With my eyes closed, encasing the memories of my old school and the softly-weighted keys of the baby grand piano in the music room there, my fingers played for me, allowing me to drift away to the shores of days when life was simple. Alone, in that place, I felt the last note leave, and only silence remained—hovering like a breath held.
I opened my eyes to David’s beautiful face. “Oh, crap. Did I faze out?”
“No.” He stood up, and Ryan started clapping like a seal at a marine park.
“Way to go, New Kid,” one of the girls said.
“Thanks.” I smiled sheepishly, steering my eyes away from David's soul-penetrating gaze.
“Well—” Mr Grant peered down his sharp nose, “—I can see I have nothing much to teach you, Miss Thompson.”
“That’s okay, Mr Grant,” Ryan said. “Dan still hasn't gotten past open chords.”
A boy ditched a pencil at Ryan.
“Right.” Mr Grant turned on his heel and walked back up the aisle. “Carry on, people. We will be working on our performance pieces for the Halloween concert.”
My eyes stayed on the keys until the heavy door to the auditorium closed with an echoed thud behind the two-headed beast. What was that guy’s problem? “Did he expect me to fail?” I asked, looking around the group.
“He does it to everyone new.” Ryan patted my shoulder.
“Well, thanks for the heads-up, David.” I frowned at him.
“I figured you could handle it.” He looked at Ryan then and they both laughed.
There was no way he could’ve known that, unless he’d read my student file—which I highly doubted. This was obviously some cruel practical joke they played on new kids. I folded my arms. “So what gave you that impression? That I could handle it?”
David stopped laughing and folded his arms, too, looking a little smug. “Your fingers, actually.”
Slowly, I pulled them out from the fold and studied them. My nails used to be perfectly rounded atop the long, thin digits, but looked a little worn these days from being munched on so often. But he was right.
“The hands of a pianist,” he added.
Very observant, Mr Know-It-All. “Fine. I’ll pay that one. But next time, a little warning, thanks.”
“Sure. Well, in that case, maybe you should ditch History class,” he said, holding back a smile. “That guy gives really boring lectures.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind.” I rolled my eyes, not really meaning to smile as well. It was hard to be annoyed at David—he was just so sweet, and I had to hand it to him, he was right. I could handle it. I did handle it. I was grateful to Mrs Baker now for the three hours every Tuesday and Thursday, where she would painstakingly force me to play piano until my fingers seized up and turned bone-white. Mrs Baker was one thing I would not miss about my old life.
“Seriously,” David whispered in my ear as the hovering crowd dissipated and went back to their projects. “There was a reason I didn’t tell you about Mr Grant.”
“I’m listening,” I said, shuffling over so he could sit beside me.
“I was afraid you’d run home.”
I would have. “I’m not that weak,” I said. “But I could’ve at least prepared myself.”
“I'm sure.” He smiled to himself, placing his fingers on the keys. “Heart and Soul?”
“Huh?” I looked up at him.
“Heart and Soul. You wanna play it?”
“That’s a little Kindergarten, don’t you think?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mozart,” he said with a breathy laugh. “Would you prefer a more complicated duet?”
“Can you handle it?” I asked teasingly.
“Young lady, I can handle anything you can dish out.”
“That, I strongly doubt.”
After David escorted me all the way to third period Math class—even though he wasn’t in my class—I watched him walk away, and fell inside myself at the back of the room. I didn’t recognise anyone from Music class and, for the most part, no one bothered to strike up a friendship. So, I sat quietly and thought about David until the teacher said, “Five minutes left to finish those questions and hand them in. If you’re done already, you can leave.”
A few students jumped up, placed their work on Miss Chester’s desk and left the room. I pushed my unfinished paper aside and reached into my bag for my map—to hopefully locate the nearest bathroom. But as I pulled my schedule and pencil case out, then my purse and keys, and looked into the empty space, a wave of panic rushed over me.
Oh my holy God! It was gone.
I checked the ground, the desk, even in my pencil case. Nope. Definitely gone. But I was sure I had it in the library.
The familiar heat of panic flushed through my arms, rising into my cheeks as I dropped my face against my hand. I was ruined! I could see the headlines now: New Girl Asks Where Bathroom Is—Gets Laughed at for Needing to Pee.
The bell screeched. I stood, packing my stuff into my bag with the speed of an old, arthritic lady. As the last of the gossiping dregs shuffled from the room, I herded out behind them, dumping my paper on the teacher’s desk before stepping into the corridor. The hot, damp air trickled over the balustrade from the courtyard below, wetting my lungs as I breathed it in.
Of all the doors nestled into the brown bricks around the square lot, not one of them looked like a bathroom, and of all the kids hanging over the guardrail, tossing things to their friends on the ground floor, not one of them looked like the kind of kid I could ask for directions without being laughed at.
So, I swung my bag over my shoulder, and as I looked up, my gaze met a pair of amazing green eyes, shining out like emeralds.
“Need a guide?” David flashed his mischievous grin.
God, yes. “Well, I wouldn’t if someone hadn’t taken my map,” I said accusingly, then smiled back as I stood beside him.
“Sorry. But those things are impossible to read, anyway.” He looked down at me. “You’d have gotten lost without me to show the way.”
“Is that so?” My playful tone drew a smile to his lips again.
“Yes.”
“You seem pretty sure of yourself.”
He nodded, his smile remaining.
“So, are you saying I’m incapable of finding my own way?” I said.
“No.” He shook his head. “Only that life’s easier when you have someone to walk beside you.”