Michele Campbell - She Was the Quiet One

If there was a doubt in Bel’s mind that Heath knew her feelings, and maybe even felt something in return, it was put to rest the day she blew out her knee during practice. It happened just a couple of days after the moment that their eyes met in class. (Bel was still floating from that.) They were out for a six-mile run, the trails slick from days of rain. The weather had turned dramatically colder. Bel was running by herself, wondering when Heath would catch up with her, when her foot flew out from under her on a steep, icy stretch of trail. She hurtled downward, trying desperately to arrest her fall, and landed hard against a granite outcropping with her leg twisted underneath her. A bolt of pain shot through her right knee, so bad that it took her breath away.

Lucy Ogunwe, one of the faster girls on the team, came up to Bel from behind, and bent over her, panting.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked.

Tears flooded Bel’s eyes. She was too stunned to reply.

“No worries, Donovan’s right behind,” Lucy said, nodding toward the trail above. “Hey, Coach, Enright fell,” Lucy called out to him. “I think she’s hurt.”

Heath ran up to them, taking in Bel, crumpled on the ground, clutching her knee, the sheen of ice all around her.

“Do me a favor,” he said to Lucy. “Go back and tell the girls behind you that there’s an ice patch here. Tell them to slow it down to a walk. Stay safe.”

“Got it,” Lucy said, and set off in the direction Bel had come from.

Through a scrim of pain, Bel realized that Heath had just sent Lucy away. They were alone now. He knelt down beside her.

“Where does it hurt?” he asked, tenderness in his voice.

“My knee.”

“Can you sit up and lean back against the rock? Here, let me help you,” he said.

Heath put his hands on her waist and gently lifted her to a sitting position. The motion tweaked her knee, and she cried out.

“Did I hurt you? I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said.

The endearment was too much for Bel. Something came loose inside her. As Heath bent over her, his face mere inches from hers, his eyelashes wet with rain, she reached out and laid her hand on his cheek.

“I love you,” she said.

He stopped dead, looking at her so intently that she felt like he must see straight into her soul.

“Are you part of that ridiculous game? I know about it, you know. I’d be very disappointed in you, Bel.”

Despite his words, Heath didn’t move away, or shake off her hand. The warmth of his cheek under her cold fingers spurred her on.

“Never,” she said, her words tumbling out in a rush. “I hate those girls. They’re childish. What I feel for you is real, Heath. It’s not a game. I know you feel it, too. Please, tell me you do.”

His eyes, as they locked on hers, were troubled. “I’m married. You’re a kid. You’re my student. It can’t be,” he said.

That wasn’t a denial. He wanted her. She could see it in his eyes. Bel’s lips parted, and she leaned in, desperate to feel his mouth on hers.

“Tessa,” Heath said, snapping back abruptly.

Tessa Romano had just come over the top of the hill. Tessa was the sturdy redhead with freckles and a potty mouth who’d caused so much trouble in Bel’s relationship with Rose. Bel couldn’t think of a worse girl to discover them like this. Tessa didn’t really like Bel. Of all the Moreland seniors, Tessa was most likely to spill her guts to Darcy the second she got back to the dorm.

“What have we here?” Tessa asked, her eyes lighting up luridly.

“Bel took a fall and hurt her knee,” Heath said, his face going stony, as if a mask had dropped over it. “Come here, please, and give me a hand. Let’s see if we can get her to her feet without her putting weight on the right leg.”

They got on either side, and Bel draped her arms over their shoulders. Leaning on them, she managed to stand up and hobble down the steep slope. Every step was a blur of pain and anxiety. What must Heath think of her now, that she’d been so undisciplined, in such a risky situation? Would Tessa tell people? Could Heath get in trouble? He must hate her now.

Thirty awful minutes later, they reached the bottom of the hill. Heath had called ahead, and they emerged from the woods to see a security department car waiting on the road to whisk Bel to the infirmary.

Heath helped her into the back seat. “I’ll call the infirmary later to check with the doctors. You’ll probably need to go on the injured list. Would you like Tessa to stay with you?”

I want you to stay with me , she thought. But she couldn’t speak the thought aloud. If people started to talk, he might never spend time with her alone again.

“I’m fine,” Bel said curtly.

Heath closed the door with a sharp click , and the car drove away.

At five-thirty, Bel was alone in her room back in Moreland, lying on Emma’s bunk, because she couldn’t climb up to her own. She could hear girls passing by in the hallway, on their way to family dinner in the Commons, the old part of the dining hall. Family dinner was this awful thing that happened once a week, where kids had to dress up and sit at tables with faculty members. If Bel’s injury had an upside, it was that she’d gotten excused from attending tonight. She was supposed to keep her leg elevated and a cold pack on her knee for the rest of the evening. The pain pills the doctor had given her dulled the ache in her knee, but not the sick feeling in her heart. He’d almost kissed her; they’d been that close. But now, their bond was shattered, their great love affair over before it started.

Suddenly the door banged open, and Darcy stormed in, blond hair flying, her pretty cheerleader’s face red with pique.

“What the fuck, Enright. When were you planning to tell me you have something going on with Donovan?”

Shit . Tessa must have told Darcy what she saw, and Darcy had a big mouth. This story would be all over school the second Darcy walked into the dining hall. If Bel wanted to protect Heath from the fallout, she needed to convince Darcy that nothing had happened out on the trail this afternoon.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she protested, widening her eyes innocently.

“Don’t give me that BS. Tessa saw you with him in the nature preserve this afternoon. She said you were practically in a lip-lock.”

Bel pointed to the bandage and ice pack on her knee. “Uh, hello, you see my injury? I fell and blew my knee out. Mr. Donovan helped me up. That’s all Tessa saw. He had to put his arms around me to lift me. He’s the coach. He’s not gonna leave a runner lying on the ground.”

Darcy looked at Bel’s knee and frowned. “That’s not what she said. She said he pays all sorts of attention to you. The other girls are jealous.”

“Well, she’s lying then—exaggerating anyway.”

“Tessa’s been loyal as a dog for three years at this school. You, I’ve known for like five minutes, and you expect me to believe you over her? Sorry.”

“I swear, Darcy, nothing’s going on. I would never horn in on your contest. Not without your permission.”

“I should hope not. I don’t need anybody cock-blocking me, especially not you, after all I’ve done for you. If I thought you were trying to steal my prize—”

“I would never. Tessa has a wild imagination, and she misinterpreted, that’s all. Swear to God.”

Darcy put her hands on her hips. “I don’t know who to believe. What you’re saying makes sense on the surface, but I get the feeling you’re holding out on me.”

Bel placed her hand over her heart. For a skeptic and a liar herself, Darcy was surprisingly susceptible to flattery. Bel laid it on thick. “Believe that I’m your true friend, Darcy. There’s nothing but love and gratitude in my heart for you.”