It was bad enough that she had to be stuck on her own with Diana at night time, but Rose was particularly worried that things could get very awkward with Leo.
The history between her family and his dated back to half way through her first year. Rose’s parents were journalists. Or more precisely, her mother was an investigative reporter and her father was her cameraman and producer.
Their career had started long before Rose was born. Her mother had been a weather girl for the BBC, sent to the Greek Islands to cover an unusual tropical storm. Her father had been a young freelance cameraman, working with a different station, desperately trying to make a name for himself in a competitive industry. What happened next had totally changed their lives. A freak hurricane had ravaged the South of Greece, destroying islands and causing mass loss of life and wide spread panic. The two of them had been trapped right in the eye of it. They did however have the only broadcasting equipment to survive the hurricane and captured images that were then transmitted all around the globe. Her mother was able to give the only on-site reports of what was happening. In the few days immediately after the devastation, before anyone else was able to fly into the area, they had become world famous and had also fallen in love.
After that, they went on to cover all the big stories together, braving war zones and exposing corruption at the highest levels. They tried to curtail it after Rose and then Toby were born, but they had been drawn back in, which was why they had sent their children to boarding school.
It was just an unlucky coincidence that when Rose was eleven they had done a piece on a London Crime Lord that resulted in two men going to prison for life. One of those men had been Leo’s uncle.
When her father had discovered that she was at the same school as the nephew of the infamous Brian Flanagan, he had wanted to pull Rose out of the school. She had kicked up one hell of a fuss. They had chosen Compass Court because it was where her cousins were, and Rose had been adamant that if she couldn’t stay with her parents then she didn’t want to be separated from the only family she had around her. Her dad had reluctantly agreed to leave her there, after all it couldn’t have been planned by the Flanagans seeing as both Leo and herself were already at the school before it happened. But he had been firm on the point that she must not become friendly with Leo Flanagan. He was scared that somehow she might become a pawn his family would try to use for revenge.
Not wanting to risk being taken away from school, she had agreed. No one at the school, apart her family, knew what had happened. Except she supposed Leo must know. He had avoided her as much as she had him. She knew he felt the same way she did. They might be in the same school house, but he hardly ever spoke to her directly, and didn’t look her in the eye when he did have to speak to her. They ate at opposite ends of the house table and relaxed at opposite ends of West Tower Common Room. They had a lot of the same friends though, and comments had been made. Rose just laughed them off and faked confusion if asked why she didn’t like him.
“What are you talking about? I don’t dislike him, we’re just not close friends.” She assumed he said something similar.
Unfortunately Sophie and Grace both seemed to fancy him. They always sat in the sofa group at one end of the Common Room with Rose, but there was no doubt that both their heads lifted whenever his laughter was heard across the room. When he wasn’t studying with Diana, he and some of his friends had become regulars in the armchairs at the far end and enjoyed loud games of cards and laddish banter.
In the end, she had confided in Sophie and Grace. Their constant discussions around boys had too often been centered on Leo in recent years, and her excuse that she had nothing in common with him had been too easily dismissed.
It was true that Leo was extremely fanciable. He wasn’t particularly tall, probably around 5 ft 10 or 11, but his jet black hair, coupled with his blue Irish eyes, made his looks striking. He was lean and moved with a confident grace, and spoke with a gorgeous Dublin accent. He might have been just her type if not for the history that kept them apart. That and Diana Carmel.
Chapter Three
Toby was really upset about not going home for Christmas. Rose had pointed out that Christmas would be great fun at Compass Court, but Toby wasn’t comforted.
“But it’s Christmas!” Toby had whined.
At that moment Alex and Ellie had come in, full of excitement at spending Christmas at School and Toby hadn’t said another word. At least not to her, though she was fairly sure he had given their parents a hard time for abandoning him.
