people"

Aunt Laura doesn't talk a lot about what her life was like before she took me and Angel in, back when she was living in New York. All I know is that she was living there when my mum was still alive and that's where she met her friend Doris. At some point, while she was there she was sleeping with her brother's husband.

I would be naive to think that that's all the harm she caused while she was there.

"Like uncle Matthew?" I raise a brow.

She nods "yeah well, that's all in the past now...You don't have to go to school today, you were up all night with me at the hospital, I can call the school and explain—"

"No, that's okay" I shake my head, "Hayden comes back today so...don't overwork yourself, you have a concussion"

"Yes, doctor" she smirks just as I leave the room.

***

"She's back today," Duncan's says cheerfully while we walk down the hallway, keeping a lookout for Hayden who has been absent for a week now.

"Yeah" I nod, "I still don't get why she was suspended"

"She told you" Tyler rolled his eyes, "she disrespected her teachers"

I would be an idiot to buy that story. Why would they suspend her just for that? After all, she's done worse and just got a slap on the wrist.

"There she is" Duncan points across the hallway where Hayden stood at the lockers. "Hay!"

"I spoke to you yesterday" she rolls her eyes while Tyler and I stood behind Duncan who approaches her.

Somethings wrong.

"Oh but it been so long"

"How's jess going?" Hayden looks over her shoulder, drawing her gaze to Tyler.

Hayden and Duncan still think that Jess is in long island with her grandma. How naive.

"She's great" Tyler nods, "says she's having a blast"

Yeah, a blast. She's stuck in isolation, praying that she's doesn't get an infection that'll kill her.

"I bet" Hayden smiles, "And what about Ayla?"