The Girlfriend Shield

by S. A. Hunter

  “I don’t know. Stay home.”

  “Sounds exciting.”

  “You’re one to talk.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re spending your Christmas here when you could be with your family.”

  “It’s not the same.”

  “But it sort of is.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  He headed across the courtyard without me. I paused to zip up my coat and realized he didn’t have one.

  “Noah, did you forget your coat?” I called.

  “Nope.” He entered the south hallway and went straight through to the back where the staff apartments were located.

  I was surprised he escorted me straight back home. I didn’t feel comfortable inviting him up to the apartment when no one else was home, and I was sure Dad wouldn’t like it, but I didn’t want to leave him on his own. He didn’t seem to do well alone.

  “Do you want to go for a little hike?”

  His brow furrowed. “Where?”

  “I’ll show you. Come on.”

  I left the sidewalk and headed to the trees behind the building.

  “Where are you going?”

  “There’s a trail. I’ll show you.”

  We went to the edge of the trees and to the trailhead. It even had a marker. A blue N was carved and painted on the tree.

  “Didn’t know Noble had hiking trails,” he said, touching the trail marker.

  “It’s not for students. Staff did it.”

  “So students aren’t allowed?”

  “Well, students aren’t really supposed to come to the back of the school. This is a staff-only area.”

  “But we keep traipsing back here,” he said.

  “It’s not like you’ll get in trouble,” I grumbled. It was true most rules at Noble were more like suggestions to the students and the richer they were the weaker the suggestion, hence Damien’s ability to do anything he wanted.

  We started on the trail. The sun was still bright. It was just after three o’clock. I hadn’t really thought this through. I wasn’t dressed for hiking, but I couldn’t change my mind, especially with Noah so far ahead of me.

  “Where does it go?” he called back.

  “That’s the surprise.”

  He continued on. He’d gotten pretty ahead of me. Watching him disappear among the trees made me uneasy like I’d never see him again. I had on short boots. They weren’t the best for hiking, but I stopped caring about my wardrobe because when I reached the next rise, I still didn’t see Noah. He’d gone further than I thought. I ran up the next rise to look for him. He was nowhere in sight.

  “Noah, wait up!” I called out.

  When I didn’t get an answer, I started to worry. If he went missing, I would be blamed. I kept on the path, but I was beginning to worry that he’d left it. If he got lost, there would be a manhunt. There’d be dogs and helicopters. Everyone would go out to search for him, and they’d all point at me and ask how I could have let him get lost.

  Over the next hill, I spotted him prone on the ground.

  “Noah!” I ran down the hill, sliding a bit on the slick leaves.

  He didn’t move.

  I crouched by his head and shook his shoulder.

  “Noah, wake up!”

  He didn’t respond. His head lolled as I shook him, and the rest of his body stayed limp. I was noticing other things though that made my initial panic fade back. He had leaves in his hair and on his body, but I could see no mud stains. He had no cuts or bruises. He was lying on a flat bit of trail. There was no real reason for him to have fallen there.

  Seeing the subterfuge, I pinched his nose shut and covered his mouth with my hand. After a few seconds of this, he began to thrash. I let go so he could breathe.

  “What are you a psychopath?” he asked, sitting up and taking deep breaths of air.

  I got up and kicked his foot. “No, just not gullible. Come on.”

  “You did buy it at first though.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, for a moment I thought I was free of you. It’s mean to tease me like that.”

  I made sure to stay close to him though as we continued. I didn’t trust him out of my sight.

  “What do you think Angela and Damien are doing right now?” he asked.

  “Angela said something about skeet shooting today.”

  “Damien must be lonely.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Mrs. West and Angela have left him home alone.”

  Damien was hardly alone. There were probably twenty staff people there at all times.

  “What makes you think he didn’t go with them?”

  “He is not allowed near firearms. Not even a starter pistol.”

  “Did he get in trouble with one?”

  “No, just his fists, bottles, random rocks. No one wants to see what he’d do with a rifle.”

  I wanted to defend him. He’d changed since the first day of classes. He hadn’t gotten into a fight with anyone for weeks.

  Maybe I should call him. I was surprised he hadn’t been constantly texting and calling me during the break. Since Angela left, he hadn’t contacted me once. And before that, he’d been in contact with Angela more than me. During exams, he’d been calling every half hour. The total stop to his calls was upsetting.

  There was a steep rise we had to go up. On the crest, we stopped. I watched Noah’s face. His reaction was subtle, but I could tell that he liked it. His face relaxed and the corners of his mouth lifted just a fraction. There was a large pond shimmering in the afternoon light. Ducks were swimming on it. No other human being was around. It was a secret little paradise.

  “Nice, huh? I always like coming out here. Red and Dad fish the pond pretty regularly, and during the summer, we come out here to have picnics. I learned how to swim here.”

  “Why here? Why not the pool?”

  “The pool was off limits. We couldn’t use it.”

  “Didn’t that make you mad?”

  “Why?”

  “You have an Olympic class pool next door, and you weren’t allowed to use it. Seems stupid.”

