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He smiled and headed out.

“Do you remember if you banged your head?” Mrs. Millstein asked, inspecting it and looking for some blood. “Does anything hurt you?”

“No. I feel funny, but nothing hurts.”

“Did you skip eating today? Yesterday?” she asked.

“I didn’t eat that much yesterday, but I ate breakfast this morning. Mrs. Duval wouldn’t let me out of the house otherwise,” I said.

Mrs. Millstein looked at Dr. Steiner and shrugged.

“Mr. March will probably take her to be examined. Perhaps you returned to school too soon,” she told me.

The expression on her face told me she knew all about Ryder Garfield and me.

“I think I’m all right,” I said, sitting up. I took off the cold compress, but for a moment, I was dizzy.

“Take it easy,” Mrs. Millstein said. “You’re not completely aware of what’s happening. It’s better you rest and do get checked out further.”

“There’s nothing physically wrong with me. I just . . . I was just surprised by what I found in my locker.”

“Surprises don’t cause us to faint, usually,” Mrs. Mill-stein said.

“This was different. This was . . .” I paused when Donald entered right beside Mr. Huntington, who was holding the ship in the bottle that Ryder had given me.

“How’s she doing?” Donald asked.

Mr. Huntington handed me the bottle. I clutched it tightly.

“Her blood pressure is good. So is her pulse, and she has no fever. I don’t see any injuries on her,” Mrs. Millstein said. “However, you should have her checked out further.”

“Will do,” Donald said. “As you know, she’s had quite an emotional shock,” he told Dr. Steiner. She nodded.

“I can take her out in the wheelchair,” Mrs. Millstein said.

“I can walk,” I said. I knew that would create quite a scene, just the sort of soap-opera drama the girls in my class fed on. My phone would be ringing off the hook again.

“Sure you can,” Donald said. “But we’d better let the nurse do it, okay, Sasha?”

Mrs. Millstein brought the wheelchair up to me before I could say anything else. She helped guide me into it, and then she started me out. I kept my ship in the bottle in my lap. Donald remained behind for a few moments to talk to Dr. Steiner. He caught up with us at the door to the parking lot. I didn’t look back or around, but I knew that many of the students were watching from classroom windows.

After I got into Donald’s car, he said he would send Alberto for mine. He sat there for a moment without doing anything. I thought for sure that he had found the divorce papers and evidence of his adulterous affairs and wondered if I knew what was happening.

“Luckily, I wasn’t far from the school when Dr. Steiner’s call came. What is that you’re holding?”

“Something Ryder Garfield made,” I said. “He left it in my locker. I didn’t know it was there until just now.”

“Oh? And you fainted when you saw it?”

“Yes.”

“That makes sense. I was surprised Jordan wasn’t found first,” he said. “I don’t know where she is,” he added, still not starting his engine. “But I was happy to be the one to come fetch you. I spoke to Dr. Battie on my way over here. We don’t have to take you to be checked out. He said you should take the sedatives he gave you that day and get some more rest. You returned too soon.”

“I’m all right,” I said. “I don’t need any pills.”

“Jordan will bawl me out if you don’t do what the doctor said.”

He started the car. Apparently, he had not been home yet and knew nothing of what was awaiting him. It was far more than being bawled out.