Stuck behind her, p.19
Stuck Behind Her, page 19
“Well, yes, I’ll also go to the movies on Saturday. We can do the ‘lesson’ or whatever on Sunday,” I tell them. Elias nods, agreeing with my times. Great. Everything’s working. Most importantly, no one suspects anything of me yet. All is going to plan.
I only have half a month left at this school and to finalize the contest. Which means, I need a second winner. Maybe Lorenzo knows someone. Or Aurora might have some friends that I can choose. I thought I had more time. I can’t believe it’s been a full month already. But I can find a winner. Worst case scenario, I’ll choose a random student. Or take Lorenzo. That’s my last resort though. Lorenzo is known as my friend, so it would seem unfair to everyone else.
Half a month. I have half a month to choose a winner and finish up all the planning for the trip. I can do that, as well as dealing with school. And hanging out with Lorenzo more, since he’s also leaving soon. I can also do that. Right? I can do anything. Just one of the many traits of Valentina Hart. Luckily, I’m Valentina Hart.
Chapter 33 – Cinquantadue
Val
Another Wednesday, another library period. My free period. Or it would be, if Elias didn’t have it with me. Other than the point that not doing anything in a school period would attract suspicion, I still need to attempt to beat him in the reading competition we agreed on. I’m committed to finishing first just to spite him, regardless of me knowing that he probably is better than me. Even though I’m “warming up to him,” in Lorenzo’s words, nothing would be more entertaining than defeating a Miller.
However, I have work to do, and have no idea how I’m going to fit it into my schedule. The concert details still need to be verified and revised, and I don’t think I’ve prepared any of my own social media posts in a while. People are also asking for updates on the event since it’s quickly approaching, and I’m planning on giving them one. I have one winner and am looking for the second. That’s my update. Bland, I know, but I’ll add some suspense and a couple of introductions and hype them up as to them still having a chance. Hopefully, that will work.
I wander the halls, Elias following beside me, as we head to the library. I still can’t believe I have to study with him. But I already said yes, and changing my mind would be cruel. Plus, he looks like he actually wants to help. So, on Sunday, I’m meeting him at the café I love. I might not be Val at the time, but the place is peaceful. I hate studying and school in general, but I hate studying in crowds more. I also hate crowds in general, considering I always have to deal with them.
“So, have you accepted defeat and given up?” I ask him, even though I doubt I’ll actually beat him. I’ll still take my chances.
“You wish. I’d rather put in an effort and lose than just give up,” he replies.
“Of course you would, Miller. Which reminds me, is Roland still bothering you about me?” I ask. He hasn’t told me anything about his dad since their trip was canceled. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Roland let it go. But I know he’d rather die than let anything go.
“No, thankfully. But if he isn’t bothering me, he’s probably bothering someone else to fill the gap.” Of course he is. I wouldn’t be surprised.
When we walk around the corner, the library just a classroom away from us, we hear a loud clash echoing around the hall, followed by shouting. I look at Elias, wondering if he knows what’s happening. He shrugs his shoulders, and we both turn around to run to the source. We stop at a small crowd of people. Some are holding phones to capture whatever’s happening. I get a glance between the crowd of people and see two girls fighting. Are people seriously videoing a fight?
“Come on, let’s go the other way so that we don’t get involved,” Elias suggests. I don’t think anyone wants to interfere. My eyes trace the broken bits of glass on the ground, and I look up at the lockers. They’re stained with blood.
The blood pierces through me, my eyes glued on the red substance. My heart speeds up rapidly, and everything around me blurs. All I can see is the red liquid splattered on the lockers. My chest tightens, and I’m suddenly breathing heavily.
My hands feel cold, and all I can feel is the thick texture of blood lining them. Panic sparks inside me. I have to stop. Stop looking at it, but I can’t move. My body is suddenly so still. Pain increases in my body, and my lungs’ pressure increases. I feel the blood start to drip down my arms. It’s not real. It’s fake. It’s just my mind tricking me.
