"I wouldn't recommend shaking a guy with serious injuries," Jaiden muttered.
She didn't shake him, but she wasn't gentle either.
"Owen, wake up," she said, squeezing his hand.
The guy hadn't reacted to the light, but he opened his eyes after hearing her words. Thank heavens, she thought, staring into his pale face. She'd never seen him look more exhausted.
"Annamarie…" Owen groaned.
"Hey, Owen." Tears threatened to fall. Stupid emotions. Why couldn't she be stoic?
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Owen asked. "Like an angel."
Her cheeks burned. She'd never known he saw her like that.
"Thank you." She bit her bottom lip. "Listen, Owen, I hate to do this to you now, but I need to know what you were going to tell me at school."
The words seemed to rouse Owen from whatever stupor he was in. The guy sat up, his eyes bulging from his head.
"Oh, oh, oh." He shuddered every time he said "Oh." The heart rate monitor picked up speed.
"Easy." She rubbed his arm. She didn't want to give him a heart attack or something.
"I heard them talking," Owen muttered. "The two of them."
"The two of them?" Her heart was racing. "Who?"
"The two people that are stalking you." A line of drool trickled down Owen's chin.
Daniel grunted in impatience, but to his credit, he held his tongue. Owen's eyelids drooped. She was running out of time. Panic made her blood rush.
"Their names," she said. "Please tell me you remember their names."
"Names?" Owen shut his eyes slowly.
"Names, Owen." She squeezed his arm again. It took all of the self-control not to shake him like Daniel had suggested.
"It was Nathan," Owen muttered.
Crap. I knew that already.
"And who else, Owen?" she demanded. "Who else?"
He gurgled feebly for a moment. What if he didn't tell her?
"Owen, please!" she cried.
"Bridget," Owen finally said.
Owen's eyes shut and he didn't speak anymore.
Bridget? She looked to Daniel, stunned and appalled. Nobody else in the room mattered. The guy reached for her and pulled her into his arms.
"This is all a lot clearer now." Daniel clutched her. "Let's go back to campus. Annamarie and I need to see Mrs. Carmichael."
****
Annamarie stared out the window as Daniel pulled into his parking space. After she climbed out of the car, Daniel was at her side within seconds. Jaiden and Boris had to forcibly extract themselves from the tiny backseat.
"I can't believe I didn't remember this before, but I saw Bridget and Nathan talking a couple of weeks ago. I thought the two of them were dating," she said. "I'm so stupid. How could I not have remembered that?"
She pounded her forehead with her fist. Before she could land the third blow, Daniel seized her arm and stopped her.
"Don't injure yourself," Daniel said. "It's not your fault."
"Why the heck would Bridget do all of this?" she asked. "I mean I stepped on her scarf, but so what? I'd only traded insults if she started the argument first."
Jaiden cleared his throat from behind them.
"We call Bridget Captain Crazy for a reason," Jaiden said. "She's always stalked Dan, but we sort of just ignored it."
"Of course, I never thought she'd go this far," Daniel said. "She was annoying but harmless.
"You've never been interested in anyone before Annamarie, though." Jaiden's voice was tense as he spoke the words. "It must have made her snap."
"Wait a second," Annamarie said. "I'm not sure she did all of this. After Owen was pushed down the stairs, she was crying. The girl was obviously upset."
"You saw her?" Daniel asked.
"The girl ran right into me," she said. "She was hard to miss. I think she was blubbering worse than I was."
"I can only hope she's still on campus," Daniel said. "At any rate, we really have to talk to Mrs. Carmichael right away."
Annamarie checked her watch.
"I doubt the principal is here now," she said. "It's four o'clock in the morning."
"Do you think Mrs. Carmichael would leave a bunch of coed students alone together all night?" he asked. "She and some of the other teachers have rooms here on campus. Mrs. Carmichael lives right above her office. I doubt she's going to be overly excited to see us this early, but once we explain what's going on, I'm sure she'll understand."
"And it's not like she'd expel you anyway."
Daniel could harpoon somebody in the head and still get away with it.
"While you talk to the principal, I'm going to look for Bridget," Jaiden said. "I know where her dorm room is because I saw her when I was looking for Annamarie. I hope I can persuade her to come to the office to fess up."
