Chapter 16

“Now, Miss Chambliss,” the nurse said in a kind, but authoritative voice, “you and I are going to have a talk.”

I took another sip on my straw. I was in trouble. Besides having an annoying tendency to faint when shocked out of my wits, there was nothing physically wrong with me. But if I couldn’t convince Ms. Yu-Adams of that, I was going to wind up wasting a huge amount of time in various medical offices, and I could afford to lose no time at all.

I had progressed to sitting up now, having been propped up comfortably with pillows, and the room was no longer spinning. The nurse had fed me a fortifying series of high-protein, high-carb snacks and watched me like a hawk while I chewed and swallowed the lot of them. I’d been thoroughly rehydrated with water and was now working on my second miniature juice box. She had already advised my mother over the phone that my stats were satisfactory and that there was no obvious need to rush me to the ER. But she was in no hurry to send me back to class, either.

“Why didn’t you have any breakfast this morning?” Ms. Yu-Adams asked. “You knew it was a big day today.”

“I wasn’t hungry,” I said truthfully. My appetite had disappeared on Saturday night, right along with a big chunk of my sanity, and neither was likely to return as long as Matt was in danger.

“What about when you passed out the first time? Had you eaten that day?”

“Of course. I had a burger for dinner. And then we had popcorn. And a float. I totally pigged out — I’m sure that’s what upset my stomach.”

“People don’t pass out from having an upset stomach, Lacey,” the nurse replied in a practical tone. Her eyebrows lifted slightly, and her dark eyes pierced into mine, almost as if daring me to tell her the truth. I had a sudden, alarming revelation.

Oh. So that’s where her questions were going.

“Have you been trying to lose weight lately?” she asked.

My lips pursed. How aggravating. Being okay with not being skinny was challenging enough. It didn’t help to have people assume from looking at me that I wouldn’t be.

Gee, thanks.

“Actually, I don’t want you to answer that just yet,” she amended as I opened my mouth to protest. “I want you to know that I’ve been at this job for a very long time, and I promise you, I’ve seen it all. Fainting isn’t something to take lightly, Lacey. Your body is trying to tell you that it won’t put up with being starved. Or being overfed and then purged, either one…”

My cheeks were on fire with indignation, but as her lecture continued and my brain tuned out, it also happened on a splendid idea. If Ms. Yu-Adams wanted to think that I was anorexic or bulimic, why not let her? After all, either one would conveniently explain my symptoms. And if I pretended to have seen the light, then all I’d have to do to avoid further medical hassles was eat normally. How hard was that?

The nurse droned on for a good ten minutes. Then she tucked a bunch of pamphlets in my backpack, took the whole thing hostage back to her office, and suggested I try to take a nap.

I decided not to argue. I hadn’t slept well last night, and the calories I’d just stuffed into me were the most I’d consumed in the last two days. I felt reasonably confident that Matt would be okay during the school day, since in my vision he had appeared to be outside under a cloudy sky. He also, I reminded myself every other minute, had not been flashing either time I saw the sepia tones. Besides, if I slept now, I would be more alert later in the day, right?

I must have been more exhausted than I realized, because the next thing I was aware of was the smell of pizza wafting under my nose. “Time to wake up, Miss Chambliss,” the nurse announced in a loud voice. “You need to eat something before the cafeteria closes down.”

I sat up feeling panicked. Was Matt okay? I looked around frantically, only just managing to stop myself from asking Ms. Yu-Adams if he was still alive. I had to calm down. My appearing unbalanced would not help anybody. “What time is it?” I asked instead.

“Time for lunch,” she answered. “You had a nice, long nap. See how your body rewards you for feeding it properly?”

“I slept all morning?” I cried.

She smiled at me. “You did, and you needed the rest. Your friends tried to see you, but I wouldn’t let them disturb you.”

“But I have to get back to—”

The nurse held up a hand. “You eat everything on that tray, Miss Chambliss, and keep it down, and I will happily release you. You look a hundred percent better already.”

I studied the food that someone had carted over from the cafeteria: soggy cheese pizza and overcooked broccoli. It looked vile, but I didn’t care. It was my ticket back to normal. I finished it all and sat out Ms. Yu-Adams’s obligatory waiting period for proper digestion. Then at the next bell I reclaimed my backpack and hustled out.

I looked for Matt as I walked to my next class, but didn’t see him. Everyone else I saw either smiled at me and asked if I was all right or gaped at me like a corpse raised from the dead. Since I was the last person I wanted anyone to pay attention to, both reactions were aggravating. When I reached the appropriate room, I dodged inside and took a seat in the far back corner, hoping to minimize the number of people who could stare at me.

My head was thoroughly buried in a blank notebook when someone pulled out a chair and sat down at the table next to me. “Hello, hero,” came a terribly familiar, silky tenor voice. Despite the words, the tone wasn’t sarcastic. It was warm and sweet and admiring.

I looked over to see a pair of liquid brown eyes. Their dark centers twinkled at me, and a pretty face smiled shyly. It was Ty.

Fabulous. This was all I needed. “Hello,” I replied automatically.

His smile grew broader. “Long time, no see. I hear you’ve had a pretty exciting week.”

“You could say that,” I responded numbly. Why was he here? It took me a second to remember that we were in Creative Writing, a class we had actually planned to take together. We hadn’t had a class together in years now, mainly because mine were on a higher academic track. I hadn’t given any thought to seeing him today, but I should have. He wouldn’t drop a class just because we broke up. Particularly not this one, which he’d been looking forward to. It was so popular only seniors could get into it, and Ty had always enjoyed creative writing.