I attempt to avert my eyes again, but am unable to. The silence rings in my ears, and I hear a voice. “Violet,” they call, their voice rasping. The color darkens, dripping down the lockers in a dark crimson tint.
“Violet!” Another shout, but the voice is suddenly familiar. Elias, I realize. It’s just Elias. A hand closes on mine, sending a warm call back to reality. I finally drop my eyes, looking down as the air enters and exits my lungs slowly. “Violet?” he calls again, but I’m unable to speak.
The cold liquid still marks my skin. He tugs on my arm, and I turn around, looking at him. His dark brown eyes bore into mine, a spark inside them. Breathe. Slowly. Slowly. “Violet, are you okay?” he asks, his hand holding mine. Breathe.
“Y-Yes, I’m fine,” I utter, realizing how weak my voice is. I look down, my eyesight blurring by the minute. Breathe. My legs feel numb, spreading to the rest of my body.
B r e a t h e.
“Are you sure?” I hear him ask, his voice unclear and muffled. I grip his arm tightly, shutting my eyes in an attempt to gain my sight back. I open them again only for everything to blur even more. My chest feels like it’s being squeezed, and all the air is blocked from entering and exiting. I steady myself, although I don’t feel like I’m falling. I don’t feel like I’m standing, either. I’m just floating in the middle of nowhere, nothing but his hand to hold. To support me with his warmth. My whole body aches, and my hands are all soaked in red. It’s not real.
I t s n o t r e a l.
B r e a t h e.
“Yes, I just . . .” I mutter, but my voice is gone. I’m nowhere, all alone covered in crimson, with only the pain of my body. The pressure in my chest.
I can’t b r e a t h e. E v er y t h i n g t u r n s
t o
b l a c k . . .
Chapter 34 – Cinquantuno
Elias
“Violet!” I shout, dropping down to hold her before she falls to the ground. Her head falls into my arms, and she goes completely still. Her eyes close shut, her body as cold as ice. I bring my fingers to her face, stroking it as if it’ll help her gain consciousness.
“Violet. Violet, wake up.” I panic, realizing how meaningless my words are. My heart beats rapidly in my chest, my eyes wide. I hold her hand tightly, the same hand she tried steadying herself with. All these thoughts go through my head as I wonder what to do. What happened? She just froze. Paralyzed.
My mind is blank from all thoughts. All I can think about right now is her. Help. I need to get help. With no idea what else to do, I wrap my right arm around her knees and pull myself up onto my feet, lifting her with me. My left hand lifts her head, the strands of her hair looping around my fingers. I run, no other idea what else to do, and pick up speed. My heart rate does the same, thudding inside my chest. I don’t know what I’m doing. Is she okay? What happened back there? I need to get to the nurse. She’ll know how to help her. They can help her. They have to. She has to be okay.
The room comes to sight, and I rush to the door. The nurse immediately opens it, her eyes shifting up and down between us. “She fainted,” I explain in a rush, coughing out the words. “I don’t know what happened, I don’t know if she’s alright or not. I need your help.”
“Calm down, it’s okay. We’ll figure it out. Come in,” she assures me, opening the door to let me in. Her words do nothing to calm the nerves in my body. The room is almost empty, with a small bed in the corner. “There.” The nurse points to the bed, and I place Violet gently on it. She freezes again when she leaves my arms, completely still. She’s so pale. I inhale a sharp breath, keeping hold of her hand. My fingers intertwine with hers, warming up her ice-cold skin.
The nurse comes to check her, making sure she’s still breathing. She’s still breathing, right? I caught her before she fell, so she can’t have a concussion. She’s going to be fine, I tell myself. She has to. Please let her be fine.
The nurse backs up, turning to me. “I’m going to need you to leave the room, please, until we’re done with all the tests to see what’s wrong,” she tells me. My hand grips Violet’s tighter, and I look at her again. I take my other hand and wrap it around hers as well, my chest constricting. “Is she alright? Is she going to be okay?” I ask, keeping my eyes on her.
