Kennedy's POV
"How was today? Did you manage to rest at all before my sister disturbed you?" Rosie questioned , arms crossed and leant against the door frame.
Smiling , I shook my head.
"She didn't disturb me , and yes I slept until midday or something and then hung out with your dog until your sister arrived" I told her with a smile , pouring boiling water into a mug containing a teabag.
She chuckled softly. "And how're you feeling?"
I shrug my shoulders, ceasing to look up from the spoon I'm stirring.
"Honestly...I don't know.." I tell her , despite being fully aware of the entirely unhelpful nature of my response.
Rosie doesn't speak ; instead , she looks at me intently, as if silently giving me the space I need to consider my answer, but not imposing any pressure to deliver the 'correct' one , if any at all.
"I think I'm going to go home tomorrow..if that's okay?" I state , regretfully.
The truth is that, unsurprisingly , I really don't want to leave, in fact that's the opposite of what I want. But tonight is already my second night staying in Rosie's home and I can't keep risking things on her behalf ; she's been too compassionate for me to end up being the reason she loses her job , or suffers other , more serious , repercussions. Boundaries have already been pushed , and as much as I want to continue gaining this closeness with her , it'll put so many aspects of her life in jeopardy.
There's a slight pause in the conversation before Rosie responds.
"Oh you do?" she questions , as if she wasn't expecting me to leave any time soon , "Of course that's okay love , I'm not going to force you to stay here...that's called holding someone hostage."
I laugh at the blunt tone in which she comedically delivered that last part , bringing a smile to her lips. I won't lie though, I'm slightly upset that she didn't demonstrate even just a little bit of protest , not that there would be a need for it realistically...but still.
I pass her the cup of tea I made her , with a perfect water-to-milk-to-sugar ratio may I add , and lean back against the kitchen side.
Rosie takes a sip , pulling a face you could only describe as pure disgust. I furrow my brows questioningly, to which Rosie responds with a loud and short burst of laughter.
"You're mean.." I shake my head , resisting a smile.
She grins , "Sorry , I had to.."
I feel a sensation of warmth in my chest , it's sweet the way she makes an effort to cheer me up.
Seconds later , both Rosie and I are suddenly alerted to Chris' presence behind us , brought to our attention at the sound of her excitable tone.
"FOUND IT!!!" she exclaims.
I turn around to see Chris waving her driver's license , the one that she had hidden in a spot supposedly impossible to uncover , in the air. Her expression wore a triumphant smile.
"Where was it?" I ask , genuinely intrigued as to where it was all this time , considering I've been here a full 24 hours and had not seen it once.
"Oh it was in Rosie's pants (underwear) drawer" she replies, unapologetically.
I glance at Rosie , having to physically bite my tongue in order to restrain myself from laughing.
"Oh brilliant." Rosie quips sarcastically , giving Chris the evil-eye.
Chris smiles , first giving Rosie a quick kiss on the cheek before wrapping her arms around me momentarily, in the form of a quick hug goodbye.
"I'll speak to you tomorrow.." she says , directing her speech towards Rosie , "and I'll be thinking of you Kenn." she says in a gentle tone , smiling softly.
I nod my head gratefully , not saying a word for the fear of breaking down at the prospect that I even need to be kept in anyone's thoughts.
Rosie smiles empathetically at me before walking Chris out to her car.
"I'll be back in a minute , love." she calls out to me over her shoulder.
"Take your time" I reply , before hearing the front door close behind her.
Rosie's POV
"What's up? Did me mentioning your pants draw in front of Kennedy offend you?" Chris mocked me , crossing her arms.
I roll my eyes , leaning against the boot of her car.
"No it didn't, although it did make me question your maturity." I told her.
Chris smiles , "We both know you do that anyway. Now talk to me."
I sigh , looking down at my feet.
