Chapter 16

KIMBERLY'S POV I had drawn and erased and re-drawn since morning, trying to create my ideas for the design competition. My floor beneath my desk was a mess of crumpled paper and colored pencils. Still, I barely noticed it. The sound of the wall clock ticking seemed louder than it really was-a grim reminder that the seconds were fast running out. The phone, on the corner of my desk, suddenly buzzed. The screen flashed with the name Xavier. Immediately, I felt my heart leap in my chest-a fact that actually I considered quite detestable to acknowledge to myself, let alone vocalize. For a moment, I fumbled, taking one deep breath to steady my voice into my lungs. "Hello?" I tried saying casually. "Kimberly," Xavier's voice-low, smooth-came over the line and wrapped itself around me. "How's it going?" I looked around at the chaos and smiled anyhow. "Busy. But good." There was silence on the other end before he spoke again. "I wanted to let you know that the situation with Madison has been t