The Keeper

Chapter 34

The songs I listened to were Sleep Like A Baby Tonight by U2, Tainted Love by Soft Cell and Wall Of Glass by Liam Gallagher.

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Breakfast ended too quickly. The chocolate was still resting snugly inside Oliver's pocket and I was terrified that he would eat it when I wasn't around. To come so close to 24 hours before having it snatched away would be devastating.

That was the explanation you gave to your friends when they noticed how you were practically becoming Oliver's shadow. They had other opinions.

"Personally, I think that you still like him a lot," Aleeza theorised. "You want to be there when he finally comes to his senses."

"Also, you probably want to rub it in Gillian's face," Louise added. "I don't blame you."

Despite the clear truth of their ideas, I scoffed. "It's only for a few more hours, maximum," I protested. "Surely you're excited too."

"We are," Sasha said, slinging her arm around my shoulder as we entered Professor Flitwick's classroom, "of course we are! We're just saying that we think you still have feelings for him, which is completely understandable."

I didn't bother replying. I knew it was hopeless because they were right, something I utterly hated admitting. I forced myself to keep my eyes away from Oliver in case my friends noticed. Thankfully, that was the moment Professor Flitwick chose to come into the classroom.

The bright side to the otherwise dreary lesson was that the professor had us seated by our houses to try and combat us talking. This meant that Gillian was far away from Oliver. The downside was that he still had the chocolate and I didn't know if he'd eaten it. 

Charms couldn't have ended fast enough. I power-walked to Oliver on the way to herbology.

"Oh, hi," he said, slightly taken aback by my sudden appearance at his side, and Sasha, Aleeza and Louise who were trailing a metre or so behind me.

"Hey," I replied, nonchalant. "So... have you eaten that chocolate Gillian gave you?"

Oliver furrowed his eyebrows slightly. "No, why?"

"Just wondering," I said quickly, masking my delight.

Professor Sprout hated people eating in her greenhouses so I was confident that Oliver wouldn't eat the chocolate for at least another hour. Time ticked on. And as it did, I found my heart rate increasing. I didn't know when the 24-hour mark would pass.

My only way of telling was Gillian. She was getting increasingly nervous as the lesson progressed. I guessed I would know when time had run out when she reached absolute panic. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to be quite there yet, albeit close.

She was checking the time every few minutes and biting her lip religiously.

When Professor Sprout dismissed us, I conveniently got to Oliver before Gillian did.

"Any reason you haven't been talking to Gillian?" I asked.

Unsuspecting, he shrugged. "I haven't felt the need to, I guess. Has she put you up to asking me?"

"No, she hasn't," I replied. Quite the opposite, actually, I added mentally. But you really don't need to know that.

I tried to discreetly watch Oliver during break. It was difficult, however, considering the fact that where he was sitting posed two large problems. One: it was too far away for me to try and stop him if he did pull the chocolate out of his pocket. Two: he was sitting next to Gillian.

Sasha sensed my nerves.

"Don't worry," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder and giving it a light squeeze. "Chances are he won't eat it even if she does ask him to."

"How can you be so sure?" I wondered, almost to myself. Sasha's ability to be confident always made me jealous.

"Well, it's been in his pocket since breakfast, right?" she said. "That's over two hours. It's inside a little box, which is bound to be warm, then inside his pocket, which is even warmer. Ergo, I'm willing to bet that the chocolate's a gooey mess by now."

I was expecting one of Sasha's motivational lectures, but instead, I was pleasantly surprised by something that made sense. "That's... true!" I exclaimed. "I love you, Sasha. Thank you."

"No need to thank me," she said. "I just wanted to help out my best friend who's getting herself a bit too worked up. Have some food to calm yourself down."

Only too happy to comply, I took a sandwich and ate it. I did feel better and managed to drag my mind away from the subject of Oliver. Which was a good thing, because I wouldn't see him again until lunchtime.

I took my usual seat surrounded by the other three. Their high-speed conversation kept me so distracted that I didn't realise someone was standing behind me until Aleeza's gaze drifted upwards. Her eyes widened and she told me to turn around.

"Oliver?" I said.

His eyes were tinged red and I wondered if he was on the brink of crying. I stood up as a reflex.

"We need to talk."