I stood up, my hands gripped onto the edges of the desk and I turned to face the door. My body lunging forward, steeling myself for fight or flight.
Philip had stopped playing and his eyes steered towards the door. His usual warmer than the Mediterranean eyes had turned icy. They now looked colder than the glaciers from Antarctica. I could feel the temperature in the room plummeting a few degrees and the chill almost made me shiver involuntarily.
I kept my eyes on the door and held my breath, waiting to see who was about to come through. Friend or foe? Which was it going to be? Whichever one it was, I was ready for it!
The person walked in and I found myself breaking into a huge smile. It was such a relief, it felt like the weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and before I knew it, my feet were walking towards him as if they had a mind of their own.
Aiden's eyes darting from me to Philip. Then he fixated his gaze on me only and he gave me the once over. I felt my cheeks blushing. I looked down onto the floor, pretending to be focusing on the tips of my shoes and too embarrassed to make eye contact. I knew he wasn't ogling at me and he was only trying to assess me to make sure I was ok and that I didn't need medical attention, but it was still a bit embarrassing.
It wasn't until he was finally satisfied that no harm had come to me then he turned his attention to Philip and acknowledged his presence.
"Philip," he said without much emotion in his voice.
"Aiden," Philip said, equally matching his cold and detached demeanour.
I glanced at them feeling slightly confused, maybe it was my imagination but I could almost sense some sort of rift between the two. I thought they were friends?
Aiden turned to me and took my hand, "let's go."
My small hand fitted neatly into the palm of his. I could feel his long fingers wrapping around mine, intertwining each other and my palms began to sweat.
We walked along the corridor in silence. I had so many questions in my head that I wanted to ask, like how did he know I was here and what was going on between me and Philip? But I didn't want to say the words out loud in case it ruined this wonderful moment.
He didn't show any signs of letting go of my hand and that suited me perfectly. I let him lead me through the rose garden and it wasn't until we got to the cloisters that he finally let go of my hand.
He stopped to look at me and I reciprocated by directly gazing into his eyes, once again mesmerised by their unique colour. They reminded me of twilight.
"What were you and Philip doing back there?" He tilted his head in the direction we came from and asked.
"Huh?" I blinked, suddenly remembering why I was there in the first place. I made a face, "Kendra's clan were chasing me and I ended up hiding in there, I didn't even know he was in the room. We were locked in. I was going to try and jump out the window but he said the windows didn't open."
He didn't say anything and continued to look at me.
"How about you? I heard the Hunters lost last night...will there be consequences?" I asked, my face full of worry and concern.
"It's fine," he reassured me. "My family the biggest benefactors of the school. They won't do anything to me."
I nodded. That was good to know. I'd hate for anything to happen to him because of me.
We walked the remainder of the way in silence, and this time he didn't try to hold my hand again.
Little did I know, back in the music room, according to Aiden's version of events, it looked like Philip was given me a private violin recital and I had been gaping at him starry-eyed.
***
Philip Lonsdale watched them leave hand in hand, his tall body remained still like a statue.
He waited until they reappeared out the rose garden and strode past before beginning to slowly walk towards the window. He could see their backs gradually disappearing out of view, then a bitter smile twitched across his lips.
She doesn't remember me anymore. He shook his head.
He placed his hand on the handlebar of the bay window, with a gentle twist, it opened easily. And the sweet delicate perfume of roses floated into the room.
The sun remained warm and bright. But Philip was lost deep in thought.
***
By the time I got back to the cafeteria, lunch had almost finished. I grabbed a chicken sandwich and started devouring it. It was a bit on the dry side but luckily as long as I carried on chewing it meant I didn't need to speak.
Molly was having a heated debate with Charlie and went on and on about how we needed to report Kendra.
"We can't just keep letting her get away with it!" Molly hissed. "Kendra is a liability, a danger to everyone."
Charlie nodded his head too. Whatever Molly said, he seemed to agree with.
"It's fine," I said. "I'll just stay out of her way."
"But how can you when you're in all the same classes as her, you have to see her every day. There's no escaping." She looked worried.
I shrugged it off and popped the last bite into my mouth. Now that I've had something to eat, I was already feeling better.
We got to Biology class and Kendra was already in her seat, a group of people gathered around her seat. She saw me and with a smirk on her face, she slowly got up from her chair and in an overly dramatic voice she began," Dear Diary, today was the worst day of my life, five members of my family died right in front of my very own eyes..."
My blood started to boil instantly and I clutched my hand into tight fists.
She was reading my journal.