“Yes, she’ll be fine. We still need to identify the problem, so I need you to go,” she repeats. I rest her hand on the bed, slowly letting it go. She’s going to be fine. I take a deep breath, walking backward just to keep my eyes on her. I leave the room, closing the door behind me, then release a stressed breath.
The cold of her body still marks my fingers, but the warmth of her presence so close to me lingers around my body. I can still smell the scent of her hair, sweet coconut, as if she’s still here. Still in my arms. The look on her face, the paleness of her skin haunts my thoughts. How long will she be unconscious? Will she be okay? The nurse said she will, but the thought of her not being okay holds my body hostage.
I don’t go to class, or to find anyone. I sit down in front of the room, staring at the dark wooden door in front of me like it’ll make it open faster. Like the nurse will come out and suddenly tell me she’s okay. That she’s awake and all good. But nothing happens. I sit in front of the door, unable to do anything else but wait. Wait for her.
My mind questions again and again what happened. No one hit her. No one was close enough to even reach her. She didn’t look injured. She looked fine earlier this morning. Then what was it? What made her lose consciousness? I replay the scene again and again. Something was wrong from the second we got to the fight scene. She looked worried. Panicky. Unwell.
All my thoughts are overtaken by her. By Violet. I shouldn’t have left the room; I should’ve asked to stay inside. Demanded to. Violet. The name repeats in my head, and I realize that all of this is about her. About her being hurt. The sudden distance I felt from her when I left the room. For the last couple of minutes, my mind has been reeling over her being hurt. My heartbeat is fast. It’s all about her. And in that one moment, sitting in front of the nurse’s office door, waiting for some kind of good news, I realize that Violet is more than just a person to me. At that moment, I realize that maybe, just maybe, I like Violet more than just a friend.
Chapter 35 – Cinquanta
Val
An electric shock strikes my head, slowly bringing me back to consciousness. Sounds and murmuring fill my head as it aches more, a ringing sounding in my ears. My body shivers with the cold, and I shift my position. Where am I? I try opening my eyes, but they’re heavy. I move my hands, and feel a rough, papery surface under me. I squeeze my eyes, then immediately pop them open. I stare at a white ceiling, small squares of LED lighting dotted around. The bright light almost blinds me, causing me to squint. I push myself up to a sitting position, my legs dangling off the surface, less than a foot away from the ground.
I look around, finding a couple of boxes and cupboards stacked on shelves and hung on walls. A small table and chair are in the corner of the room, both white to match the rest of the room. A laptop sits on the table, half open. I look around and find I’m sitting on a bed covered by a thin paper sheet. For a second, I don’t know where the hell I am. That’s until I see the first aid kit and stethoscope on the table. I’m at a doctor’s room? Or a clinic? Nurse? I don’t know.
A woman then enters the room, wearing a blue uniform and name tag with the name Stassie written on it. It confirms my last prediction: I’m in the nurse’s office. But why am I here? Where exactly am I anyway? What happened? My mind is completely blank. The nurse notices me, turns around and grabs some tools from the table.
“You’re awake,” she exclaims, approaching me and taking my arm almost immediately. She wraps something around it and starts checking other things. All these readings show up on devices, sending another ache in my head.
“Where am I? What happened?” I ask, and the words come out in a weak, tired tone.
“The nurse’s office at the school. You fainted, and your friend brought you here,” she explains. I’m in school. Wait, what? Fainted? I close my eyes, trying to get some kind of recollection of what happened. What is the last thing I remember? I search my mind until I recall the fight. The fight, the blood. Just before I got dizzy, and everything turned black. Shit. I thought I’d sorted that out. And someone brought me here. A friend. Elias. Elias was with me. He brought me here.
She finishes using all the devices and gathers them, placing them back on the table. I raise my arm to hold my head, which is still aching. “Which reminds me, three people who claim to be your friends, or know you, are outside waiting for you to wake up. You cannot leave the office for another hour due to school guidelines, so do you want me to let them in now, or do you need some more time?” she asks. What? I have to stay here for an hour? A full hour. They’re joking. I sigh, dropping my head.