Determined to ensure he wouldn’t feel too sad on Christmas day, Rose had gone a bit mad on presents and bought some for everyone staying in the school over the Christmas holidays, including handkerchiefs for the teachers and even some chocolate snowmen for Leo and Diana. For Toby she bought about ten small presents, even though he already had a mountain to open from their guilt-ridden parents.
She had been very surprised to find the rumors were true and Leo was staying for Christmas. Last year Diana had stayed at Compass Court, Rose wasn’t sure why, but Leo had gone home. This year, his parents had been going skiing and he had asked if he could stay and study instead. Rose was pretty sure that Diana was the real reason he was staying.
She was confused because Leo and Diana didn’t seem to be a couple, yet it seemed they preferred to be together than apart. Sophie and Grace often discussed what kind of relationship Leo and Diana had. Were they like brother and sister? Were they just best friends? Were they in love but hadn’t told each other? Were they waiting until they were older before taking their relationship to the next level?
Rose listened to her friends debating it but she never joined in, just saying “Who cares?” if asked for an opinion, but secretly she did wonder. She didn’t think it was like her relationship with Alex. She and Alex really were ‘just friends,’ more like brother and sister. In fact, as first cousins of the same age, they were better friends than she was with her actual brother. But then, Leo and Diana didn’t seem to have that easy friendship like she had with Alex. They seemed more intense somehow. Rose tried to analyze why she was so interested in their friendship. It was fine for Sophie and Grace; they were both openly interested in Leo, not to mention half a dozen other boys too. But Rose wasn’t even supposed to be allowing herself to register him. She had reached this point without any problems, so why was she thinking about him now? She could blame the girls for talking about him a lot; it had made her curious, she reasoned. Then again, Sophie and Grace talked about all boys a lot. Not just Leo. They had both been interested in lots of different boys over the years. Plus Sophie had that massive crush on Jack, and in their second year, Grace had even tried to get Rose to ask out Alex for her. Rose was less interested in boys than they were. She’d had that flirting thing going on with Ben Castle for years now, but just didn’t have very strong feelings for him.
She supposed her curiosity about Leo and Diana had grown because now that Sophie and Grace had gone home for Christmas, she was stuck in the dorm room alone with Diana. But Rose comforted herself that it was only to sleep, she would be with Toby and the Parkhurst clan the rest of the time and Diana would stick with Leo.
Christmas Eve turned out to be great fun. There were about fifteen students of various ages from all four school houses. The teachers were having a ‘staff meeting’ at the pub in Oakworth, leaving only the head girl, Anne-Marie, who was in Year Seven, in charge. There was only one table for dinner and they all got a bit silly! They had some fruit punch that someone might have tampered with a little and Toby set off some firecrackers at the table, which almost caused a nasty accident. Leo and Alex had a mock fight with plastic swords and Marie-Anne got into a tickle fight with Jack, before going very red and giggly. Jack produced some mistletoe, which he hung from a streamer, and kissed her while she was laughing and everyone else laughed when she tripped backwards over a chair in surprise. They all piled presents under the big tree at one end of the room and even Diana seemed
cheerful and excited for a change.
Rose woke early the next morning, thinking about Toby. Since both she and Toby had stopped believing in Santa Claus, they didn’t get a stocking anymore. Instead, their parents normally snuck in during the night on Christmas Eve and put a special present on the end of their bed to have when they woke up.
She was worried that Toby would wake up and feel upset that there wasn’t one and it would make him miss their parents. So she decided to creep down early and find his main present from their parents under the tree.
She wasn’t allowed into the boy’s dormitories, so she would have to wake Alex and ask him to put it on Toby’s bed.
She pulled her green velvet dressing gown on over her pajamas, and crept out of the dormitory so as not to disturb Diana. She waited until she was outside the door before ringing Alex’s mobile. She didn’t think a text would wake him.
“Hello?” Alex sounded both groggy and grumpy.
“Sorry, Al. It’s me. Look could you do me a massive favor and meet me in the Common Room?”
