DISCLAIMER
In A Heartbeat still belongs to Disney. Thank you to Lexical for being my second reviewer and for giving me the idea on how Val finds out about Jamie's secret.
Jamie walked down the hall, expertly navigating through the masses.
"Jamie! Hey, Jamie!" a voice shouted. He turned his head.
"Oh. Hey, Val," he greeted.
"So, what's up with you? Catie says you haven't said two words to her all morning," she told him.
"It's nothing. I've just got some stuff on my mind," Jamie replied.
"Like what?" Val wondered.
"Nothing important," Jamie answered. Seeing that Jamie wasn't going to tell her what was up, Val decided to drop the subject. Suddenly, the girl tripped. Jamie quickly caught her, causing pressure to be applied to his shoulder. He let out a moan of pain.
"What's wrong?" Val asked.
"Nothing. I'm fine," Jamie lied. As he helped her to straighten up, his shirt sleeve rode up, revealing a bluish-purple bruise!
"Oh, my gosh! Jamie, what happened?" Val gasped.
"Crashed and burned on my bike," Jamie lied again.
"Try again, Jamie," Val stated. Jamie sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Val just gave him an "I'm waiting" look.
"Come here," he said, pulling her into a secluded classroom.
"Look, I need you to promise me that you won't say a word," he stated.
"That depends on what you tell me," was her response.
"Val, just promise!" exclaimed Jamie.
"Tell me first," insisted Val. Jamie groaned in frustration. Dang! She was so stubborn!
"I've just---I've just been having some problems at home. That's all," he said.
"What kind of problems?" she pressed. Jamie balked. He couldn't tell her! His dad would flip! However, Val's no-nonsense expression soon won him over.
"My dad and I have been fighting a lot. And uh---he uh---" Val motioned for him to spit it out.
"He hits me, okay?" Jamie exclaimed.
"Oh, my gosh. Jamie, you have to tell," Val said.
"No! You don't know him! You don't know what he'll do!" Jamie objected.
"Jamie, if you don't tell either Alex or the police, I will," Val told him. With that, she walked out. Jamie blew out a breath and ran his fingers through his hair.