Dreams of Eden (Ace of Queens # 4)

CH.24 Under the stars

"Ms. Heywood," He said her name.

Eden knew he was standing right by her desk. She could see his shoes. She picked up her head slowly, keeping her eyes glued to the desk.

Alec sat her assignment down in front of her, keeping it faced down.

"See me after class, please." He said just loud enough for everyone around them to hear. "I need to talk to you about your assignment."

Eden wanted to roll her eyes and tell him to leave her alone, but that might send the wrong signal to the other students. So she kept her eyes on the paper as he moved on.

Once he was gone, she quietly turned over the paper. Had he actually printed out her paragraph on why she didn't do the work?

On the top right hand corner of the paper Eden spotted a picture of a sunflower. Underneath it, in red ink, she found a message.

I'm so sorry, It read. Can we please talk? Also, Clare drew the sunflower for you.

Eden felt the corner of her lips turn up as she traced her hand over the sunflower. Next to her, Asher tried to look over her shoulder at what grade she got but Eden pushed him away.

For the rest of class, Eden watched Alec as he talked on and one about some policy. She was sure he had said something about it being on some test, but her life was a mess, she didn't have time to worry about tests. When class ended, Eden jumped up from her seat and gathered her books.

"Where are you going?" Abby asked. "The professor asked you to stay, remember?"

Eden groaned as she sat back down. Alec quickly dismissed the two girls who always seem to have a question after class. As they left, Eden got up and walked to the front of the room.

Alec's mouth twitched into a smile as he noticed what she was wearing.

"What?" Eden demanded to know.

"You're wearing my hoodie," Alec pointed.

Eden looked down in surprise. Was she really? How had she not realized?

"Can we talk?" Alec lowered his voice.

"No."

"Eden," Alec sighed. "Please....I just need two minutes. Look, I shouldn-"

Before Alec could finish his thought, Eden sprinted out of the room. Alec blinked in surprise as she followed her out into the hall.

"Eden!" He called to her, but she was already running around the corner and down the stairs.

Alec sighed, rubbing his forehead as he went back into the classroom.

_________________________

That afternoon, Eden faked a headache and skipped training. She had Rose pick her up early and take her straight home.

The afternoon turned into a quiet and boring evening. Eden took a swim in the pool and walked the gardens, trying her best to kill time. As she admired the flowers and birds, she spotted the old lady sitting by the rose bushes and decided it couldn't hurt to talk. She had been missing Charlotte and maybe the ghost of a random old woman could give her some comfort.

Eden walked over to the bench and sat down next to the ghost. The woman took a deep breath but didn't turn to look at her.

"I'm Eden," Eden introduced herself. "We haven't properly met."

The old lady turned and looked her up and down as if she was an aristocrat and Eden a commoner.

"I'm Lillian," she said after a while.