"You do that." Daniel nodded in agreement.
"Be careful." She didn't like the idea of Jaiden going into the bear's cave all alone.
"I will." Jaiden squeezed her shoulder.
After Jaiden headed in the direction of the girls' dorm, she followed Daniel and Boris into the main school building. The lights were off and everything looked bleak and haunted. She wouldn't have been surprised if a ghost streaked across her path…Or worse yet, Nathan.
She balled her fists, ready for a fight. No way was she letting anything get her down. She was concentrating so hard on the idea of a potential fight that she didn't notice Daniel had stopped and accidentally plowed right into him.
"Ouch," she said. "What are you doing?"
"The way to Mrs. Carmichael's room is this way." He turned left and she followed, muttering under her breath.
Unlike the rest of the hallways, this one was illuminated by a golden light. She'd never been back this way before, likely because it wasn't a place where classes were held. She peered around Daniel and saw an unmarked door. When he reached it, he knocked hard. A few minutes passed and the sound of scuffling came from inside. The door opened with an ominous squeak and Mrs. Carmichael stuck her head through the opening.
The woman had her hair in curlers and wore a mint green facemask. She didn't look nearly as intimidating as she normally did. If the situation had been less serious, Annamarie might have laughed.
"I need to talk to you," Daniel said.
"I should have listened to my mother and stuck with being a librarian," Mrs. Carmichael muttered under her breath.
"It's important," Daniel said.
Mrs. Carmichael barked, "Fine. Let's go to my office."
She opened the door and marched down the hall. Annamarie followed behind the woman, staring at her skinny grey legs that looked like they'd never seen sun a day in their life. Mrs. Carmichael opened the door to her office and everyone filed inside. The woman let out a deep sigh and then settled behind her desk, grumbling.
"What is it now?" Mrs. Carmichael asked. "Please tell me it's good news. If Ms. Chadwick has lit the school on fire or caused some other mischief, I'm not sure my heart can take it."
"Hey," Annamarie cried. "I didn't do anything."
Not this time, anyway.
"I'm here because I have news. Nathan and Bridget had some sort of deal," Daniel said. "Bridget was the one who has been trying to hurt Annamarie."
Mrs. Carmichael went rigid in her seat.
"You mean that odd girl that tried to get me to approve a fan club based on you and some of the other boys at school?" Mrs. Carmichael puckered her lips. "I always thought that was an odd, indecent thing to want to do. I disapproved at once."
"Well, she went ahead with it anyway." Daniel wrapped an arm around Annamarie's shoulder. "It seems she dislikes my relationship with Annamarie and has been trying to sabotage us."
"Hmmm." Mrs. Carmichael groaned. "Kids these days. This never would have happened when I went to school. At any rate, I'll have to send for her. She'll be expelled, just like that Nathan boy. We'll see about formal charges too. This is a musical school for refined ladies and
gentlemen. I will not allow this type of behavior to go on. If that young lady had focused on her music like she was supposed to, none of this would have happened."
"My thoughts exactly." Daniel's jaw tensed. "Jaiden is already attempting to bring Bridget here."
"I can only hope she'll tell the truth about what she's done." Mrs. Carmichael wrinkled her nose. "This situation will only be made worse by lying."
"I don't know how Bridget will react." Daniel's jaw tensed. "She's pretty psycho."
"At any rate, we'll find out soon enough." Mrs. Carmichael turned her hawk-like gaze on Annamarie. "Ms. Chadwick?"
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Why was it as soon as the woman fixed her beady gaze on her, she immediately felt like she was in trouble?
"Yeah?" she said.
"It's 'Yes, Mrs. Carmichael,' remember?" the woman said. "I see you haven't made much improvement in your mannerisms since you came to this school. I've heard nothing but strings of complaints from the teachers about you."
"Yes, Mrs. Carmichael," she echoed, fighting to keep her temper under control.
I will not explode, she chanted inside of her head. It was harder than normal to maintain her self-control. Probably because she'd had only a couple hours of sleep and was running on adrenaline and sheer spite.