“So how was your summer?” he asked amicably. “Working at the pool and everything?”

I studied him. He seemed reasonably relaxed and, to my surprise, genuinely happy to see me. We hadn’t laid eyes on each other in two and a half months, since the night I broke up with him and walked out of his house, nor had we exchanged a single text. It was weird to talk to him now like we were just casual friends catching up. But then, how else should we talk? I had expected to feel bitter when I saw him. Strangely, I didn’t feel much of anything.

“The pool was okay,” I answered, grateful to talk about anything besides the Makani episode. “Half the staff quit by the end, so I got lots of overtime hours. Not much free time, though.”

“Yeah, I hear that,” he said pleasantly. Then he squirmed in his chair a little. Someone else might not notice the significance of the motion, but I knew Ty’s every quirk, and I could tell he’d gotten nervous. “So, you’re dating Austin now?”

I fought back a smile. Poor Ty. He was trying so hard to sound nonchalant, but his voice had practically squeaked on the name. Two months ago I would have paid money to hear that. Now it only seemed pathetic. “No,” I answered flatly. “Not anymore.” I thought about saying that we’d broken up, but the truth was that we were never really “together” in the first place.

“Oh,” he said with surprise.

His surprise surprised me. “Didn’t Matt tell you that?”

He gave a careless shrug. “Haven’t talked to him.”

An awkward silence descended. I looked hopefully at the teacher, but she was engrossed in a discussion with some other students. The bell had already rung, but everybody was still talking.

“I’m not really dating anybody right now, either,” Ty announced.

I shot a look at him out of the corner of my eye. He wasn’t looking back at me. His gaze was roaming randomly around the room while he drummed the butt of his pencil on the tabletop. Definitely nervous.

How did he expect me to react to that? Was I supposed to be relieved? Was I relieved?

I did a quick inventory of my emotions. Nope. No relief. No nothing. He seemed to be waiting for me to ask him a follow-up question, but whatever had happened with “the girl from work,” I was amazingly uncurious about it. “So how was your summer?” I asked instead.

He shrugged again. “Kind of boring. I worked a lot.”

The teacher still showed no signs of starting the class. “So how’s the ten-year plan coming?” I teased, steering us back into relatively safe territory. “Any recent alterations or adjustments?”

He relaxed and cracked a playful grin at me, and for a second it seemed like old times. But I can’t say it was a happy second. The “old times” feeling was weird now. It felt like a weight on my shoulders. “Well, yeah, maybe a few,” he answered. “I’m leaning away from college on the mainland. I’m thinking I’ll just do community college here; save some money. Then maybe go to California later.”

I blinked. I had known for a while that Ty’s plans of getting into a major university out of state were a pipe dream. He’d let his grades slip too low for a scholarship and his parents were hardly wealthy. Community college made sense for him, but I was surprised to hear him realize that. Encouraged, but surprised. Ty had never been the practical sort. “Sounds reasonable,” I replied.

He smiled back at me, seeming relieved. “Actually, I’m thinking of opening my own pizza shop.”

I faked a smile back. No, Ty wasn’t getting more practical. The guy had zero patience with any kind of paperwork and he’d always hated math. But worrying about when and how he would ultimately get disillusioned wasn’t my responsibility anymore, was it? “That’s nice.”

The puppy dog eyes lit up like candles, and his smile turned tender. “I’ve missed you, Lace.”

Holy crap. What was I supposed to say to that? Had I missed him, too? Honestly?

I’d missed the security of having a boyfriend. I wasn’t used to being alone, and I didn’t care for it. But any security I thought I’d had with Ty at the end was nothing but an illusion, and I’d never had any security with Austin. Had I missed Ty for himself?

The truth was… not really. I missed the old Ty sometimes. But this one was a different person. Not a horrible person, despite what I might have thought about him in the heat of the breakup. He was a decent guy, a nice enough guy. But did I want to date him again?

Hell, no!

I guess I waited too long to answer, because Ty wisely moved on. “So, what do you think about all this hurricane talk? Is it freaking you out?”

“I only heard about it this morning,” I admitted. As glad as I was that he’d changed the subject, I wished he’d changed it to something else.

“Seriously? Where have you been?” he cried. “I hope they cancel school. I could use a whole day to chill, man. It’s been ages since I just hung out, you know?”

“I guess you and Matt didn’t get to Kaena Point this summer, then?” I asked. Hiking to Kaena Point had always been a ritual for the two of them. The westernmost tip of Oahu was rugged and isolated and could only be reached by foot, and they’d always enjoyed the challenge of making the hot, roughly three-hour hike at the least hospitable time of year.

Ty looked at me strangely. He gave a snort and a half shrug. “I haven’t seen that dude all summer.”

“Okay, settle down now, everybody!” the teacher called out. But my mind was elsewhere. Wait… Ty and Matt hadn’t seen each other all summer? Why not?

I supposed they’d both been too busy. I’d hardly seen Matt myself, after all. I shot a look at Ty as a stack of handouts made its way through the room. I thought I was being covert, but he seemed to know that I was looking at him, and he caught my eye with a flirty, knowing smirk.

A very strange feeling hammered my insides. Whether he was stage-struck by all the attention I was getting right now, or whether there was something deeper to it, I didn’t know.

But Ty hadn’t given up on us.