In Disguise

Chapter 9

I woke up in the nurses office and looked down to happily see that my original shirt was still on even though it was bloody and ripped at the bottom. If they had tried to take it off, my cover would have been ruined. I picked up the fabric to see a large bandage covering my whole stomach. It hurt like a bitch. I turned my head to see Alex asleep next to me. He looked so exhausted and had bags under his eyes. I doubt he looked worse than me though. I'm glad I had stayed out there and not gone back before Alex. Who knows what would've happened if he had been out there alone. His original plan of swimming back slowly surly would've gotten him killed. He looked so peaceful as he slept. So calm. 

I heard a very quiet knock as Nurse Snow entered the room, making sure not to wake Alex. 

"How are you feeling?" She looked concerned as she whispered to me.

"I'm okay. I guess I'm in a little pain, but I would've been dead if it weren't for him." I looked at Alex for a few seconds. 

"I know." I turned back and gave her a confused look. She definitely didn't sound like she was agreeing with me about Alex. "I won't tell, but you need to be more careful. The only reason I was there so soon was to see Ben after he got stung with a jellyfish." She looked at Alex to make sure he was asleep and then went on, "I was about to lift your shirt and saw the chest wrap. Your lucky I was there or every guy in your class would've known your secret." I just sat there not knowing what to say. 

"Look, I'm not going to tell anyone. It's obvious you are doing this for your father and I completely respect you for that. But can I give you one word of advice?" She looked at me for permission and I nodded. 

"Don't catch feelings for him." Her eyes were now back on Alex, "if you haven't already fallen, catch yourself while you still can. I can see the way you look at him, and this may end in a love story, but there's also a chance it will end in disaster. Don't forget why you're here Evelyn." It had been so long since I heard someone say my true name. I thought about what she said and knew she was right and yet, I still felt a pit in my stomach. Maybe it was already too late. Maybe I had already fallen and now no one but Alex would be able to catch me. 

Nurse Snow left the room after giving me some more Advil and gave me direct orders to go back to sleep. I closed my eyes and let all of her warnings fade away as sleep finally took over me again. 

I woke up again and the room was now much brighter. I must have slept through the whole night. I looked to my side to see Alex typing something on the phone. After he was done, he looked up at me. 

"You look like shit Evan." Tell me something I don't know.

"I can say the same to you." He just grinned slightly before looking at the wall. 

He sighed before speaking again, "Thank you." It was almost a whisper but I still was able to hear. 

"You're the hero here. I wouldn't be alive right now without you. You should join the Olympics, I've never seen someone swim that face, and you did it through waves!" I looked at him as I spoke and saw him smile. He had a beautiful smile. 

"Well I guess we wouldn't be alive right now without each other. Two sharks came straight at us and you punched them both. You pushed me out of harms way and got bit to protect us." He smiled and paused, looking straight at me as he continued. "We make a pretty good team." 

I laughed lightly. "Yeah, yeah we do." 

A knock came from the door as Nurse snow reentered. 

"It's nice to see you both awake. You were both pretty beat up yesterday, how are you feeling now?" Nurse Snow walked over to Alex as she talked to both of us. He sat up so that she could assess him and as he moved his blankets, I saw that he was shirtless. I scanned his chest and 6 pack, probably not being subtle at all. The view was perfect except for the fact that Alex had a huge bruise up by the side of his ribs and smaller bruises all down his stomach and chest. By the looks of it, even sitting up was hard for him. 

"Okay, I'm going to help you up so that you can go take a quick shower. Please use the handle because your body is tired from being overexerted yesterday." Nurse Snow pulled him up and he grunted in pain as he began to stand. He slowly walked into the bathroom and shortly after seeing the doors close, I heard the water start running. 

Nurse Snow began unwrapping my bandage to assess my bite mark, and honestly, I was scared. As she unwrapped the last layer I slowly looked down and gasped as I saw myself. It was not a nice sight. I don't know how I hadn't felt it the second it happened. 

"I'm going to clean this and then put a waterproof bandage over it so that you can shower after Alex. Oh, and I saw your friend.. Davina. She brought your pads and tampons so they are hidden under the sink in the bathroom for you. They're in a plain brown box underneath a few containers of toothpaste so just take the whole thing and hide it somewhere in your room. Just in case Zander asks what it is just offer him some toothpaste." As she quietly spoke I just nodded, she was so kind. 

"Thank you so much." I was beyond grateful. 

"It's no problem, us girls have to stick together. She winked as she finished wrapping me up and began to stand up. "Oh and by the way, if you're gonna check him our, at least make it subtle." She laughed and left the room. 

A few minutes later Alex finished using the bathroom and I went in. As I walked by him, I once again checked him out. For the second time, I was seeing him in just a towel. After I walked into the bathroom and closed the door, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked tired and sickly. I must have lost a lot of blood. I turned on the shower and hopped in after getting undressed. The hot water touched my skin and began to rinse off the dried blood. As I stood in the shower, I just thought about how close I had come to losing my life yesterday. I began to cry under the water. This was more than I signed up for, much much more, but I needed to make my dad proud. I was no quitter. 

I held onto the handle as I slowly got out of the shower. My whole body felt sore. I wrapped up my chest and found the hidden tampons and pads Nurse Snow had left me. I put on a pad just in case. Better safe than sorry. In the box I also found a clean outfit, so I put it on quickly. I grabbed the box and left the bathroom. 

"What's in the box?" Alex looked at me with a confused look. 

"Toothpaste. I told Davina I needed some and she sort of went overboard." I lightly laughed and gently shook the box. "Do you want one?"

"Actually yes please. I'm almost out." I tossed him one and he thanked me as he caught it. This toothpaste box thing was smart. 

"What time is it?" I began looking around for my phone. 

"It's charging in the corner, and it's 4 PM." My eyes shot wide. 

"We missed our classes!" I picked up my phone to see texts and calls from my mom, Davina and a bunch of my other close friends. I guess news spread fast around here. 

"We were excused for obvious reasons." He rolled his eyes. Duh. That would make sense. 
"We should go get dinner. I'm starving and the nurse said we could leave." 

We began to leave the nurse's office and head towards the cafeteria. I couldn't help but laugh as we passed the locker where he punched me.  We had come so far. Apparently Alex had the same thoughts because as he looked at me he began to laugh too. We entered the cafeteria and all eyes turned to us. 

Alex shouted across the room, "what the fuck are you all looking at?" 

I must have been getting used to Alex's bad language because all I did was grin and I followed behind him to finally get food.