"I wanted to inform you that your father has been notified of all the recent problems with Nathan Dawson and Bridget Winters," Mrs. Carmichael said. "I've been trying to reach Mr. Chadwick for the past week after I was told what was happening to you. I finally managed to reach him last night. He seemed stunned to hear the news. I'm surprised you didn't think to call your family to alert them of your hardships."
"What?" She had no idea how her parent would react. "You called my dad?"
Her poor dad had more than enough going on at the moment. He didn't need to hear about this.
"You shouldn't be shocked by the fact I called him," Mrs. Carmichael said. "It's my duty as a school facilitator to inform your guardian that there are problems at school."
"What did he say?" She exchanged worried looks with Daniel. Judging by the guy's shocked expression, he hadn't known that Mrs. Carmichael called her dad either.
"He reported that he'll cancel his engagements and will fly down this week to collect you. He's removing you from the academy," Mrs. Carmichael said. "I can't say I blame him. I'm not proud of how this incident reflects on the school. I'm aware that Mr. Chadwick sent you here to keep you safe. Instead you're in more trouble than you would have been with him. I offered your father my sincerest condolences, but that was not enough. He insisted you leave the academy at once."
It was like an anvil had been dropped on her heart. She staggered backward and ran straight into Daniel who steadied her.
"My dad is coming to take me home?" she asked, her voice soft.
Daniel made a sound like a strangled cat.
"Yes." Mrs. Carmichael let out a sigh and nodded.
"He can't do that!" Daniel yelled.
"He very well can." Mrs. Carmichael turned her unyielding gaze on Daniel. "He's her guardian. If he wants his daughter taken out of the school, then he has one hundred percent right to do so."
As the color drained out of Daniel's face, her insides burned. It was like she'd swallowed a whole bucket of acid. She looked at Daniel and thought, This is for the best, isn't it? If I leave, then Jaiden and Daniel will remain friends. Yet no matter how much it was for the greater good, she was shocked by the amount of heartache she endured.
"You're being surprisingly quiet about all of this, Ms. Chadwick." Mrs. Carmichael eyeballed her curiously. "From your behavior at school, I assumed you weren't thrilled to be here."
"I don't know what to think," she admitted, scratching the back of her head. "With everything else that's going on, I never saw this coming."
"There's got to be something you can do." Daniel marched forward and slammed his hands on Mrs. Carmichael's desk in his frustration. "You can make it so her father can't take Annamarie away, can't you? Maybe pull some strings or something?"
"There's nothing I can do," Mrs. Carmichael said.
"My father will remove you from—"
"This has nothing to do with my duty as a principal." Mrs. Carmichael stood up, her face pink with outrage. "Don't you dare dangle your father in front of me again, boy."
Even Daniel stilled at the harshness of the woman's voice.
"But Annamarie can't leave." Daniel's voice was laced with pain. "I won't let her."
"Don't you think I'd also like for Ms. Chadwick to stay?" Mrs. Carmichael said.
"You want me to stay?" Annamarie wouldn't have been more surprised if the older woman had given her a sudden hug.
"Of course I would," Mrs. Carmichael said. "Since you have some unique traits, you've brought diversity to this school. You may be troublesome, but you're also forthright and tenacious. These are traits to be respected; however, as I said, there is nothing I can do about the decisions of a parent."
Silence overwhelmed the room. She knew her father was almost as stubborn as she was, but if she threatened to unleash a rebellious hell on him, he might let her stay at the academy. The only problem was could she do that if she truly cared about Daniel? She glanced at the boy at her side. Crap, crap, crap. She started hitting herself on the head with her fists again.
"Stop that." Daniel seized her wrists. "You're going to destroy brain cells and you have too few of them as it is."
She punched him in the arm.
"Who has too few brain cells?" she asked.
Daniel opened his mouth to argue when somebody knocked on the door.
"Mrs. Carmichael?" Jaiden said from outside the door.
"Jay!" Daniel cried, stopping their fight in its tracks.
"Come in, Mr. King," Mrs. Carmichael said.
The door burst open and Jaiden came inside with Bridget following behind him. If Annamarie thought she'd looked bad that afternoon, it was nothing compared to now. Her face was pasty and dark circles were under her eyes. If somebody added blood to the girl's face, she'd be the perfect addition to a zombie movie.
