The Fake Heart (Time Alchemist Series) (4 page)

His smile was cute.
Very cute, like, model cute.
I couldn’t help but blush a little. My heart started to a-flutter just from his cool gaze.
A-flutter.
Wow. I really must have knocked my head
hard
to come up with something girly like that. (But it was true, though. My heart certainly felt “a-fluttery” at the moment).

“Let’s not forget that part where you were watching me while I was sleeping,” I reminded him with a small smile, “But really…who are you? And where am I?”

He whistled, “Wow, you don’t even know that you’re in the medical wing of the gym? I thought all students knew that.”

“I’m new here.
A transfer.
Sophomore
,” I babbled, clearly embarrassed by the look he was giving me.

His eyebrows rose a little. “Oh that explains it. Sorry.”

“I—what am I even doing here? Did you—”

“There you two are!” someone shouted down the hall. Two sets of heels clacked against the floor as two women—a petit
e
one with a lab coat and sandy brown hair pulled in a messy bun, and the other, a much taller woman with a stern look, wearing a sharp grey pantsuit. “Emery Miller,” the smaller woman exclaimed, pushing her black framed glasses up the bridge of her nose, “What on
earth
were you thinking, leaving your bed in such a condition?”

“I, uh—?”

“And Jack!” she turned to the boy, who gave her a “what-can-you-do?” kind of look, “Why didn’t you stop her? Or better yet, why didn’t you come to me immediately when she left her bed?”

Before the boy, Jack, could reply, the older woman interrupted, “Enough of this. Emery Miller, I assume since you are feeling well enough to saunter off from the nurse’s office, answer me this: what do you have to say for yourself?” she towered over me and I got a whiff of her
lavender perfume. I tried not to choke up. I couldn’t help but notice the white laced gloves sh
e wore, that matched
the white outlines of her suit. She
did
seem like the uptight, proper kind of woman who wore gloves and hats and kept laced handkerchiefs in their pockets.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get a word out she went on, as if I was too incompetent to speak for myself.

“Your absence of St. Mary’s orientation is a serious matter. Not once since I have been Headmistress of this Academy has one student failed to show up on time to any event. Not one. Being punctual and according is one of the things that St. Mary’s prides itself on. I will not have you assuming that, just because you are only here from the graciousness of a generous alumnus, that you can simply go out of your way to do what you like.”

“M-
Mis
—” I stuttered, completely blown away by this rampaging verbal attack. My brain trying to remember this woman’s name; it was in every pamphlet and the acceptance letter I got! Why couldn’t I remember?!

“Normally, with all things considered of the condition you were found in, I would have let a matter like this slide. But given the facts of the situation—where you were and where you were found, Miss Miller, I cannot let vandalism of school property slide.”

“
V-Vandalism
?!”
I squeaked, “What are you talking about?

“Do
not
interrupt me, Miss Miller! How else do you explain the gaping hole in the fence where you were found unconscious? Were you planning on being a little rebellious this morning and try to sneak off school grounds? Need I remind you that no student is permitted off of school grounds,
regardless
of any nonsensical reasoning?”

I was completely floored. If a flying pink elephant floated through the room with a golden tutu I wouldn’t have noticed. The
woman’s
face hadn’t
shown
any emotion
other than distain,
during her little speech, but her eyes
stabbed into me with such
complete hatred and disapproval—something that struck me right to the core.

“A month’s worth of detention for you, Miss Miller.”

“What?!” but the protest didn’t come from my lips; it came from Jack’s. It looked like in this brief moment, this
cute boy
was my ally
. I couldn’t be more grateful.
“Headmistress Margaret, you haven’t even given her a chance to explain what she was doing alone in the woods! And that punishment isn’t fair at all!”

Alone?
I was
alone
in the woods?

The nurse, poor woman, couldn’t even jump in to my rescue either but she tried, “Now Headmistress, I don’t think that Miss Miller wasn’t planning on skipping orientation. It’s possible she just decided to take a little shortcut and must have passed out. Isn’t that how you found her, Jack?”

He
gave an exasperated huff
, not once breaking ey
e contact with the Headmistress.
“Yes, that’s right. I was just on a morning run and I came across her, passed out in the woods. Yes, she was out by herself doing…well, doing who knows what, but what if she had been attacked—or much worse? And yet you stand there and accuse her of something she probably didn’t do without even getting her side of the story?”

Headmistress Margaret
, however, didn’t back down, “And pray tell who on earth could have broke the school fence like that? Miss Miller was the only student near said area. How do we know she isn’t friends with a bunch of…
delinquents
and she attempted to sneak out and meet them? Or perhaps…” she glanced back and forth from me to Jack, but her eyes paused on mine as she said the last part, full of venom. “Maybe the two of you were planning a
little rendezvous in the woods?
”

Some sort of noise escaped my throat. I couldn’t tell if it was a strangled laugh or a surprised cry. My face immediately reddened like a tomato, and even Jack looked uncomfortable. The smug look on Headmistress’s face made something inside me crack.

“
First
of all!”
I
snapped
, “What sort of evidence do you have that I was the person who broke the fence? Did you find any chainsaws on me? And two! I can’t go meeting anyone for a ‘rendezvous’ when I barely know anybody here! No offense, but maybe you should get your facts straight before you point a finger at me,
Headmistress
.”

