Gift Academy (Book One in the Gifted Series)

Chapter Twenty Seven

Fay

He's still alive. But barely.

The Extras retreated, and the Shifters decided that they tormented us enough, so they left. The doctors at Gift Academy were able to get to Mr. Hernandez right on time. It's been ten days, and he's still in the infirmary. Noah hurt him horrifically. The scratches were so deep, the doctors seriously considered on giving up on healing Mr. Hernandez, but they didn't. They still had hope for him. Now, he's healing, but slowly.

And me? I feel awful.

I wasn't hurt during the battle, and I'm not sick. I feel horrible about not being able to help Mr. Hernandez. He saved me from the fire, and I wasn't able to save him. I got Noah off of him and called for help, but I could've done so much more. I shouldn't have put my guard down.

Noah tricked us. We thought he was retreating, but really, he was getting a running start. I'm an idiot for not being able to help Mr. Hernandez, especially after he helped me so many times.

Now, I sit on the couch of Flora and Claires dorm, where all of my friends are meeting for a small get-together. 'To get our spirits up', as Claire put it. Of course she'd need that. Mr. Hernandez wasn't the only one to almost get killed by a Shifter.

Hailey was bit on the stomach by a large bear, and the bite marks were even deeper than the scratches on Mr. Hernandez. The moment she was rolled in, Claire was frantic to save her, almost as frantic as I was to get help for Mr. Hernandez. It seemed like she was having a panic attack, but she ensured us that that wasn't the case.

'If I was having a panic attack, I wouldn't have been able to help the doctors with Hailey,' she had said. We all believed her, but I'm still concerned for her. There's obviously something going on between her and Hailey, I'm just not sure what exactly. Hailey's still in the infirmary as well, though she's healing a lot quicker than Mr. Hernandez.

"So..." Austin calls out to all of us, trying to break the awkward silence between us. We're all sitting on chairs and couches surrounding the coffee table in front of the T.V. Their dorm looks a lot like me and Veronicas, so it saddens me yet makes me a little happy; all of us sitting together. It's like the night of me and Floras birthday, when we all made a fort out of blankets and pillows and watched a movie. Just the thought of that makes me nostalgic.

"What should we do?" Austin asks no one in particular. No one speaks up. Everyone just stays silent, randomly glancing around the room for nothing.

"Spin the bottle?" Flora asks teasingly, and we all let out a laugh. A true, genuine laugh of joy and humor. I haven't done that in a while, and neither has any of the others. It feels good to be even a little happy again.

I make a decision in my head, one that I won't regret. It's been ten days since I've seen him. He should be at least a bit better by now.

"Actually, I'm going to check on Mr. Hernandez and see how he's doing," I inform everyone, standing up. No one stops me, but Claire gets up with me.

"I'm coming. I want to see Hailey," Claire tells me. I nod my head at her and we both make our way to the door. As I'm putting my shoes on, I take another look at my group of friends. Flora and Gina are striking up conversation with each other, Nick and Wesley are joking around, and Jake and Austin seem to be having a silent conversation with their eyes. Jakes dark blue eyes flicker to my direction and back to Austin, but I'm sure he was looking at Claire next to me.

I frown as I think this over, but I shake it off my mind as Claire opens the door behind me. I turn around and walk out of the dorm, turning towards the stairwell down the hall. Claire closes the door and we begin walking to the stairs side-by-side. I take a quick glance at her, and she looks slightly worried. I decide to ask her about what I've been wondering for days now.

"Hey, Claire. Um, I'm sorry if this is a little personal, but...what's up with you and Hailey?" I ask her, scanning her face for any lies when she speaks.

"What do you mean? We're just friends," Claire answers, and I know that that's a lie. Her voice slightly strains while saying 'friends', and her eyes flicker from one thing to another, avoiding eye contact with me.

"I know a lie when I see one. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," I promise Claire, and she looks at me with an expression I've seen on a lot of different people. The look of worry and fear, like they want to anticipate what comes next, but they just can't.

"Um, well...I-I do k-kind of like her, just a little..." Claire trails off, looking down at the floor.

She's not lying.

"Oh my god, Claire, that's great!" I exclaim, making sure to keep quiet enough so no one else can hear.

"R-Really?" Claire asks, a surprised look on her face. I nod my head, and her dark brown eyes widen, and there's a tug at the edges of her lips.

"W-Well, th-then I might give it a try," Claire announces. I chuckle and shake my head in exasperation. Sometimes my friends can be a little too extra.

"Claire, you don't have to-" I start, but Claire cuts me off.

"No, I'm going to. It's about time I tell her, anyways. I'm going to tell her tonight, now," she declares, a brave look on her face.

"O-Okay. Great! And if you need any help, I'll be there with you," I remind her. Claire nods her head, grinning like a fool as we start our descent down the stairs. As we're walking down, Claire can't stop fiddling with her silver bracelet, the hem of her dark green t-shirt, the zipper of her black sweater, and she's constantly rubbing the heel of her hands across her light blue jeans. I found out a while ago that she does that when she's nervous or anxious.

I chuckle as Claire and I take the last step down and Claire slightly stumbles forward, but quickly regains herself. A slight blush creeps on her cheeks and we continue to head to the infirmary.

We quietly stroll through Gift Academy for what seems like minutes until we reach the infirmary. I open the door and Claire and I step in silently, careful to not wake anyone up.

Then I realize that there's no one to wake up. Only two beds are occupied; one in the far back with Hailey, and the other near the door with Mr. Hernandez, both sitting up. I gasp at the horrible state my teacher is in. He has white bandages on his arms, legs, chest, and stomach, and the scratches on his face have faded to small scars, but they're still very visible. The bandages are kind of bloody, but I can tell that they're new. How is that possible? It's been ten days, he can't possibly still be bleeding.

I nod my head at Claire to go to Hailey and she gives me one last smile before heading to her. The moment she sees Claire, Hailey brightens, and Claire sits down on a chair next to her bed. They immediately start talking to each other, looking a little happier than before.

"Fay," a familiar voice calls out to me. I turn to my right and Mr. Hernandez is looking up at me thoughtfully.

"Mr. Hernandez, I'm really sorry about not being able to stop Noah," I apologize, hoping that he accepts it.

"It's not your fault, Fay. And you did stop him. If you didn't get him off, I definitely would've died," Mr. Hernandez explains. I nod my head in agreement, but I'm not sure if I fully agree with him.

"Now, I need to have a word with you about what Noah said," Mr. Hernandez tells me with a tone of deep seriousness in his voice, and I remember that Noah wanted something from Mr. Hernandez. I nod my head, encouraging him to go on.

This will definitely be interesting.