Page 90 of Knox Academy Omnibus
“Amelie, I wasn’t aware you would be visiting today,” Monty says walking into the room, giving Laura a kiss on the cheek.
“I had some time on my hands to reflect and realised I haven’t made things easy. Since I will be here awhile, I should make more of an effort.” He eyes me warily. He wasn’t born yesterday. But he doesn’t verbalise his thoughts.
“Why don’t you girls have a day getting pampered?” he says and Laura’s eyes light up. Oh God. I was hoping to put in a minimal amount of effort, maybe watch a sappy romance movie.
“Oh my God, Monty, that would be amazing. I will make some calls.” Laura rushes from the room and I’m left with Monty’s pointed glare.
“What?” I snap.
“Nothing...I’m just trying to work out what angle you’re playing at.”
“No angle. I just had a long hard look at myself this past week. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I’m sure Laura and I can find some mutual ground.”
“I’m happy to hear that. Have you spoken to my sons this week?”
“No,” I snort. “We have had a...falling out and I think it’s time we keep it like that. I’ll stick with my family only and just see yours on Sundays.”
“What about Baxter?” he questions, surprising me. I need to lie. I don’t want him looking into anything to do with Baxter.
“That didn’t exactly work out. He isn’t who I thought he was. Maybe you were right. I need to stay away from him.”
We are interrupted by Laura flitting back into the room.
“Good news, we have appointments but must leave now.”
I refrain from rolling my eyes. The last thing I wanted was to not be in the house.
Laura has us out of the house and on our way into town before I can protest. I just hope Baxter has eyes on me.
Six hours. Six damn hours of hair, make up, nails and clothes. I look ridiculous. Laura prattles on and on about how beautiful I look. I might consider slitting my wrists if I have to endure anymore of this, but lucky for me her mood sours after she checks her phone.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. She is seconds from tears but reigns it in.
“Oh it’s nothing. I’m so glad we spent time together today.”
“Me too.” Lie.
As the car pulls up to let us out, Laura instructs the driver to take our bags to our rooms. She excuses herself and storms into the house, the click clack of her shoes echoes throughout the entry.
I follow behind to see where she has disappeared to. Upstairs. I tip toe up the stairs.
“What the hell is this?” she screeches.
“Calm down,” Monty soothes.
“Calm down? Calm down!”
For a moment I wonder what is going on, and then it clicks; Baxter has bought me ten minutes. Laura, if she’s anything like she used to be, will fight this out for hours. I race downstairsand straight into Monty's office. The safe is exactly where Baxter said it would be: Behind the picture on the wall. With shaky hands I input the code, one Baxter told me to memorise. No trail that way. And sure enough inside is a USB. That and passports and some other documents. I don’t have time to snoop. I need to get in and get out. I close the safe and push the picture back into place. Carefully, making sure no one is outside, I race back upstairs. Laura is still yelling. Even from their side of the house, it’s loud. I should have powered on my laptop before but I didn’t exactly have time before I was ripped from the house.
Tick tick tick
The clock is mocking me, my heart racing. As soon as I type in my password, I shove the USB in the side and there are so many files.
I only copy the ones from current students. I don’t have time to scour through and look at any others. The green bar pops up and says four minutes. With sweaty palms I pace the room. Every time I check, it doesn’t look like it has moved.
After an agonising few minutes, it’s done. I quickly search for one file from a past student: Sawyer Knox. When I locate it, I hesitate, but quickly copy his over too. That one takes seconds, thankfully.
With my heart in my throat, I tiptoe back out into the hall and down the stairs. Everything is silent. For once I actually pray that they are screwing, making up. I take my chances and rush down the hallway.
