Heart Skips A Beat {ACM}

Chapter 21

Ally's POV

I felt two strong arms wrap around my body, the person began walking somewhere. I didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that we were probably going to the nurses. At that moment I felt relieved. I had to thank this person once I decided to open my eyes. This wouldn't be for a while since I had an awful head ache. The person stopped walking.

"Ah, Mr. Mahone, school hasn't even started and you're already in trouble, what, another cigarette on campus?"

"For your information, I haven't been smoking lately, that was a twice time thing and it's over.... My mom totally confiscated my cigarettes anyway," he retorted.

Austin? First of all, what the hell was he doing here so early in the morning? And second why did he stop and pick me up in the hall? I mean sure, we hung out yesterday, but that didn't mean we were friends, and even if it did, that didn't mean he had to care about me in school. Did it?

"You didn't even look up from your computer, how did you know it was me?"

"I just know," it was silent for a moment as she shuffled through her papers; "Austin! I know you used to get into fights, but I didn't know you would ever consider knocking out a girl!" she exclaimed.

'Hah, this definitely wasn't Austin... if only she knew,' I thought to myself.

"What?! I didn't do this, I was on my way to the bathroom when I saw her slumped against the lockers, I picked her up and brought her here! I promise I didn't do anything!"

"Take her to the nurse immediately, she doesn't look well," she ordered; "We'll deal with you another time. Hitting women is illegal and you can get yourself into more trouble than you think."

"I didn't do this though! Why do you think I would beat her up and then bring her here?!"

"You wanted to cover your tracks, and you probably felt bad too."

"Whatever," he muttered, and began walking again. I decided this would be a nice time to open my eyes, and I did so, the bright lights worsening my headache.

I groaned in agony, this headache would be the death of me; Austin soon stopped in the doorway of the nurse's office and looked down at me.

"Hey princess," he smiled; "how are you feeling?"

"I'm fin- I feel like crap," I admitted, wincing.

"Hi Mr. Mahone, what seems to be the problem?" she asked, still typing away at her computer.

"WHY and HOW does every one keep doing that? How do you know it's me?!"

"You tend to come here more than any of the other students," she chuckled; "well actually it's a tie between you and Ally Stewart; please don't tell me you got into another fight."

"No, actually I'm here with Ally right now, she's hurt pretty bad."

"Alright, lay her down and I'll look at her," he gently laid me down on the bed, and sat in the empty chair next to it.

"What did she scrape her knee again?" she asked, a light chuckle escaping her lips. I visited the nurses office for the smallest things. Once I even came here for a hang nail I had, she was very upset with me for coming to her office over something that small, but she helped me get it off anyway.

"No, this is something way worse," he replied; "Can you please come look at her," he pleaded.

She sighed heavily, got up from her seat and hovered over me; "Oh my gosh, what happened?!" she asked.

"I don't know, I found her in the hallway like this," he replied.

She turned and grabbed some tissue for my nose. Then she turned back to me, her blue eyes shining with concern as she handed them to me; "Here, that should help with the bloody nose, I'll get you some ice for that eye, and I'll get some stuff to clean these cuts." She turned around, grabbing an ice pack from the freezer and handing it to me. I gladly took it and place it on my eye, sighing in relief as the throbbing pain began to subside.

"So Ally, do you want to tell me what happened?" She asked, as she dug through cabinets.

"I uh... what are you talking about?" I questioned.

"Why do you have cuts and scrapes on your face?"

"Oh, uh... I don't know," I mumbled.

"Aha! I found it!" she exclaimed, making her way to me again and pouring some of the substance on a cloth; "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I just... don't"

I didn't feel like telling the truth at that moment, I won't lie, after what Cassidy did I was scared of her. I was almost afraid to be in the same building as her; "I tripped on the way into the building, and then I guess I just kind of... passed out on my way back."

She began dabbing the cloth on my cuts, and it stung. I winced as she dabbed on numerous placed on my face.

"These are a lot of cuts, I didn't know tripping could do this to someone," she said as she finished dabbing my face; "Alrighty all done, just keep that ice pack on your eye and keep that tissue on your nose until it's done bleeding and you should be good; classes start in ten minutes, would you like to stay here for first period and rest up?"

I hesitantly shook my head, I didn't need her interrogating me anymore. I knew I'd have to deal with all that once I got home.

"Are you sure Ally, you look like you need a little rest," Austin said, his eyes meeting mine.

"Um, no, no I'm fine; my nose will probably be fine in about five minutes too and well, my eye speaks for itself," I assured him.

"Ally, are you sure?" Austin questioned.

I nodded my head and sat up, trying my best to hide the pain from my face; "See, I'm fine and dandy."

"Alright, come back if you need me please," the nurse ordered.

"Of course," I slowly made my way out of her office, Austin trailing behind me.

"Ally, I think you should've stayed, you look like you're in pain," he said.

"No, I'm fine, I'm just dealing with the stinging of my cuts, whatever she put on my face really burns," I at least partially told the truth.

"No you're not Ally, you're limping!"

"Cause it's a new trend!" I exclaimed.

"It's not, out of all of the people here, I should know what the latest trends are, and limping is not one of them," he has a point there, I should've known Mr. Popular would know. Before he could respond he scooped me into his arms.

"Austin! What the hell, please put me down!" I begged, wincing as my voice echoed through the empty hallway outside of the nurse's office.

"No, you're limping, and obviously in pain, I won't let you walk." I didn't fight back this time, it actually felt nice being carried, especially since I was limping, and in pain.