“Aw hell, Rosie, it’s seven o’clock in the morning on Christmas Day! I wanted a lie in.”
“I know, I’m really sorry.” She explained about Toby not having a present on the end of his bed and how it might upset him. Alex grumbled a while more, then grudgingly agreed to meet her.
“But give me twenty minutes to freshen up ok? I think I might even have a bit of a hangover.”
She smiled as she hung up. Then, taking the stairs two at a time, she ran down to the main hall, collected Toby’s present and went back to the silent West Tower Common Room to wait.
She jumped as something moved at the far end of the room. It was Leo. He was reading, curled deep in his favorite armchair, but he put the book down as she approached and stretched like a cat before rising out of the chair.
“Well hello there, Rose. You’re up particularly early.” His Irish lilt was soft.
It was a perfectly normal thing to say but Rose felt like she had been caught naked. They never spoke to each other ‘normally.’ They usually only spoke indirectly or gave one word answers. She dragged her dressing gown tighter around herself and began to babble about Toby and the present whilst fiddling with the cord at her waist.
He said nothing until she looked up. It seemed to her like it was the first time they had ever made and held eye contact . His eyes were brighter blue than she remembered, darker at the edges, wide in the dim light. They seemed full of some emotion she couldn’t name. She couldn’t seem to drag her own eyes away and still he said nothing and simply looked back at her. She could hear her own heart beating, way too fast, as the moment stretched on and on. In five and a half years at school together, she couldn’t ever remember them being alone before.
“I saw you got a present for me under the tree, I have one for you too.” He said casually.
He began to walk towards her. Covering the distance between them too quickly for her to think, and suddenly standing far too close for her loudly beating heart.
“Ah, um,” she squeaked “Gosh. It’s only chocolates.”
She backed away coming up against a wall.
“That’s sure disappointing,” he seemed to drawl the words with mischief in his eyes. “Mine is worth more than chocolates. I think you will have to give me something else as well.” He paused looking at her speculatively.
Her eyes widened, her mouth open but no sound came out.
“Or maybe I should just take it?” He suggested gently then stepped forward again, almost right against her, his arms pinned hers against the wall and he kissed her.
The world turned slowly upside down.
She could feel his tongue testing against her bottom lip seeking a way in, her lips parted without thought and he deepened the kiss. Her knees wobbled and he pressed her harder into the wall to keep them both upright.
Rose couldn’t think at all. She just needed more. She felt dizzy, high, hungry, oh hell - she didn’t know what she felt, only that she hadn’t felt it before, hadn’t experienced anything as exciting in her life.
Leo hadn’t meant to kiss her more than briefly, but she tasted like heaven. He knew he was attracted to her; his body certainly knew he had been for a while, but he didn’t want to like her. He tried to hold himself back. He knew he had to break the kiss. He didn’t want it to stop but he was getting in over his head.
“Shit!” Leo stepped quickly away from her “Sorry, Rose.”
“Why… why are you sorry?” Her voice came out a bit too high. She leant back against the wall to regain her balance; she couldn’t quite trust her knees.
“Well, you know, I mean… we don’t really like each other, I didn’t mean to kiss you quite as much as that.” He could tell he was making no sense. His brain function was not fully coherent.
“Blame the mistletoe.” He pointed up.
She looked up and sure enough, there was the mistletoe from last night hanging from the wall above her. How had it gotten there? She looked back at Leo, her eyes full of suspicion. Had he planned this? He looked innocently back at her, his own eyes giving absolutely nothing away. Of course he hadn’t, she reasoned, why would he even want to?
Leo went into his pocket and drew out a small box tied with ribbon.
“Happy Christmas.” he said with a slight smile. He thrust it into her hand before walking to the entrance of the boy’s dormitory without even a backward glance.
Rose stood stupidly holding the box, looking at the spot where he had vanished. She shook her head to try to clear it, but she still felt completely spun out at being kissed like that. She took a few deep breaths and looked down at the box.