  I shrugged. “Never really bothered me. Plus, we had the pond. I guess if we didn’t have the pond, I’d have thought it was stupid that I couldn’t use the pool to learn how to swim. Come on, let’s go down to the bank.”

  We made our way carefully down to the pond. Noah’s questions about the pool had never really occurred to me. Noble had so much to offer the students, but the staff wasn’t allowed to enjoy the benefits as well. We couldn’t use the pool. We couldn’t use the game room. We couldn’t get lunch from the cafeteria. Some of that had used to bother me, especially when I first started at Noble. Because my parents were staff, they’d kept the same restrictions on me even though I became a student. No, we didn’t pay tuition, but I’d thought it was really miserly to not even allow me to use the cafeteria at first. I’d had to demand it as part of my compensation for taking on Damien.

  I went to the pond’s edge and picked up a few rocks. I threw one and it skipped three times. Noah found one as well and threw it. It skipped four times. The fact, that he was better at skipping stones than me, seemed par for the course.

  “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

  Noah’s question surprised me, especially the way he worded it. It sounded like such a kid question.

  “I don’t know. When I was little, I picked something new every week. One week, I wanted to be a policewoman. Another week, I wanted to be a horse trainer. The week after that, I was going to be an architect. Changed my mind so often that I don’t know what I like anymore.”

  He smirked to himself at my answer and threw a stone. It skipped five times. I wanted to know his technique. I could not manage more than three.

  “What do you want to be?” I asked.

  “Not my father.”

  And unfortunately, that was what everyone expected for him. He was the heir to the Nash Empire. He would take over. It
was practically written in stone.

  “But what do you want to be?”

  He sighed and threw another rock. It hit the water with a plop, not skipping even once. “I don’t know.”

  I suddenly remembered, “What about your sister Jenna?”

  “She wants to be a horse trainer I think or a horse breeder. I don’t know. Something with horses.”

  “No, I mean what’s she doing for Christmas? Is she with your mom or your dad?”

  “She’s with Mom.”

  I was glad to hear Patricia wasn’t completely abandoned by her family. “Don’t you want to see her?”

  “Why?”

  “Because you haven’t seen her for months.”

  “She’s my sister, not my friend.”

  “Don’t you miss her?”

  “No, that’s ridiculous. You’re an only child so you don’t get it. Siblings are the worst.”

  “They’re not that bad,” I said.

  “Trust me on this. It’s the truth. My greatest wish right now is for her not to apply to Noble.”

  “What about Vincent?” I asked, not knowing if I should bring up his troubled older brother.

  He paused before he threw the stone. “Vincent is seven years older than me. We never went to the same school. I looked up to him. I thought he knew everything. He stole money from me.”

  That last part made me regret asking.

  “So like I said, siblings are the worst, even when you do like them.”

  We kept throwing stones until the sun started to get low.

  “You hungry again?” I asked.

  “I could eat.”

  We headed back to the party. It was quiet between us as we walked the trail, but it was comfortable. Like when we’d studied together, I didn’t feel the need to talk to him. When we entered the courtyard, it was immediately obvious that the mood of the party had changed. A low bass beat reverberated from the dining hall and the party had spilled out to the surrounding area as people sought somewhere quiet to talk or somewhere private to make out.

  “Things seem to have picked up,” Noah said.

  “Yeah, I wonder if there’s any eggnog left.”

  We entered the dining hall and stopped. Half the room had been cleared to make room for dancing. I spotted Mom and Dad among the couples on the dance floor. They were leaning into each other and moving at half-speed to the beat. They were in their own little happy world. I was glad they were having a good time.

  “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

  I realized everyone was chanting this at us. Noah touched my arm to get my attention and pointed up. A plastic sprig of mistletoe was suspended above us. I mimed an exaggerated laugh and made to take one big step out from under it, but he pulled me back and gave me a big kiss on the mouth. It startled me so much I didn’t so much freeze as completely seize up. The kiss was in no way romantic, and his nose was squished up against mine making me want to grimace. Everyone loved it though. They cheered and wolf whistled. I didn’t close my eyes but wish I had. Camera flashes blinded me.

  Noah turned to everyone and held up our clasped hands like we were champions or something. Cora was among the crowd. She was trying to clap but every time she took her hands off her walker, she’d sway precariously and would have to re-grab it to steady herself. With Noah still holding my hand, I pulled him with me over to her.

  Cora’s shoulders shook with laughter, and she pranced in delight. “Woo, you two gave quite the show. Now that’s my granddaughter.”

  “Grandma, how much eggnog have you had?”

  She stilled and glared at me. “What did I tell you about calling me that?”

  “That it ruins your game. Now answer my question.”

  She wasn’t listening to me though. She was sidling up to Noah who was onto her and was sidling away.

  I scanned the food tables. Some new dishes had been put out, and people were going down the line again filling their plates.

  “You need to eat something. What do you want me to get you?” I asked her.

  “Rum cake,” she said, but she was still focused on Noah.

  I sighed and headed toward the food. Noah rushed to stay close to me. We got in line. I picked up two plates.

  “Sorry about Cora. She’s going to be like that until she...dies probably, but the booze is making her friskier than usual.”