“Let them in, I’m fine,” I tell her. She nods, grabs a bottle of water from the counter and hands it to me. I take it from her, and she leaves the room. I open the bottle, which I struggle with due to still being weak, and take a sip. I put it on the small table next to me, searching around for my phone. Or my bag. Or any of my belongings. I find them all in the corner of the room, behind the door, piled up together. I try to go and get them, but a sense of fatigue hits me and I give up on trying to get up.
I fainted. I thought I was fine with that. I’ve been trying to get over this since forever, and I thought I could control it. But no, I guess this is just a wakeup call to listen to my mom. She told me to be careful because it might still happen, but my dumb self decided not to listen to her. I should’ve learned my lesson by now; Mom is always right.
Suddenly, the door opens again and Lorenzo runs inside. His eyes are wide when he sees me. “Vi. Are you okay?” he asks. He comes close and sits down in the chair in front of me.
“I’m fine, just a small headache. You didn’t all have to wait,” I assure him, and relief fills his face.
“Elias told me what happened. Are you sure you’re okay?” he clarifies, asking again. Hemophobia; fear of blood. Lorenzo knows about it, even though I told him I had it under control. This is last time I decide not to listen to my mom. He’s acting the same as her, telling me to be careful. But I insist I’m fine.
“I’m okay. It was an in-the-moment thing,” I tell him. He smiles at me, and I notice him exhale a big breath.
“Elias and Aurora are confused, so I’ll let you explain it to them.”
Elias and Aurora. Elias. He was with me. He saw me. He was the one who brought me here. My mind can’t wrap around the fact. Elias was with me then. Why do I keep breaking in some way in front of him?
“I will. What time is it? Why aren’t you in class?” I ask, realizing I have no idea how long it’s been. It had been the end of lunch break, and we were heading to the library. Then everything happened, and now I don’t know what time it is nor what period we’re in.
“It's the fifth period. Halfway through. You’ve been unconscious for a little under an hour and a half. There’s still half of period five left, and then period six, so an hour and a half of school left. As for class, we are all skipping. Aurora and I left class after we heard, and Elias has been here ever since you fainted,” he tells me.
Elias been here since I fainted? But why didn’t he go to class after the nurse came? He could’ve done a million things in the time I’ve been here, and it’s not like I was stranded in the middle of nowhere.
“Go back to class. I’m fine, I’ll make sure to text you when they let me out,” I tell him. He rolls his eyes, standing up.
“Call me if anything happens. I’m fine with leaving class again. If you need physical or emotional support, I’m here,” he offers. I smile back to him, and he leaves the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts for the span of one minute.
That’s before Aurora runs in, calling my name as she hugs me. “Are you okay? What happened? Elias wasn’t really clear out what happened. Did you get hit? Are you feeling better?” She shoots questions at me like they’re nothing, sitting down on the chair Lorenzo was just sitting on. Elias enters, standing next to the door. I get a quick glance at him before turning back to Aurora, and our eyes meet for just a second. They look tired. His whole face looks stressed. Is this because of me? Has he been stressed because of me? I tuck away the thought, shifting to answer Aurora’s dump of questions.
“I’m okay. I didn’t get hit or anything and I feel better,” I reassure her.
“What happened?” she asks again. I take a deep breath, and notice Elias is waiting for an answer just as much as she is, his entire attention turned to me.
“I have hemophobia. Fear of blood. In certain cases, it makes me dizzy and go into some type of panic. If no one is there to stop me or block my sight, I eventually faint. There was blood splattered on the lockers from the fight, and it caused a reaction. I’m fine now, though, you don’t need to worry,” I tell them. Aurora sits straight, and Elias fixes his posture.
“How come you didn’t tell us?” she asks, concerned.
“I don’t talk about it much. But as I said, it’s okay. I’m okay now, don’t stress yourself because of it,” I say, giving her a reassuring smile. She returns it, then stands up.
