Page 42 of In Doubt

“Absolutely.“ I grin. I amabsolutelyfine and not obsessing at all about why Jake nearly kissed me and then didn’t. Not just didn’t, but ran away. I am not mulling over how good his warm body felt against mine when he helped me down into the trench or wondering why he was happy to claim the find as ours and not his.

“Are you drunk?” Sia asks.

I hold my hand up and squint towards a gap between my finger and thumb.

“Maybe just a teeny, weeny bit.”

“You are such a lightweight. How much did you drink? Like two glasses?”

“Exactly,” I say, trying to focus on her face as it sways from side to side.

“Let’s get you up to bed.”

“I’ll walk you up if you want?” Carl says. “I was heading up to bed myself.”

I yawn and rest my head on Sia’s shoulder.

“I think I’d better do it,” Sia tells him. “I should get to bed as well. We don’t want to oversleep.”

I let Sia guide me into the hotel and up the staircase.

“He’s really very frustrating,” I murmur as she fiddles with the key in the lock.

“Jake, again?” she asks, her lips twitching into a smile.

“I really don’t understand the man. It’s infuriating.”

“And here was I, thinking you two were getting on so well tonight.”

“Too well,” I mutter under my breath.

Sia pushes the door, eyeing me with suspicion as I walk through. Immediately, I shed my hot sticky dress and climb on top of the bed, my eyes growing heavy as soon as my cheek hits the pillow.

As my eyelids fall shut I remember. My suppressant. My pill. I need to take it. But it’s already too late, I’m drifting into sleep.

* * *

It’s not an alarm that wakes me the next morning. Or one of the other girls in the room. It’s the sound of a fist hammering on the door. Followed by the professor’s angry voice.

“Ladies, are you joining us this morning?”

“Shit!” Sia shrieks, leaping down from the bunk and sprinting to the door. I sit bolt upright and hit my head on the bunk above me. How did we miss our alarm?! I swear I set it. Although last night is a little hazy. Still is, to be perfectly honest. And now I probably have a head injury too. Great.

“Yes, professor, we’ll be right there. Sorry.”

“Oh my God,” I mumble as I scrabble out of my bed, and toss clothes from my bag trying to find a shirt to wear. “This is so unprofessional. The professor isn’t going to want me within a mile of her team.”

“You’ve never missed a lecture or a class in your life. You’ve never even handed in an assignment late. She isn’t going to change her opinion on you just because we’re late.”

“I don’t know,” I say, chewing my lip as I dash to the bathroom. There’s no time for a shower, so I wash in the sink as best I can, swiping yesterday’s mascara from around my eyes. I pull on my clothes, lather some deodorant under my arms and jam my feet into my boots. This time I remember my pills, swiping them out of my washbag. I examine the package.

Two pills? Oh my goodness.Twopills missed!

I’ve missed one in the past but never two in a row like this. I swipe at my brow, wondering if I should take a double dose or something to make up for it. I do not want to go into heat. But taking a double dose doesn’t seem very sensible either. I have no idea what it could do to my body. Best I take one tablet as normal and hope it resets everything. I’m pretty sure it will be fine.

I crack the silver foil with my thumb nail and push the pill through the break, pinching it between my two fingers.

“Come on, Giorgie!” Sia calls from the doorway. I shove the pill into my pocket and chase her out into the hallway. There’s no time to even tie my laces as I race down the stairs in the wake of Sia and climb onto the coach. Everybody else is already there waiting, some looking amused, others pissed off. Professor Weaver is definitely in the latter camp.