Chasing Miss Conner •NEW VERSION•

XIV

Fourteen

A sharp pain in my chest brought me back to the living world. I blinked rapidly, my vision swimming crazily. My hand reached up to my chest, my nerve endings firing with pain. With a sigh I looked around the bland room, the curtains were drawn and the plant in the far corner looked rather droopy.

Oh god, there goes my reputation. Passing out at school, lovely.

But the second I turned my head towards the door, my world suddenly became so much more interesting. Curled up beside me in a hard backed and uncomfortable-looking chair, was Miss Conner. Her cool blue eyes watched me with intensity.

I started to sit up, but she immediately put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down. "How long have I been out?" I protested.

Her lips curved up slightly. "Long enough to know that you need to stay in bed and rest." I groaned, causing her to chuckle.

"Wait." I lifted my head again, meeting her eyes. "Did the doctors page my mom?"

The apologetic look on her face spoke for her. "She's in surgery, but she's aware that you're here. She's been paging orders to the staff and driving everyone crazy." My cheeks heated with embarrassment.

"Yeah, that sounds like her. Wait, why are you still here? I'm sure you have much more important things to get to than babysitting me. What about your classes?"

She waved her hand flippantly at me. "I got a sub."

Her eyes narrowed on the circular-shaped purple bruises on my wrists. "I'm guessing you didn't get those from a fall down the stairs, right?"

Everything rushed back in. His hand on my wrists, my chest, his breath in my ear. My breathing escalated, the monitor hooked to my heartbeat went wild. I met Miss Conner's eyes with panic spreading through mine.

"No, you can't be here. You have to go. He can't know you were here." I begged her, but she didn't budge, just watched me with her kind eyes.

"You don't have to go through with this alone. What kind of mentor would I be if I let my favorite student endure something like this? When part of it is my fault?"

Tears slipped down my cheeks as my hands grasped my chest, I pulled open the hospital gown and peeked inside, bile rising in my throat as I took in the purple and blue mess that was my right breast. Little red circular marks were imbedded into the swollen skin around my nipple. "He...he touched me."

I was furious.

Furious with myself for allowing him to treat me like that, and ashamed for not seeing it coming.

Her fingers wrapped around the hand that was clenching the hospital gown. Her soft touch alleviated some of the pain in my chest and loosened my grip. I latched onto her instead, bringing our hands to rest in my lap, marveling at the softness of them. Her only hand cupped my cheek, her fingers brushing at the tears.

"Stop that," she ordered sternly, her eyebrows knitting together. "You couldn't have known what he'd intended. He's mentally unstable."

A thought came to my head and made me panic. "Oh god. What am I going to tell my mom?"

"Uh, the truth?" She questioned, raising a brow at me. I sighed, rubbing at my chest in aggravation.