Page 41 of I Don’t Need Your Protection (Harrington Bay Academy #1)

Addie

“I mean, it could be worse,” Carly says to Raven during lunch a few days later. “She could have paired you up with Witch Clarissa.”

“Jemma might as well be a mini-Clarissa,” Raven grumbles, then shoves some food into her mouth. “She and Luna follow what their master says like freakin’ sheep.”

“Calling them sheep is an insult to the sheep,” Sophie says as she turns another page of her book.

“Agreed,” Carly says with a giggle.

Raven glances at me. “You okay, Addie? You’re so quiet today.”

“She’s been quiet the last few days,” Sophie observes. “What’s wrong?”

I sigh as I bang my head on the table. “I have a broken heart.”

“ What ?” Carly gasps. “You’re in love with someone?”

I turn my head to the side so I can face them. “Okay, I was just exaggerating. But it kind of feels like a broken heart.”

“Caleb?” Raven asks.

I groan and nod.

“Wait, are you saying…?” Sophie gapes at me. “You and Caleb have had a thing all this time?”

“I don’t know if you can call it a thing …”

“I knew I sensed a vibe between you two!” Carly says. “I mean, it was kind of a weird situation because you were sick, but the way he looked at you…”

I raise my head. “He looked at me how?”

“Like he would die if something happened to you.”

I groan again and bury my face in the table.

“What’s wrong?” Raven asks. “You know you can talk to us. We’ll never judge you.”

“I know,” I assure her. “I’m not embarrassed. I just don’t want to say it out loud because I don’t want it to be true.”

“What don’t you want to be true?” Sophie asks.

“That no matter what he feels, he won’t act on it. Because he cares more about my safety than his own heart. Which makes me want to both strangle him and kiss him senseless.”

“ Kiss him?’ Sophie asks.

“Yeah, um…” I lift my head again, my cheeks warming up. “We kind of kissed a few days ago.”

“Hold on, hold on, hold on!” Carly cries. “Back up and tell us everything, right now . You’re the first one of us to have a kiss and you didn’t tell us? ”

“I’ve been dealing with a broken heart,” I whine.

Sophie lays her hand over mine. “Sorry. We don’t mean to make light of your pain. We’re just shocked.”

“It’s okay. I can’t have a broken heart if I was never really in love. I’m just being dramatic. It still hurts, though. Like heck.”

I turn to look at Caleb. He’s sitting a few tables away with his gaze fastened on me. Every time I look at him, I feel a small stab in my heart. Maybe that’s me being overdramatic again, but it sucks so much. He’s right there, but he also isn’t. He might as well be behind a locked door.

“He kind of looks sad, doesn’t he?” Carly says.

“He does?” I ask, my body perking up a little.

“I can’t see any emotion on him,” Sophie says.

“I see something all right,” Carly says. “I tell you, it’s sadness. I bet he’s just as hurt as you, Addie.”

“Doubt it.”

“Can you tell us what happened from the beginning?” Raven asks.

I nod and then spend a few minutes telling them everything, ending with the most amazing kiss with Caleb and how he pulled away.

“He’s been acting so cold and aloof the past few days,” I tell them.

“He never cracks even a tiny smile and he barely reacts to my lame attempts at being funny. Everything is all business to him, like it was when we first arrived here. He thinks getting involved with me will distract him and inhibit him from doing his job. ”

My friends contemplate my words.

“As much as it sucks, I don’t know if there’s anything you can do about it,” Raven tells me.

“There’s no way he can keep a straight head if he’s developing feelings for you.

So he has two options. Either pursue something with you, which means he’d have to give up being your bodyguard, or he can give up pursuing something with you and remain your bodyguard.

From what I’ve gathered from you, I don’t think he’d ever give up being your bodyguard. ”

I nod with a scowl. “That’s totally true. He doesn’t trust anyone but himself.”

“But,” Sophie says as she leans in close. “Maybe you can have something with him if your parents’ you-know-whats are caught? He wouldn’t have to protect you anymore.”

“Wouldn’t that mean his job is done and he’ll leave?” Carly asks.

I moan and slam my face into the table again. “Just my luck that the first guy I like is someone I can’t have.”

“Forbidden romance trope!” Sophie says with a bright smile. Then she frowns. “Sorry.”

“Do those books have happy endings?” I ask.

“Most do.”

“Life is not a book,” Raven reminds us.

“You’re right,” I say. “In real life, happy endings don’t happen. Only unhappy endings. How am I supposed to get through the days? Can’t they just find the jerks who did what they did to my parents so I can move on with my life?”

“So you want Caleb to leave?” Sophie asks .

“No! No way. I want him to stay.”

“As painful as it is?” Raven asks.

“What has become of my life?” I groan as I smack my head into the table again.

Sophie rubs my shoulder. “You’ll be okay. Whatever happens is for the best, and if you and Caleb are meant to be together, you will be.”

“Are we meant to be together, though? I can’t imagine being with anyone else. But clearly that’s one-sided.”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself,” Carly says. “He’s sad, Addie. I’m telling you he is.”

We look at him again. From the way he shifts in his seat, he knows we’re talking about him.

“Maybe I just need to push harder,” I say. “Maybe show him he can be both my protector and my…um, whatever.”

“Sure,” Sophie says. “Never give up on love.”

“Or maybe be patient until the right time?” Raven asks. “You don’t want to mess anything up.”

“You mean like die?” I mumble.

“No! I meant mess up a chance at a relationship.”

“You made me think of something,” Carly muses. “If your parents’ you-know-whats are never found, does that mean Caleb will be your bodyguard for the rest of the school year?”

“I’ll suffer for months ?!” I cry.

“Maybe not,” Carly quickly says. “Hope for the best.”

I shake my head. “It’s doomed no matter what. If they catch them tomorrow, Caleb will pack his bags and head off for his next assignment. I’ll just be a distant memory. ”

“You don’t know that,” Sophie insists.

“You think he’ll give up his job just to be with me?” I ask.

“Maybe?”

I shake my head. “I have to learn to get over him. Somehow…”