“Goddamn it,” Danyella curses, and I feel the sting of hot, salty tears on my cheeks. “Dakota, I’m sorry.” She helps me sit up, rubbing my back as I cough and spit up blood.
“Dakota!” a voice yells from down the hall, just before Chasm appears, running so fast that he actually slips in my blood and nearly crashes to the floor. He manages to make it look intentional, hitting his knees hard in front of me in a way that must hurt, but that he doesn’t acknowledge.
His hands reach out for my face, fingers smearing the blood on my cheeks. I can see his friends down the hall, watching but not interfering, just like they did when Chasm punched that guy yesterday.
“What happened?” he asks, eyes searching my face. I can’t stop looking at his friends though, the way their eyes narrow in on him, as if he’s a traitor to the whole of Whitehall. “Danyella, what the fuck?”
“I didn’t ask Lumen to do this,” she says, but her voice warbles, and there’s a tremendous amount of guilt hidden beneath her words. “I never wanted this. I don’t want any of this.” She turns her attention to Chasm. “She’s telling everyone that Dakota set the fire.”
Chasm curses, standing up and doing his best to help me to my feet.
I manage to get up, but that’s about as far as I go. My body lilts to one side and I slam into Chasm as he starts cussing under his breath again. He ends up picking me up like I don’t weigh a damn thing, hefting me into his arms.
I’m amazed at how much damage those girls were able to inflict in such a short period of time.
Did she … did she really say that she and Parrish have been sleeping together?
I groan and lay my head against Chasm’s chest. I want so badly to cry in that moment, but I’m afraid to do it where anyone else can see.
“I need to get you to the nurse’s office,” he murmurs, giving Danyella another look. “You and I will talk soon.” He takes off, and even the easy movement of his stride makes me hurt. I’m cradling my hand against my chest as I struggle to breathe through the pain. “Don’t tell the nurse about Lumen,” he whispers to me. “Rules at Whitehall are pretty clear: if you do, you’re dead.”
I wouldn’t tell, even if he hadn’t mentioned that to me.
Lumen thinks she’s getting justice for Danyella. I don’t agree with her use of violence, but I understand her thought process. Besides, I … something is going on. I need to talk to Lumen in private as soon as possible.
Chasm gets me to the nurse’s office without complaining, without stumbling or setting me down. He lays me on one of the beds as the nurse runs over, dropping her Kindle on the desk and reaching out to brush my hair back from my bloodied face. She’s asking him questions, but the pain is so intense that I barely hear her.
What I do recognize at least, is that Chasm is refusing to go back to class even when he’s been threatened with suspension.
“Go,” I tell him, reaching up with my right hand to grab his. “Please.” I give him a pleading look that I hope he recognizes. “You can’t get suspended this close to the end of the year. Chas, please. Please.”
He hesitates, but the nurse is already on the phone calling for an ambulance.
An ambulance?
Holy shit, this is escalating fast.
“Don’t lose your reputation over me,” I whisper, licking the blood from my mouth. It seems to all be coming from my nose, draining down the back of my throat like snot. Gross. “We might need it to help Parrish.” I whisper this last part while the nurse is talking, and Chas grits his teeth. “If you get suspended, your dad—”
“Okay, okay, just stop talking and try to rest.” He touches his hand gently to the back of my head, the rage and anguish on his face a strange source of joy for me. If the sunflowers weren’t enough, I’d know how Kwang-seon really feels about me.
“Leave Lumen alone for now. Trust me on this.” I flick my attention over to the nurse as she hangs up, and then look back at Chasm. “Promise me.”
He grinds his teeth briefly and mutters under his breath in Korean.
“Fine. But I’m not happy about this, Little Sister.” He leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead before adding something that sounds like an affectionate term in his native tongue. The nurse yells at him again, and he snaps right back in Korean—I think what he said means ‘fuck off’—before stepping outside and slamming the door behind him.
Tess arrives at the hospital not long after I do, fussing needlessly over me as I sit there waiting for the results of my x-rays. The doctor who examined me agreed that I’ve broken at least two fingers.
