Chapter 32 32
Kimberly’s POV
I concentrated on the book in front of me as if the words would somehow enter my skull. But there was nothing. My grip on the pen tightened and I tried to concentrate again. I regretted forgetting my AirPods at home today. The noise was annoying to me. I could go to the library, but my next class was in a couple of minutes. And I do not want to skip class.
The mid-semester test is coming up quite fast and I knew I had to buckle down and get my game up. I’m not stupid, I just don’t care to put in the effort.
“Hey, you.” Someone said and I looked up at the person. It was a random girl in the class. Well, not entirely random. Everyone knew who she was. Sandy. She was like a queen bee here, and I was shocked that when I got here, she didn't bully me. Only looks at me like I was the dirt under her shoe and totally ignores me. And that was perfectly fine by me. I was not interested in being on her radar, either.
“What do you want?” I asked her without thinking twice. She dropped down into the chair that was empty in front of me, placing her very manicured hands on the handle.
“Don’t be rude now. This is a peaceful meeting.” She said with a creepy smile that did not reach her eyes and I snorted.
“I don’t think that.” I closed the book in front of me and placed my hands on it, folded.
“Alright then. I like how smart you are. So I’ll go straight to the point.” She said and I cocked my head to the side. What does she even mean by that? All the smile she had on her face was gone and replacing it was a crappy expression.
“I want you to stay away from London.” She said it simply, as if it were that easy to do. If I were in the mood, I would burst into a fit of laughter. But I was not in the best of moods at the moment. Not after last night.
I leaned forward, “Sandy, if you look very well and very properly, you would see that I do not parade myself around the boy you just mentioned. I do not care about him one bit. So, how about you up your game to get him and stop blaming me for whatever is going on with you?” I said all in one breath. There was a woah sound all over the class. That was when I knew that there was a kind of silence. Not complete, but for the people around to actually hear our conversation.
I could see the way her cheeks reddened in anger but she did not seem fazed. In fact, it was like she was expecting my answer. So instead, she leaned forward to me too and replied,
“That’s exactly the problem. I know all of the things you have told me. I see that you're not the one frolicking around him like some other girls. But you intrigue him and that’s the problem. That’s a very big problem for me. Whatever you’re doing to make him want to be around you or give you your attention, you'd better stop it. Otherwise, you will regret it.” She said in a low scary tone. Somehow, I could tell that she was not lying about the threat.
Sandy was not an airhead like all the other girls that I’ve met. Especially ones that term themselves as queen bees or the main girls in the school she does not have friends, which was weird as fuck. She stays by herself almost like Julian.
Yeah, that was it. She reminded me extensively of Julian. The way her eyes were almost dead as if she did not have any emotions at all.
“Look, your threats are not going to work on me. So how about you stay away from me and I would do the same?”
“I don’t want you staying away from me. I want you away from London. If you don’t know it, I really want him. He’s mine. Do you understand? And if you think I’m joking around, you won’t like what I would do. I know about your bullying streak from the other school you came from. And I can actually instigate people to start bullying you here again. I’m sure you would not want that right?” She said into my ear to avoid people from hearing what she said.
She was creepy and scary as fuck. I felt my heart beating very fast, so fast that it almost hurt. And that’s a bad sign especially for my health.
“I’m sure you won’t do that given your health right?” She asked me and pulled away with a sweet smile on her face. Fear gripped me as she spoke. How did she know about my health issues? No one knows. At least not here.
Somehow I think I saw her eyes go to my chest as if she was looking directly into my chest. But it was a fleeting thing that I almost felt like it was my head playing games with me.
“Alright, Kimberly. See you around.” She stood up and waltzed back to her seat which was in front of Julian. Chills washed through me.
My usually cold skin was extremely cold right now. I could feel my palms getting clammy and I was getting short of breath. The usual feeling when an attack was about to come. I closed my eyes and tried to regulate my breathing.
It’s been a long time since I had a heart attack. And somehow, I was thankful and even hopeful that maybe I would not have one again. But the signs are coming again and I hated that it was because of a trivial matter like this.
I tried to toughen up. I was a strong girl. Even if my life has been teetering on the edge since my last heart surgery which would be the last ever one I would have since the doctors said that I can’t have another heart transplant because of how weak my body has become.
I begged my parents to let me have cosmetic surgery to remove the long scar line in the middle of my chest. I wanted to be able to wear what I wanted in my ridiculously short life.
Another heart attack would mean me not being in school for a couple of days and being in a hospital bed. And I won’t be able to work that part-time job that I wanted to argue with my parents about.
After a while, I was able to regulate the way I was breathing. I opened my eyes and they were locked on Julian who was staring intently at me. He did not act like he was shocked about being caught.
Just then, our science teacher entered.
For the rest of the class, I was not able to concentrate on anything. My focus was getting myself to be okay and breathe well through my nose and make sure that my heart rate goes down which was hard anytime I got into binding situations like this.
Her threat came back again and shivers ran down my spine. Looking at her, she looked like a normal rich girl but with a kind of sophisticated aura. Most of the high school girls I have met were tacky and cliché. But not her. If she were outside, she could pass as an adult and I’m not even joking about that. But then, she still looks like a high school student.
“Alright everyone,” the teacher’s voice caught in my own thoughts and I looked up at her. My gaze flashed to the clock that was sitting on top of the board in the middle and I discovered that she was almost done with the class. She had a couple of minutes left. Wow. I spent the whole class deep in my own thoughts. There goes my academic comeback.
“My favorite part of the term is here. You all know that your midterm tests will start soon. But in the next two weeks, you will be saddled with lab work to do. And you will be in pairs not in groups like you’re normally used to.” The class groaned about their discomfort with the system but the woman did not seem fazed by it.
“Just so you know, this is half of your midterm test. So you might as well take it seriously.” That caught everyone’s attention and they kept quiet. “I’ll start calling the names as it is paired here.”
She went on and when I heard my name, my ears shuddered.
“Kimberly Blackwood and London Ashford.”
White noise rumbled in my ear. It was like the universe was against me. I had decided to stay away from London personally, and there was a threat against me just an hour ago to stay away from the guy.
Why am I paired up with him for the next two weeks?
I felt the person beside me stand up and the familiar body heat of London engulfed me and I legit wanted to throw up.
“Hey partner.” I felt his hand around my neck.
I looked up like I was being shocked only to see Julian and Sandy looking at me. And there was nothing nice about the way they were staring.