Banking On My Bodyguard

chapter 8

Friday rolled around, thankfully featuring no more aggravating interactions with Kingsley.

He seemed to notice my extra resent for him this week and stayed out of the way. Although, I could have sworn I occasionally saw him smirking to himself out of the corner of my eye.

I had no doubts that he was still revelling in his success at proving his point after my weak attempt to defend myself. Knowing it brought him satisfaction only annoyed me more.

But the horrible truth was that I wasn't only angry at him for being an arrogant asshole, but also at the fact that he had been right.

I wasn't able to defend myself, I was too weak and didn't know any techniques to win against an attacker, which meant that, in some small way, I did need him around.

The realisation hadn't taken long to hit me after I'd wallowed in my defeat, and I was frustrated at my own inability.

Of course I would never admit any of that to him. His ego would only have risen higher than Everest and I wasn't prepared to deal with that level of glee on top of his current smugness.

Despite it being the last day of the week, we had it off because it was a bank holiday. Naila had invited me to go with her and a friend to town.

I'd reluctantly agreed, although I really wanted to spend the morning in bed. But I hadn't been prepared for her to wrangle her way into my room to ensure I wouldn't ditch.

I yawned widely as I tied my shoe laces. Naila was busy trying on my necklaces to see which fit best with her outfit whilst she rambled on about the latest gossip around the Academy. Apparently someone was seen getting it off with one of the teachers, but I doubted the truth in the story.

I stood up from the chair and grabbed my purse from my bedside cabinet, shoving it into my handbag.

Naila decided on a necklace and we did last checks in the mirror before exiting, making our way outside.

When we got there Paul was already waiting in the car with Kingsley in the passenger seat.

Naila's friend was there too, leaning against the vehicle, and he smiled at us as I regarded him curiously.

I'd seen him in assemblies frequently, it was hard to miss his bright ginger hair amongst the crowd. He was very pale with endearing freckles across the bridge of his nose. Naila hadn't said much but apparently he was in her maths class. When we reached him, I was surprised to see her hug him tightly.

"Vee, this is Jasper. Jasper, Vee." She looked between us and I reached my hand out politely for him to shake.

"It's nice to meet you, Naila can't stop talking about you in class."

"I'm not surprised, she can't stop talking full stop." I joked and received a slight glare from my best friend. Jasper laughed loudly in response and I decided that I liked him already.

Naila stomped her way to the other side of the car and he rushed around to open the door for her.

Before I could reach for my own door handle, Kingsley jumped out of the car and pulled it for me. I raised my eyebrows slightly but thanked him and slipped into the car seat.

Once we were all in, Paul started the engine and we began the short drive to town.

It wasn't very big, especially compared to the city, but it had a decent amount of shops, restaurants and cafes, even some bars and clubs too.

We didn't need permission to visit it during the weekends so we took advantage of the chance to leave the school grounds frequently.

When we arrived, we parked up in the centre and clambered out of the vehicle. The streets were pretty busy, mostly with families as they milled around in little groups and a lot of the stores had Halloween decorations in their windows to indicate the season.

Naila and Jasper came to stand beside me.

"So where do you want to go?" Naila looked at me expectantly.

"Well I definitely want to visit the home store and then I don't mind where. How about you guys?"

"I want to look at some clothes in the Boutique and I think Jasper wants to go to the gaming shop, but let's start with yours."

I nodded and we all made our way up the street until we reached the home decorating store. I entered first and immediately made a beeline for the candle section. I knew Naila would want to go look at the cushions so I didn't pay much attention as I strolled down the long aisle.

To my relief, the shop was quiet and I was able to take a long look at the products in the shelves without anyone blocking them.

There were hundreds of different types of candles, ranging in colour, scent, shape and size. It was one of my favourite things to look at, something about a burning candle in the colder months made me feel cosy.

I picked up a few of the ones that sounded appealing and was busy debating between Lemon Pie and Vanilla Dreams when I felt a presence beside me. I glanced up to see Kingsley who was staring at the choices in my hands.

"Which do you think is better?"

I wasn't sure why I had decided now of all moments to talk to him, especially about candles scents, which was bound to be the last thing he was interested in.

He seemed surprised at my question but paused for a moment before pointing to the yellow candle.

"Are you getting anything?" I enquired politely as I placed the vanilla candle back on the shelf.

"I don't know what to choose, there's so many."

"How about Lavender Fields?" I pointed to the top shelf but he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

I plucked a different candle from a nearby shelf and held it out to him, "Smoky Oak?"

He seemed more satisfied with this as he took the candle from my hand and sniffed it.

"Yeah I like this one. Let's go pay."

I nodded and followed him back to the front of the store, pulling out my purse. The cashier rung up the candles but before I could swipe my card, Kingsley nudged my hand away and tapped his on the reader.

"Wait, you don't have to pay for me." I tried to protest but he rolled his eyes.

He handed me my candle as the receipt printed. "Don't worry about it, it's just a candle."

"Well thanks." I smiled at him sincerely and he smiled back. I realised it was the first time I'd seen the genuine expression of joy on his face and it warmed my heart in some strange way.

We waited for the others to finish shopping and paying for their items before we left the store.

As we walked to the next shop Naila pulled out her phone.

"I was thinking of texting some of the others and asking if they wanted to go to Zapo's tonight. Do you want to come?"

Zapo's was the biggest club in the town and although we hadn't been able to go there last year due to our age, the older students raved about it. They seemed to spend most weekends there and we'd agreed that as soon as we were 18 we would see what all the hype was about.

"Sure that sounds fun." I grinned, excited at the prospect.

She nodded and began typing away on her phone, organising the group for the wild night ahead.