Page 36 of Love Lies Bleeding

“Perfect.”

He kisses me deeply when he leaves me at the door to the coffee shop and I feel hope like never before, my steps filled with happiness. I never expected it to crumble into dust like it does.

12. Cherry

I’m hovering on a cloud as I daydream about my date with Jake yesterday instead of listening to Professor Castle talk about the way World War II influenced architecture. I’d woken to a morning text from Jake saying how beautiful I was and how he missed me already and then opened the door to find him holding my favorite blueberry muffin and a vanilla latte in his hand.

We hadn’t had time for more than a quick kiss hello as he was headed to an early lecture but it set me up for the day, knowing he was thinking about me.

“Miss Baker, a word please?”

I glance up from my doodle to find the deputy Dean of the school addressing me. My heart jumps to my throat as I nod and stand to gather my things. Why does he need to speak to me? Is something wrong? Is it my mom or Jake?

Panic grips my windpipe, cutting off air, as I try to force the hammering in my heart to a normal level. “Is something wrong?”

“Follow me.”

His stern response does nothing to temper my racing emotions as I follow him toward the University Hall building where just yesterday it felt like all my dreams had come true. Every thought flies through my head, each one worse than the one before.

My hand is on my phone as I walk my finger moving over the letters as I type a quick text to Jake. I watch the two ticks turn blue to show he’d read my text asking if he was okay and waited for him to type something but he goes offline.

Dread sits like lead in my belly as a dark twisted feeling looms over me like a cancer ready to steal my joy.

“In here.”

I’m ushered inside the Dean’s office, where he sits tall and forbidding behind his desk. My glance flickers to the cabinet where the book I’d been so enraptured with yesterday sits.

“Take a seat, Miss Baker.”

My hand shakes and I curl it into a fist as I lower my bag to the floor and take the seat he indicated. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes, Miss Baker. Something is very wrong.”

“Is it my mom?” The thought of losing my last remaining parent makes me want to throw up there and then.

“No, Miss Baker. As far as I am aware your mother is perfectly fine.”

“Then what is it?”

The Dean clenches his hands in front of him on the desk as he regards me down his nose. “Yesterday afternoon, the exam paper for The Art of Gothic Architecture was stolen from this room.”

My entire body loses all feeling as the unspoken accusation sits on the desk between us.

“Would you happen to know anything about that?”

I swallow the bile rushing up my throat and shake my head. “No. I have no idea.”

Deny, deny, deny that was all I can do. I know I hadn’t taken that paper, but I was sure nobody else would believe me.

The Dean turns his monitor toward me and presses a button on his keyboard.

“Then would you care to explain this?”

I watch in absolute horror as the camera shows me standing by the table hunched over a book before I turn and walk to the Dean’s desk and jimmy the lock. No, that isn’t right. Yes, I’d been in here and looked at the book but I’d never gone near the desk. My fingernails dig into my palms as I watch myself open the drawer and take out a large envelope before shoving it into my jacket and leaving.

I look up at the man across from me, who holds not a single flicker of sympathy on his weathered face.

“This isn’t right. I didn’t do this.”

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