"Kennedy's going back home tomorrow..which is all fine and well and whatever, but she's so similar to me in terms of she never tells anybody she's struggling..so if something were to happen I know almost definitely that I wouldn't come to know about it. Plus she's going back to an empty house , no siblings or pets or just anything that typically keeps a person going." I ramble , actively forcing myself to slow down in what I'm saying.
Chris raises her eyebrows, "So what you're saying is that you don't want her to go?"
I shake my head, "No it's not that , she should be going home , I know I definitely wouldn't want to stay in MY teacher's home if I were in her shoes."
"Rosie don't do yourself a disservice" Chris interrupts ; i finally look back up at her. "It's obvious that Kennedy values you more than as just one of her teachers..any ordinary teacher wouldn't do something like this for a student or care for them the way you do for her..she doesn't at all act like you're some distant , untouchable authority figure, she appreciates you being there for her as more than just a room in a house."
I swallow thickly , feeling my emotions becoming messy , tangled and confused again , a feeling that has become unintentionally familiar over the course of the last few of weeks.
"I'm worried about her." is all i finally manage to come out with.
Chris nods reassuringly and opens her car door , knowing full well that I hate when she dwells on me for too long.
"Keep supporting her , keep an eye on her at school..trust me she knows you're there for her." she states.
I take a deep breath , closing the car door after her and bending down to her window.
"Drive safe , I love you." I tell her , to which she reciprocates and then reverses out of my driveway.
Escaping the harsh chill in the air , I step back inside and make my way into the living room to put the fire on.
I enter the room and see Kennedy sat at the dining room table , her school notes all placed somewhat neatly in front of her. She was flicking through various sheets of paper, most likely trying to figure out what catching up she would need to do after missing her lessons today.
I smile , "Good news or bad news first?" I ask her.
"Bad news , I'm nothing if not a pessimist." she states , bluntly.
I laugh at her response , provoking a smile to tug fiercely at the corners of her lips.
"Bad news is that I have more paper from today to add to that lovely pile you've got going on there." I tell her.
She sighs , "That was expected , let me guess , psych gave me the most?"
I nod apologetically , "But the good news is that I have a really good hole punch and an excellent stapler to help sort it out."
Kennedy eyes meet my own and she raises her eyebrows as if to say "are you fucking kidding me?". I smile, sitting myself down across from her at another dining chair.
"I don't know about your other subjects, but for my lesson today all we did was plan that source analysis essay I was talking about last week?" I state , raising my pitch at the end of my sentence in the hope that she remembers what I'm talking about.
Kennedy flicks through her folder dedicated my lesson , which is immaculately presented and organised by the way , before finally landing on the correct pages of notes that she formulated last week in relation to this assignment.
"This stuff right?" she asks , scanning her eyes over the content.
I smile , "Does it make you want to burst into tears?"
"A little bit , I won't lie." she quips back, making me chuckle once again.
"Well how far did you get through it?"
She sighs , "I mean I finished it , but I don't like my third paragraph , the argument it puts forward is too weak for me to be able to write a couple hundred words on it."
I smile , standing up from my chair and then plonking myself back down on the one adjacent to hers , so that I could see what she's doing. I quickly skimmed over what she'd written , finding no issue with what she'd produced so far. I see a lot of myself in her , I'm never satisfied with my work if I feel like it could be better.
"Don't worry about the third paragraph, your argument is sufficient already but the quality of your earlier paragraphs will get you the marks." I tell her , this girl who always aims for the top grades in my class, and who never asks for help but somehow always puts everyone else to shame with her results.
"Thank you." she says , in a way that convinces me she's fully taken on-board what I just said.
I smile softly , "I have some marking to do , but after that I'm going to order pizza , that sound okay?"
Kennedy nods her head , "Can I pay? I feel like I owe it to you."
"Absolutely not." I reply, before heading out to the hallway to retrieve my bag of papers.
I hear Kennedy laugh from inside , I subconsciously smile at the sound of it.