What would he buy her?
She heard some footsteps coming down the stairs, and knew it would be Alex. Now wasn’t the time to open the present. Putting it into her pocket she retied her dressing gown a little tighter and tried to compose her features.
“Hi!” Alex jumped the last three steps and pulled her into a bear hug. “Happy Christmas!”
She hugged him back, burying her face in his jumper for a second to arrange her features.
“Happy Christmas, Al.” Her voice was muffled but he instantly detected she was not herself. He pulled back a little so he could look her in the eye.
“Are you feeling sad about not being at home for Christmas?” He asked as he searched her face with concern.
“Hmm?” She seemed distracted, and she looked at him then quickly looked away “Oh, yes, yes that’s what it is.”
Alex frowned. Rose never lied, and he didn’t think she would ever lie to him, yet he was convinced she just had.
“What’s going on, Rose?”
She fought the urge the scuttle away. It was difficult to act naturally in front of Alex when she was feeling so unsettled; he knew her so well and was bound to notice. But she couldn’t tell him; she didn’t even quite understand herself quite what had happened.
“Nothing’s going on. It’s Toby.” She tried to act normally. “I just wanted you to put a present on his bed for me. Is that a problem?” She asked defensively.
“Of course not.” Alex’s voice was full of surprise. “Why are you being weird? You just snapped at me.”
Rose sighed, “Sorry Al, just ignore me, it’s nothing, I promise. Will you sneak this onto his bed? Thanks.” She smiled as he nodded.
Alex still didn’t look convinced though. She faked a cheerful laugh and over compensated by hugging him again. Then she kissed him on the cheek, gave a wave and said, “See you at breakfast in half an hour?” over her shoulder before bolting for the stairs to the girls’ dormitories.
Alex walked slowly up the stairs holding Toby’s present. His instinct told him her behavior was very odd. She had always been straight with him. Why wouldn’t she be now? Did she feel differently towards him for some reason? And why had she kissed him on the cheek? That was unusual. He stopped dead in his tracks. Did Rose have new feelings for him? Is that why she was being weird? He hope
d not. He would have to watch her carefully today, he didn’t want to say anything to make it awkward but he didn’t fancy her, that would be totally uncomfortable, she was his best friend and they were cousins.
Chapter Four
Rose poked her head cautiously round the door to her room. Diana was still asleep, thank goodness, her long dark hair streaming over the pillow. She looked serene, almost nice when she was asleep, Rose thought.
She crept back into her own bed, plumped up the pillows behind her back and took out the gift Leo had given her. She pulled the ribbon off slowly. She was extremely curious about it, but she couldn’t help wanting to make the moment last. What would he buy her? She hadn’t put her gift to him under the tree until the previous evening so how had he known to get her something? It was probably a generic gift he had kept just in case he needed one for someone, and then he’d probably wrapped it at the last minute when he saw she had bought something for him.
The ribbon off, she eased the lid of the box and gasped. This was no generic gift! It was a silver necklace with a winged horse pendant. She glanced up at the massive poster over her bed of Pegasus flying against a full moon.
Leo had never been in her room but her love of winged horses was reasonably well known. This gift had been bought especially for her. It was a perfect match with the silver star studs she always wore at her ears and the silver bracelet her parents had given her for her 16 birthday.
I should put it in my trunk, she thought; it was bound to draw attention. Someone would ask where she got it. But she just couldn’t, she already loved it and just had to wear it. She fastened it around her neck and after pausing for just a moment to admire it again she slipped it inside her top so it couldn’t be easily seen.
She lay back on the bed to think about how she felt about the kiss and the gift.
She touched her fingers to her lips. It had felt wonderful. But as handsome as Leo was, he was still a Flanagan. His uncle was definitely dangerous, and his cousins had been suspected of related criminal activities, even his own father had been implicated, though later he had been cleared. But that didn’t make Leo a criminal.
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