12. Cherry
I’m hovering on a c loud 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 a ll 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.”
“Are you saying you didn’t break into this office?” His head cocks as he watches me like a cat toying with a mouse. I know lying will make things worse, but the truth will condemn Jake too, so I have to be careful. If I say I broke in, I’ll get in trouble but Jake could lose his ability to practice law.
“I just wanted to see the book.”
“So you admit you broke into this office?”
I hang my head and nod as my eyes flood with fresh tears. “But I didn’t steal those papers. Someone is trying to frame me. Ask Jake Marshall if you don’t believe me. I saw him straight afterward.” I’m weaving a web of lies and I hope Jake will support me.
“We will be speaking to Mr. Marshall next.”
“Okay.”
“Miss Baker, I cannot tell you how disappointed I am in you. You have great potential and you threw it away to become a cheater.”
A sob escapes my throat and I try to force it down, to hang on to my composure. “I didn’t take the papers.”
The Dean shakes his head and sighs. “Miss Baker, the papers were found in your dorm this morning when we searched it.”
“What!” I jump to my feet with a screech, hardly able to comprehend what he is saying. “That’s impossible. I didn’t take them.”
“Evidence doesn’t lie, Miss Baker.”
“Well, clearly it does.”
I’m getting angry now, furious that my future is being stolen before my eyes and I can do nothing to stop it .
“Miss Baker, getting angry about being caught won’t help anyone.”
He stands and walks toward another door that leads to a waiting area accessed through the reception area.
“Please wait here while we speak with Mr. Marshall.”
I sink into the chair but my gaze swings around the room, looking for Jake. Needing him to hold me, to tell me it would be okay, but I don’t see him.
For twenty minutes I wait before the deputy dean comes out and speaks to me.
“I’m sorry, Miss Baker, but Mr. Marshall does not corroborate your story. He insists he saw you take the papers, therefore we have no choice but to expel you and ask you to leave immediately. Someone will escort you back to your dorm and watch you pack.”
“What? No! Jake would never do that. He knows I didn’t do it. He was with me. I didn’t touch the desk.”
“Miss Baker, please stop. You’re only making this worse. You’re lucky Mr. Marshall has some very influential friends with very deep pockets and has persuaded us not to press charges against you.”
In a daze, I step out of the reception area into the hall. A door opens further up and I see Jake walk out of the Dean’s office with a smile before turning back to shake the man’s hand.
In that moment, my heart hardens into the clearest diamond and splinters into a million pieces inside me. There is only one reason Jake would lie, and that was if he’d taken the papers.
As the man I thought I loved, who I thought loved me, turns to look at me, I die a little inside. His gaze holds mine with sorrow and grief etched into every pore before he schools his features and a cold hardness takes over as he smirks and turns and walks away, leaving our love bleeding on the floor of his lies.