“She gave it to me. I don’t like her or anything, I just...”
“Elvis, you’ve never been any good at lying.” Julia cut him off, shaking her head. “You totally like her.”
Julia could see right through him. The way Elvis looked at Claire, his whole face lit up. It was obvious.
“I just think she’s impressive, that’s all. She’s a really great girl.” Elvis was definitely not about to admit the truth, not even to himself. He didn’t want to risk causing trouble for Claire.
The ambulance was taking forever. While everyone waited, Claire approached quietly, holding a pouch of acupuncture needles.
“I’ve studied traditional medicine. I can help relieve your chest pain for a while, but only if you want me to. If not, that’s fine too.” She looked at Julia for permission.
To be honest, if Julia hadn’t gotten upset because of Elvis and her, Claire probably wouldn’t have offered at all. Even Norris didn’t think Claire should get involved. The emergency heart pill had already been a lot. If something went wrong and Julia’s people blamed her… things could get messy fast.
Julia’s clothes had a crest on them—the Ford family’s. That family was old money, insanely rich, with a reputation for being powerful and, frankly, pretty vindictive. Getting caught up with them was the last thing anyone needed.
Still, when Claire made up her mind, no one could change it, not even Norris.
Julia was pale and weak, but her gaze was sharp as ever. “Do you know who I am?”
Claire just shrugged. “No idea.”
“If you help me, I’ll let go of what happened before. If you make things worse, or if I die… you wouldn’t be able to handle what comes next.”
Claire met Julia’s eyes, unbothered. “So are we doing this, or not?”
The doctor had never even heard of such a pill. He just hoped none of this would make things worse, especially since he knew mistakes could easily wind up blamed on the hospital staff.
“You need to come with us to the hospital.” There was no room to argue.
Claire accepted without a fuss. Norris, on the other hand, looked worried—he hated the thought of Claire going alone. But there were other students to consider.
“Carlisle, you keep an eye on everyone here. I’m going with Claire,” Norris said.
He was already regretting his decision not to stop Claire from stepping in. Carlisle also thought Claire should’ve sat this one out, but once she made her choice, there was no stopping her. What was done was done.
“Alright, you go. Just be careful, Norris,” Carlisle said quietly, keeping a watchful eye on Julia—who, for all her weakness, looked like serious trouble.

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