"Bridget Winters." Mrs. Carmichael glared at the quivering girl, showing no mercy. "So it was you who started all of this trouble. What do you have to say for yourself?"
To Annamarie's immense surprise, Bridget let out a sob and turned her swollen, blotchy face toward her.
"I'm sorry." A tear trickled down Bridget's cheek. "It wasn't supposed to go this far."
Bridget seized her hand and held on so tight it hurt.
"Hey, let go of me," Annamarie said.
"I'm so sorry." Instead of letting go, Bridget threw herself at her. "I didn't want you to die. I just wanted you to leave the school so Daniel would be mine and I'd—"
"I'll never be yours," Daniel interjected.
"—be happy again." Bridget trembled. "I didn't know Nathan was going to try to kill you or that he'd push that boy down the stairs. It wasn't meant to happen."
Bridget let out another sob. The girl may have been an egotistical, psycho brat, but Annamarie couldn't work up the urge to punch her in the face anymore.
"Fine," Annamarie said. "I'm not saying I forgive you, but I guess I'll let it go."
Dang, was she nice or what? Bridget sniffled.
"What?" Daniel sounded outraged. "After everything she did to you?"
"You heard her," she said. "She was trying to make me leave the school, not kill me."
"She's obviously making up a sob story to get herself out of trouble," Daniel cried. "Aren't you the karate queen? Threaten to strangle her or something."
There was no use showing outrage toward someone who was doing a pretty good job at punishing herself.
"I don't need to," she said.
Besides, strangling Bridget would be like trying to crush the skull of a half-drowned, diseased rat.
"Man…" Daniel muttered.
"Don't be so angry, Mr. Marino." Mrs. Carmichael crossed her arms. "Ms
. Winters will still be expelled from his academy."
"Yes, Ma'am." Bridget hung her head in shame.
"As you know, this is a matter that should be taken to the police," Mrs. Carmichael said. "Just because Ms. Chadwick is showing humanity doesn't mean I have to. You could have gotten somebody killed because of your foolishness. Like Mr. Dawson, you're eighteen and old enough to be given formal charges."
"Please don't!" Bridget's face was paler than a bed of freshly fallen snow. "My father is a politician. Something like this could ruin him. He'd never forgive me."
"If you tell us everything—and I mean everything—then I will simply expel you," Mrs. Carmichael said. "If you hold anything back, I will press charges. Do you understand me?"
"Y-yes, Ma'am." Bridget's teeth chattered.
"Very well." Mrs. Carmichael waved her hand. "Start from the beginning."
The girl nodded, wringing her hands. Even Daniel looked like he pitied her a little.
"Well, I didn't like Annamarie from the moment I met her. She had this way of getting under my skin. I didn't truly loathe her, though, until I heard a rumor that she and Daniel were, well, dating." Her fists clenched at her sides. "I've been watching Daniel for the past three years. He always pushed me away, but I thought if I was persistent, he'd like me eventually. He never went out with another girl, so it wasn't like I had competition. The fact he'd suddenly date a girl like her—"
Annamarie winced because Bridget made her sound like she was a mutant who oozed pus out of her eyeballs.
"—was completely repulsive. I mean, I'd understand if it was a girl who was smart or beautiful, but Annamarie isn't like that. The only thing she has going for her is a family name and even that is being trashed right now. I just didn't get it. I decided that if she left the school, then my life would go back to normal. The problem was, I'm not stealthy, so I had to find somebody to help me. I knew that Nathan Dawson was hard up for cash. I heard he'd gotten into some trouble with some bad guys and that his mother refused to give him money, so I told him I'd sell off one of my designer purses and give him what I got for it in return for him helping me out. He agreed." Bridget shivered, her eyes sparkling with tears. "At first, he did what he was supposed to do. He followed Annamarie around and made her uncomfortable. Then he tried to kill her for the first time by throwing a flower pot out a window. I remember the look on his face when he told me about it. His expression was so cynical and twisted. I've met a lot of weirdos in my time, but never anyone like him. I told Nathan to stop, but he said he was just doing what I asked him to do. We ended up fighting, but he still wouldn't listen to me."
Sweet Harmony Page 21
