All Chapters of Keeper of my Heart: Chapter 31 - Chapter 37

You’ve got to be kidding me… Harken stares on in silence as the shed is rapidly engulfed in flames, the foul odour of burning rubber and plastic from the gym and field equipment trapped inside fills the air, no doubt alerting someone close by soon enough. He barely hears his phone go off in his pocket, grabbing it at the last second to see Scott’s name. “Where the hell are you? Did you actually break into the school, Harken?” Scott starts screaming. Never thought I’d say this but – thank god he’s here! “Noel, I need you to run and meet your dad at the entrance of the school.” She gapes at him, still looking pale and ghastly. “What the hell are you going to do?” “I’m going to stay and call for help, I don’t want you getting messed up in this. I’ll just tell them I was smoking up and accidentally caught fire to the shed.” Noel grips his arms as if to glue him in place. “

Noel has locked herself in her room for the last three days, having her dad call in sick for her at school and getting Priscilla to drop off her homework after class. Every time he tried to enter her room, she has thrown a pillow or piece of clothing at yelled at him to get out.Refusing to see anyone or barely touching a plate of food, Scott feels he has no choice but to force his way through using a shield. Phoning in the buffer, Priscilla shows up soon after with a determined look on her face.“Is she still in her room?” she asks.Scott nods. “Hold on, take this with you.” He hands her an envelope.The letter from California College of Arts.“When did this come in?”“A few days ago, but the incident at the school field happened not long after, and now this.”Priscilla nods firmly and marches upstairs, already knowing what she needs to do. Throwing open Noel’s bedroom door, she ducks as soon as a pillow is launched at her face and holds out her hands to fend off the balled-up shirt

Deep breaths don’t let yourself panic. You got this.Noel continues the mantra over in her head, but it doesn’t seem to help as she patiently waits outside the office doors of the college board officials who will be administering his final interview. It’s described as a formality and a way for the school to meet a candidate in person before they enter.But anyone with knowledge of this school would know this interview could still make or break their acceptance altogether.“Miss Ashford? We’re ready for you,” a slender woman with sleek blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail calls out to her. She is wearing a light blue pantsuit with a white dress shirt and a gentle smile.Noel wipes her hands down her pants to remove the sweat before walking forward to shake her hand, hoping her smile is as bright and gentle as hers despite how much the corners of her mouth are twitching.“It’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is Ms. Miles, and I will be one of the three board members interviewing you

He was a boy; she was a girl. Can I make it any more obvious? Noel reaches over and rips her phone off the charging cord to press her finger on the screen to snooze her alarm, before lazily tossing it aside on her bed. Today is the day she takes her school exams ahead of everyone else. It wasn’t hard to convince her principal and other teachers to let her after she showed them both the letter of acceptance and her swift pass on the final interview for her top-picked college, they almost insisted at that point. She only really has two exams to take for Math and English, with Social Studies being mainly a slightly bigger test than your average class test. Her teachers assured her that it wouldn’t take her more than the morning to complete, and Noel can even have her exams graded on the spot by the respective subject teachers, and her final grade given by the end of the day. There was only one question that held her back from jumping fo