All Chapters of The Noble Act: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The nurses' station went dead silent.Over a dozen pairs of eyes landed on me at once, as though I had opened my mouth and stolen something that belonged to Whitney Farris.Tara Milligan was the first to frown."Blair, the award doesn't just go to whoever speaks up first. Whitney's just too shy to bring it up herself. Everyone in this department knows what her family's been through."Someone else chimed in immediately."Exactly. Her brother has leukemia. They sold the house, and the medication is all on borrowed money. Who in our department has it harder than her?""Some people don't say a word on any other day, but the second they hear 50 thousand dollars, they're faster than anyone."It was obvious. Every word was aimed at me.My ears burned. My palms were slick with sweat, but I did not step back."Ma'am, I really do need this money. I can prove it."I reached into the back of my locker and pulled out an old plastic bag. Inside were my father's diagnosis report, his itemiz

Chapter 2

First thing the next morning, I spotted Whitney and Gina Pollard huddled in a corner, whispering.Not long after the shift started, Gina had the entire department fill out a peer evaluation form.The form read, [Who do you believe is the most deserving candidate for the Outstanding Nurse award in our department?]Tara handed them out one by one. When she passed me, she shoved the paper into my hands."Being a good nurse isn't just about speaking up first. The hospital also looks at clinical performance and peer recommendations."I looked up at her. "So?""So you shouldn't make this ugly. Whitney isn't fighting for it, but that doesn't mean the rest of us are blind."She walked back to the nurses' station and was the first to write Whitney's name in the blank.The others followed. One after another, they scribbled the name down without hesitation.Whitney quickly turned to the room. "Don't write my name. Blair already applied. If everyone puts my name down, imagine how that'll

Chapter 3

The evaluation entered its assessment phase. The focus was practical skills.The director had set the rules. It was theory combined with hands-on skills, and the practical portion accounted for 40 percent.I worked the ER during the day and memorized IV insertion and CPR procedures at night. Outsiders could never imagine how busy the emergency room really was.A gurney would come flying through the doors with the patient already flatlined. Everyone crowded in, and I would be kneeling at the bedside doing chest compressions, one push after another, over a hundred times a minute.By the time I finished with one patient, I could barely catch my breath before I had to run to the next bed to swap out an IV bag or take someone's blood pressure.One time, two patients came in at the same time. One had swallowed poison. The other was bleeding out from a car accident.Janet's voice went hoarse from shouting as she split us into two teams.I had blood on my arms, running to one side to pu

Chapter 4

Two days before the exam, something else went wrong.I had booked the skills lab for ten at night to practice. The department only had one set of practice equipment, which included a training mannequin, syringes, a kidney dish, and a tourniquet.I walked in at ten on the dot, opened the cabinet, and more than half the equipment was gone.I tore through every cabinet in the room, sweating from panic. The mannequin was still there, but a plastic body without needles or tubing was useless. I had nothing to practice IV insertion with.The floating comments burst across my vision.[Stop looking! Whitney hid them!][She locked the equipment inside the blue emergency kit at the back of the storage closet at the end of the hallway!][She's convinced that if you bomb the practical, the spot is hers!]I stared at the words, my temples pounding. I was about to storm out and confront her when my phone buzzed first.It was a message from my sister, Nicki Keating.[I'm dropping out. I'm go

Chapter 5

The day before the results were announced, Whitney was acting more like the winner than I was.Tara had put together a packet of peer endorsements for her, printing out every compliment from the department and sliding them into a clear plastic folder.Whitney said she would not need it, but that night she sat in the on-call room and went through every page.Janet announced that the results would be revealed at a hospital-wide assembly, with the director making the announcement personally.Tara immediately pressed a pre-written acceptance speech into Whitney's hands."The director's obviously going to have you speak on behalf of the winners. Who else would it be?"Whitney hesitated before taking it. "The list hasn't been posted yet. If you keep doing this, it'll embarrass Blair."Beth laughed out loud."She chose to compete, so she'd better be ready to lose."The peer vote was 23 to one. She got lucky on the practical, that's all. The director's fair. Do you think she's going t

Chapter 6

The auditorium was silent for several seconds.In the front row, Whitney was still frozen in the position of someone about to stand.The acceptance speech slipped from Tara's hand and landed on the floor.Beth had forgotten to stop recording. The camera was pointed straight at Whitney's face as the color drained out of it."How is it her?" Someone whispered the question."The entire department voted for Whitney, except Blair herself. Did the hospital even look at the peer evaluations?""Did they read the wrong name?"Dr. Whitman seemed to have heard the murmuring. She continued."Blair Keating received one vote in the peer evaluation. It was the one she cast for herself."She came up through nursing school with an associate's degree. She has worked in the emergency department for three years with zero incidents on her record. Last month, she was the first to identify the symptoms of a patient in cardiac arrest."She did not rely on anyone to sing her praises. She did not turn

Chapter 7

Winning the award did not make everything better overnight.When the 50,000-dollar bonus hit my account, I paid Dad's overdue chemotherapy bills first, then wired Nicki's tuition.At the hospital billing window, I stood there for a long time. I handed the receipts over one by one, and the clerk behind the counter typed each one in.The total came to 32,000 dollars.I swiped my card. When the receipt printed out, my eyes blurred instantly.For the first time in six months, I did not have to ask anyone for a loan. I did not have to beg anyone to let me pay late.Dad was getting better by the day. He could get out of bed and take a few steps, and his face was not as grey as it used to be.He told anyone who would listen, "My daughter won the Outstanding Nurse award. She's going to study at a top medical center."When he said it, his eyes lit up.I sat beside him and tucked the blanket around his shoulders.One time, I bought him a case of whole milk. He flat-out refused to drink

Chapter 8

Before the fellowship could begin, the hospital required one more round of review on my theory and practical skills.Tara wrote in the group chat, [Another test is fine. That way no one can talk.]When I saw that, I started preparing a full month in advance.I worked during the day, studied at night, and barely made it home at all.Over that month, I went through the internal medicine textbook, the fundamentals of nursing manual, and the emergency care handbook cover to cover, three times each.The corners of the pages were frayed from how often I had turned them.Some of the procedural steps I had studied so late into the night that I could run through them in my head with my eyes closed.Dad was doing a little better by then. He could hold onto the wall and stand for a short while.He held my hand and struggled to get the words out."Honey, I've been nothing but a burden on you.""You're not a burden. Once I finish the fellowship, I'll get you on better medication."There

Chapter 9

On the day of the review, I walked into the exam room like it was any other shift.On the written portion, I finished first and got the fewest wrong.On the practical portion, I worked through the stations without hesitation. My CPR performance was singled out as a demonstration for the others.After the exam, Whitney and I were both called into Dr. Whitman's office.Janet was there, along with the head of security and Tara.On the desk sat a set of printed screenshots from the security footage, along with a written statement in Whitney's own handwriting.Whitney tried one last time. "I was just worried Blair would lose it. I was holding onto it for safekeeping."Dr. Whitman pushed the screenshots in front of her. "And you call that safekeeping?"Whitney's tears came down all at once. "Dr. Whitman, I just couldn't accept it!"My clinical skills aren't worse than hers. My degree is higher than hers. Why does she get the award? Her family has it hard, but mine has it worse! My b

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