  “She’s nothing like my grandmothers.”

  “What are they like?”

  “Grandmotherly.”

  “So they bake cookies and smoosh your face?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Grandmothers?”

  “No, mine live in big houses with little dogs that they shower all of their affection on. The dogs can get up on the furniture, the kids have to sit on the floor.”

  “Oh, that’s weird.”

  I’d filled both plates up, but I was worried Cora was going to refuse the food. She needed to eat though. I turned to look for her, but didn’t need to.

  “Cora Smith!”

  That had been the Dean. I saw them across the room. The Dean was backed up against a pillar with Cora leering up at him. This was bad. Cora had that look in her eye. The one that meant she was about to do something crazy. I saw her reach into her pocket and pull something out. It was a plastic sprig of mistletoe. I set down my plates to dart between people to her side and snatched the plastic mistletoe from her. I stuffed it in my pocket. She tried to grab it back, but I smacked her hand. “Sorry, sir. She’s had a bit too much eggnog.” I tried to pull her away.

  But Cora wasn’t budging. Her walker was firmly planted, and she was far too pleased with herself.

  “Merry Christmas, Tommy,” she said.

  Cora was the only one who could get away with calling the dean by his first name, though I think he preferred Tom or Thomas. Cora may have been the only one to call him Tommy, besides possibly his own mother. The dean regained his composure and gave Cora a slight bow.

  “And Merry Christmas to you.”

  “Noah and I are over there,” I told her pointing to the table.

  Cora’s eyes widened in delight. “Ooh, I want to sit by blondie.”

  She headed away. I sighed.

  “Thank you, Sarah.”

  I winced and glanced at the dean. He’d relaxed and appeared a bit amused.

  “Sorry. I’ll keep a closer eye on her.”

  “It looks like you may need to intercede again,” he said indicating where Cora had gone. Noah had sat down by my seat. Cora was trying to sit there, but Noah protested. She switched her and my plates. Noah got up and moved to sit on the other side of the table and Cora moved to follow.

  “God, she’s incorrigible.”

  “Yes, she is,” the dean said with feeling.

  Noah and Cora were still playing musical chairs when I reached them. I watched for my opening and snagged the chair by Noah. He sighed in relief, but Cora wasn’t going to be defeated. She pulled her plate to the end of the table by him and began eating there standing up. She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair. He looked at me bleakly.

  I sighed and switched our plates. I got up and took him seat, giving him mine. Cora tried to move to follow him.

  “You will stay right there, Grandmother,” I ordered her.

  She stiffened and glared at me, but I wasn’t going to be cowed by her. She was stepping over way too many lines and hiding behind her age wasn’t going to work anymore. She moved her jaw side-to-side then asked, “Fine, can you help me sit down?”

  I got up in reply and moved around the table. I pulled out the chair across from me and held it for her. She maneuvered so she could back into the chair. I tucked it under her. She’d need help getting up also. I knew Cora hated asking for help. She was doing well with her physical therapy, and she hoped to move back home in late January. I overheard Dad say how much the nursing home depressed her, but Mom thought it was good for her to be around people twenty-four seven. I didn’t know who was right
. Cora loved her home and up until this school year, I’d stayed with her Monday through Friday to attend public school. She’d taken care of me. Going from caretaker to caretakee had to be upsetting.

  I sat back down but was suddenly not very hungry. I moved food around. Cora seemed to be doing the same thing. “May I join you?” We looked up in surprise at the dean. I’d figured he’d avoid Cora for the rest of the night, but he took the seat by Cora. “I must say, I think everyone has outdone themselves this year. The food is excellent. I didn’t get to try a few things though because they went so fast.”

  “Barbara’s stuffing is all gone,” Cora said.

  I’m sure Mom had already noted that herself. She took pride in her stuffing.

  We ate for a bit in silence, but with the music and all of the other people around us, it wasn’t quiet.

  “Noah, your mother called me the other day.”

  That got both of our attentions.

  “And what did she have to say?” he asked.

  “She was upset that I had allowed you to go off with your father. I wasn’t sure what to tell her considering I knew you were in your suite.”

  “I want to spend Christmas here.”

  “Yes, but your mother deserves to know where you are at least.”

  I was amazed that Dean Crowe hadn’t told Patricia exactly where he was.

  “You should call her.” Cora’s words surprised all of us.

  Noah shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “I’d rather not.”

  “Don’t care what you’d rather do. The only thing worse than not having your kids with you at Christmas is having your kids dead.”

  I couldn’t stop my gasp at her words. My eyes flew to Dean Crowe. It wasn’t discussed, but everyone knew the dean had lost his son. He’d died from childhood leukemia. Cora definitely knew about the dean’s son. I didn’t know what to say. Cora had said something too awful to wave away with a joke. Noah didn’t seem to know how awful Cora’s words were. He looked uncertainly at me and the dean.

  The dean wiped his mouth deliberately. I watched him tensely. How could Cora say that in front of him? I could feel tears pricking my eyes.

  “She’s right,” he said. “The holidays are an important time for family. I know your family has been through a lot this year, but that’s why it’s even more important to be together now.”