Page 22 of House of Bass

She gives her a strained smile, “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Trinity,” she says, holding her hand out.

“Harley,” Harley replied, taking it.

They went back to paying attention to the man who she was certain was glaring at her.

Hours later, when the bell rang signifying the end of her third lecture in a row, Harley was glad to get her head out of her books. The classes had been a little hard to follow as she joined later than the others and hadn't attended school in almost three years, but she was admittedly enjoying herself. It felt good to learn again.

Harley heard her name be called out on her way out, it was Trinity.

“Hey, my friends and I were going to get lunch, do you want to come? Usually we’d eat in the canteen but we are trying to branch out .”

She seemed nice and all, but Harley wasn’t very well versed in the art of friendship, she was best off keeping to herself like she always had.

“Erm, I have a thing, sorry,” she replies, starting to walk away.

“Maybe next time,” Trinity said with a smile.

Harley nodded and they parted ways.

Soon after, she found a bench away from prying eyes to enjoy her packed lunch and the quiet. Posy had given her a card with money in but she didn’t feel comfortable using it. As she chewed on her food, a large shadow fell over and she raised her head to see who the assailant was.

The person in question plainly said, “The sister.” It was the guy who she met the other day when she was with Annabel. The “non-friend”.

Richard? Arden?

Either way she had suspected he meant more than Annabel had tried to hide, the details were none of her business. She had enough of her own shit to worry about.

Harley huffed and replied with distaste, “The dickhead.”

He chuckled a little under his breath and then sat down without an invitation.

Harley grumbled, the sarcasm oozing, “Yes, strange man I just met, you can sit next to me.”

“Between the two of us, you might be the strange one here.” He’s amused.

“Mmm, I don’t think so.”

“You randomly showed up out of nowhere.” This was the second time someone would say this to her and she was getting annoyed by it, “The sister of one of the most affluent people in England and here you are eating bread in the cold.”

Her cheeks heated up a bit, “Piss off, there’s nothing wrong with a sandwich.” She turns to him, her face hard. “Is that why you’re here? To bother me about my fucking food choices?”

He smirked but his face got a little serious immediately after, “How is she?”

“Who?”

He gave her a look and Harley sighed, with no vigour, only resignation, certain he won't leave her alone until he got his answer. “I’m not sure, I have only just met the girl. But I will say she has spent every waking moment attached to me more than I’d like.”

He smiled a small smile, his eyes a mixture of distant and fond, “She likes to fix things. Make things better for others. It's a habit of hers. That’s what she thinks she’s doing by trying to get closer to you.”

He tried to take one of the cut carrots from her plastic container, she whacked his hand away but not quickly enough as he managed to steal one anyway and put it in his mouth with a laugh.

He chewed, and once he was done, continued, “But it always comes at the expense of herself. She would suffer in silence if it meant everyone else was happy. She’d been doing it our whole life.”

“And your point being?”

“The point is that I just ask that you keep an eye on her, make sure she’s okay and doesn’t overexert herself.” He shrugged like this was an everyday request you ask a person you just about know.