Jack and the nurse sucked in a breath. The silence that followed my outburst was crushing. All I could do was
blink back burning tears
; like I was living an out of body experience. Since when did I—Emery Miller—talk back to adults like that? I was at S
t. Mary’s to be a model student
not some…
delinquent
! And I had to choose
this
moment, to
this
particular person, to voice my opinion?

The Headmistress looked as red and angry as a bull. I swear I could see clouds of steam shooting out from her nostrils.

“I’ve had
enough
of your impudence, Miss Miller. Every Saturday of this term—until this matter is resolved under
my
watch—you will serve your detention organizing files in the
library’s archives. I will make sure our head librarian is fully aware of what a troublesome student you are and I will imply that you receive fitting chores for your detention.” She turned with a snap of her pointed black heel. “I will expect you to act like a student of St. Mary’s Academy from this point on, Miss Miller. Not some tasteless scholarship student who believes she can get out of her punishment by playing the pity card.”

With that, Headmistress Margaret walked off. The nurse looked very uncomfortable, as she glanced back and forth between the Headmistresses’ retreating form and two incredibly shocked teenagers rooted to the ground. My face burn
ed like she has slapped me
with her pretty gloves.
Tasteless scholarship student.
She may as well have called me poor, undeserving trash.

“O-Oh my,” the petit
e
nurse stammered, “Dear, it seems that you must have passed out from a bit of anemia. Make sure to get some rest tonight and eat a big dinner. Oh dear, I really should…just…let me try to reason with the Headmistress on this and see if we can do something about your case…”

Jack waved her off, “Go on, Miss A, I’ll take care of
Em
here.” He slung an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, like we were best buds. The
soft
fabric of white tee brushed against my cheek. Wow, he was really…tall.
And strong.
I could feel his muscles and hear the heavy beats of his heart through the shirt.

My cheeks
blushed
a million shades of red. He said he found me in the woods. Did that mean he…carried me here?
All the way across campus?

Oh. My.
God.

“Well, if you’re sure,” the Nurse said, “Miss Miller, make sure to get your things from my office. My doors
are
always open if you start to feel faint again. Don’t overdo it, alright? Just come by and visit my door at the far end of the wing—the room is always unlocked, so feel free to make yourself comfortable, even if I’m not there. Oh I’d better get going…come s
ee me tomorrow if you feel
peak
ish
again, alright?” she scurried off, the ends of her white coat flapping like the wings of a baby bird eager to get back to the nest.

And here I was. Stuck in the hallway, barefoot; with this hot guys’ arm around my shoulders; my bracelet was missing; I had the weirdest dream (was it really a dream? It felt so real…); an unexplained tattoo on my chest, and now I had made the absolute worst impression on the Headmistress.

And it wasn’t even the first day of school.

CHAPTER 4

“You sure you’re okay? I can carry that bag for you.”

“I’m
fine
, really,” I assured Jack for the sixth or seventh time in the past ten minutes. I shuffled nervously next to him as we walked to my dorm, feeling like a child on their first day of school, walking beside their Mommy, both excited and terrified at what was coming. After the shock of waking up and “forgetting what had happened in the woods because of a sudden bout of a
mnesia
” (the nurses words, not mine, although I think I’d agree), not to mention the Headmistresses’ immediate outbursts and accusations, I found out what had happened after I had passed out.

As Jack said before, he was taking a jog through
the grounds (apparently, he’s on the
cross country and track
teams
), and happened to take a shortcut through the same pathway I had used. He claimed something had caught his eye
, a flashing white light
…and then found me collapsed on the ground, almost hidden amongst the trees and bushes.

Alone.

He carried me straight over to the nurses office (at this mention I kind of got this strange butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach)
,
and the nurse told the Headmistress, who personally went to the “scene of the crime” to assess the damage.

All of this sounded so unreal. Obviously what I had saw
had
happened, but how do I explain the fact that I might have gotten stabbed in the chest when there wasn’t any kind of wound to prove it except for a tattoo that nobody would believe just appeared out of thin air? Heck, even my clothes—that should have been ripped up, at least—were in perfect condition.

The Nurse—who I learned
was nicknamed “Miss A” short for
Nurse Alexandra—had said I had probably passed out from anemia or stress—but I wasn’t anemic, but even though  a part of me wa
s excited to be in St. Mary’s. T
he other part was insanely nervous
,
and, I guess you could say, stressed out. She said there were many situations like this for new students, so she really didn’t seem overly concerned about my well being, just as long as I was alright. She wasn’t even that pushy about me being in the woods
all alone the day of student orientation
.

Speaking of orientation…I hadn’t just missed it, but I had been asleep the
entire
day because of…whatever the heck had happened!

What a great start to a new life, huh?

“Hey, I can carry that for you…” Jack started again and reaching for my bag, but I cut him off.

“It’s
fine
.
Really.
You’ve already done enough.
Too
much, in fact.”

His hand brushed against mine
,
and I flushed. I pretended to fidget with the buttons of my jacket so it didn’t happen again. I glanced over at Jack, seeing his blonde hair shine like gold in the afternoon rays. His eyes caught mine
,
and I looked away, embarrassed at being caught staring.