Heartstrings

Chapter 14: Surrender

Jake's Perspective

When Emma was late for calculus, a part of me felt kind of smug. I was pretty proud of my romantic gesture today - it had taken me at least three hours to plan and set up, and I was sure she'd walk into class smiling any second.

Five minutes went by and I pumped my leg eagerly - but as five more ticked by, my brows furrowed and I began to sweat nervously. Something didn't feel right.

I looked at Mr. Howard as he droned on and on about trig functions until I finally raised my hand and asked to go to the bathroom. The second my foot stepped out the door, I began jogging through the halls looking for her. As I rounded the corner to the hallway where our lockers were located, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Emma was sprawled out on the floor, her locker still open, the card in her hand. I ran to her -

- Emma? Emma!!

I knelt down and flipped her from her stomach onto her back.

- Hey. Emma! Can you hear me?

My fingers found her pulse - and thank God it was normal. Her skin was clammy, though, so I looked around and located a bathroom nearby.

I put my letter between my lips, picked her up carefully, and nudged her locker door closed with my foot. I carried her into the girls bathroom and set her down on the floor. Panicking, I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her and then searched through my bag for a bottle of water.

- J... Jake...

I turned sharply when I heard her say my name -

- Emma? Emma, I'm here.

But she was still unconscious. Finally, I located some water and brought it over to her. "Now what?" I thought helplessly, "I can't just dump water down her throat while she's unconscious - she'll drown." I put my backpack under her knees, propping her legs up higher and poured a few drops on her forehead slowly.

After the longest two minutes of my life, she groaned and furrowed her eyebrows.

- Emma?

She groaned again and I used my fingers to comb her hair backwards away from her face.

- Hey, can you hear me?

- Yeah, you won't shut up.

She grumbled and I chuckled before letting out a huge sigh of relief as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked around at the bathroom in confusion -

- What... the hell happened? Why are we in here?

- Um... you were passed out on the floor in the hallway... I was kind of hoping you could tell me what happened.

- Well. I don't know.

She slowly sat upright and leaned against the wall. I looked over at the bathroom door and went over and locked it for good measure.

- Did anybody see?

- What? No. No one saw. Just me. You weren't in class and I... was really worried.

- Oh.

- Did you eat this morning?

- Like breakfast?

- That is what people typically eat in the mornings.

- Well... no.

- No? Emma, when was the last time you ate?

- I don't know... lunch? Yesterday? I didn't feel well last night.

- Dude. You can't do that.