Olivia Thorne
I would give her the benefit of the doubt, Savannah carried herself well, she was used to being around all these people and being at the top of Thornbrook's hierarchy, along side the boys that was until Adrian cast her out of the world she was so used to being in.
It was obvious that Adrian didn't want to be in the same room at Sav, and I knew she wouldn't sit near us there were no open seats except for the one on the opposite side of the classroom, though she made sure to make it clear that she wished to be closer to Adrian.
Not going to happen.
"Alright everyone, so for this year we will be expanding on concepts you learnt last year, so we will be starting today as we don't have time to waste, please open your textbooks and start at page one hundred and pick twelve questions, they have to be done before the end of the class, same as these two worksheets" Mrs. Anson says handing out the work.
I then took the sheet and looked over it. Realizing it was a quick review, I did swiftly went through it same as Adrian before getting to the next one which was about all the new math laws that we'd be encountering along with practice questions which was when questions began to start.
No sooner did I watch Adrian finish the work did a neatly folded piece of paper slide onto my desk in a convenient move of Adrian tilting his textbook to pick it up.
"Mr. Winters" Mrs. Anson says looking up at he walks away towards the door.
"Si" he says looking over at her.
"Where are you going?".
"I'm leaving the completed work is on your desk" Adrian says before walking out of the classroom, with half an hour to spare.
"I'm only half way down the written questions" I say, glancing down at my work.
"So am I, he works fast" Nico muses.
"Oh I know that" I say returning to working through the five questions I had left.
Once I was finished I packed up all my stuff, and put all my work in the hand in bin before leaving the classroom to find Adrian, which is when I remember the note.
Carefully unfolding it, I look over his neat writing.
I'm at a place with things that remind me of you.
-Adrian-
Ripping it into very thin pieces I make sure no one is watching as I toss out the remnants, before walking down to the main level and out the back entrance towards the flower garden Adrian showed me.
Taking the stone path up to the garden I realize that they had lined the last hundred feet to the entrance in juniper trees. Then the smell of flowers fills my nose as I walk along the path of the massive garden, which likely had every elegant flower that could grow in the type of weather New York had.
In the middle stood Adrian looking at a statue of a well dressed man.
"Who is that?" I ask gesturing to the statue.
"Jacobus Orville Thornbrook, the founder of this academy, he built this entire garden for his wife, a decade later he died of Spanish Influenza, instead of pneumonia like so many others did".
"Was Thornbrook Academy his home".
"No but he did live near to the school, he wanted to help in the education of New York's Elite, he got his wish".
"New York's Elite even though the school accepts scholarships" I muse as he walks away along the rose section of the garden.
"You should look at the list of people who were scholarship students to Thornbrook bellissima, they all went on to do incredible things, my dad attended Winchester Academy in England up until fifteen when Thornbrook sent him a scholarship for business" Adrian says.
"I can't see one of the worlds most successful businessmen being unable to just pay into this school".
"Would you pay one hundred forty eight thousand dollars a year if you didn't have to?".
"No, I wouldn't".
"Exactly".
"Wait that comes out to almost three quarter of a million dollars per student if they attend for all five years" I say.
"Yes it does now you know why it's considered a privilege to be here by scholarship" Adrian says stopping by a hybrid rose with both red and white petals.
I then watched as he slid his fingers down the stem pushing the thorns off before snapping the base in a perfect line without pulling the plant out or damaging the flower.
"Here something for you" he says placing the rose in my hand. "It's beautiful, like you".
I then feel my cheeks heating up, as he says that.
"I like how unique it is how and how real".
"The most precious things aren't the one's you can hold, they're the one's you know exist and you cherish as well as you can, because each one is unique in it's own way" Adrian says putting his hands in his pants pockets.
"That was oddly poetic" I comment.
"Unintentionally" he says walking down to the pond that sat along the back of the garden, and sitting down.
"Why did you choose to come here?" I ask sitting down beside him.
"Because here I can't be found except by you" he says.
"That's not exactly the answer I had thought you'd give".
"I come here to get away from people, in this case I came her to be away from Sav, at some point today she will confront me, and I've been attempting to figure out how I will manage to be the one holding the strings without it being obvious".
"Well you know she wants to fix what she did wrong" I say.
"Yes that requires her to spend time with me and be around me".
"Start there" I say, "I might not like her at all for the fact that I know she was only in your life for all the wrong reasons, but see if doing that gives you any leverage".
"Thank you, Olivia" Adrian says giving me one of his small smiles.
I then rest against his arm, and I can feel him pull me onto his lap.
We sat like that for a long time and even though the smell of flowers filled the air all I could smell was Adrian's cologne, which I'm pretty sure was one of the Givenchy scents that he owned.
The longer I was here being held in his arms the more I felt like I was in a bubble, and that nothing could happen to me as long as he was around, which I am actually pretty sure is true he's never actually let anything happen when he had the ability to stop it.
So here I sat in the presence of the person who made me feel the safest out of everyone I know.
And I really do hope that it can stay like this from now forward.
The next chapter will be their lunch, also comment, vote, and share. Anyways
Peace✌