AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” I said, casting my eyes to the floor, feeling completely awkward.
Mr. Blackbourne said nothing but turned away from me and went back to what he was doing with the papers in his hands, filling them out.
“What have we here?” Dr. Green looked over the paper in his hand. “Now, I can’t understand this. Why are all these classes crossed out?
“Well,” I said, fiddling with one of the buttons on my blouse. “When I first filled it out, I picked classes that I didn’t realize were reserved for upperclassmen. And then the second set some were crossed out because the counselor said I couldn’t have more than two AP classes.”
Dr. Green made a face, twisting his lips and looking apologetic. “How awful. Does she not assume you could do it?”
I shrugged a little. “She just kept saying I wasn’t allowed.”
“Why have the classes up if you aren’t going to let students in them? I tell you, what’s wrong with this school?” He turned back to me. “What were your original choices?”
I opened the notebook I had, removing the paper where Kota had written my choices for classes. “I couldn’t take Japanese, so I switched to this.”
He tilted his head. “Did you write this?” he asked, pointing at the masculine handwriting.
I shook my head.
“Who did?”
I blushed. Did he expect to know? “Kota. A friend of mine.”
His eyebrows shot up and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Mr. Blackbourne looking at us.
“Do you know Kota Lee?” Mr. Blackbourne asked.
I wasn’t sure what Kota’s last name was. “Dark brown hair? Glasses?”
Mr. Blackbourne sucked in a breath and his gaze fell on Dr. Green. They exchanged some looks. It was so familiar, like how Kota and the others silently communicated to one another.
Dr. Green wrote something on the registration paper. “Do you think you could handle this?”
He handed the paper back to me and I glanced at his choices: Japanese, AP Geometry, AP English, AP World History, AP Biology and the required gym class.
My mouth dropped open. “How do I bypass the restriction? And I’m not allowed in Japanese for at least another year.”
Dr. Green leaned in on the desk, propped his head up with his hand, smiling. “But is that what you want?”
I felt my heart flutter. It sounded so challenging. Yet at the same time, I could see myself getting good grades in all of it. “I want to try.”
Mr. Blackbourne looked up from his paperwork and scowled at Dr. Green. “Why are you causing trouble? You don’t know anything about this girl.”
“I have a good feeling.” He held out his hand for the paper and then put it on his desk, signing his name. “Besides, who is going to tell me no?”
I blinked at him. This was really happening?
Mr. Blackbourne glowered, displeased.
Dr. Green started typing and clicking at his computer. I wondered how they seemed to know Kota. This had to be the same Mr. Blackbourne that the boys were trying to keep secret before. Could I ask them about this later? My eyes drifted around the room. A violin melody started up on the radio. My toe tapped to it, trying to remember the name of the song.
Mr. Blackbourne turned to me, bringing a finger to the corner of his glasses and shoving them up his nose. “Do you know this song?”
His question caught me by surprise but I nodded. “It’s the song about the swallow, isn’t it?”
He nodded, an eyebrow going up.
“But it’s the version by Micarelli, isn’t it?”
“How do you know it’s her?”
“Well, she’s got this style. She plays soft. It’s hard to explain but it’s different than other violinists. I really like it.”
There was as spot on his mouth on the right hand side that turned up. It was only a millimeter of a difference but it was all his face required before the sternness in his face disappeared and he seemed pleased. When he did, his face was beautiful. I would almost sell my soul, would do anything to keep that pleased expression on his face. “Do you like the violin?”
I fiddled with the button of my blouse again. “I do. I like the piano, too. I think if I had to pick just one to learn though, the violin would be my first choice.”
He fell quiet, looking me over. The moment stretched out. His eyes seemed to be calling out to me, asking things of me that I had no idea how to respond. No matter how much I wanted to flit my eyes around the room to break the tension, the strength in his stare froze me to the spot.
“Would you kindly hand over Miss Sorenson’s registration paper, Dr. Green,” he commanded.
Seven classes. I walked out of the office with a receipt copy of all of the classes I would be taking for the following school year at this new high school. Seven.
“Most students would have had a study hall,” Mr. Blackbourne explained after he adjusted my class list on his computer. “It’s worked into a student’s schedule. You won’t have one.” He signed my paper to officialize the addition and Dr. Green took it back to have it filed properly.
I was going to have a busy year.
I followed the corridor on my way back through to the front of the office area and out into the hallway. The crowds had died down a bit. Most students were already registered, they were just taking a tour. I had no idea where the guys were.
I found the main hallway and then the glass double doors that led to the open air courtyard. The courtyard was really a square patch of flat grass in the middle of the school with stone benches scattered strategically and a few small trees. I held the notebook to my chest, looking around.
I spotted Silas’s and North’s heads across the garden to the left. They were all standing in a circle together. I tiptoed across the grass. Voices were raised in a heated debate. As I got closer, I held back behind Silas where they couldn’t see me. I didn’t want to interrupt, mostly out of curiosity.
“School hadn’t started yet and we already lost her,” Luke said. “This is terrible.”
“She walked away with Dr. Green. We didn’t have a choice but to back
off,” Victor said. “We were going to get found out.”
“This is bad,” Kota said. “No one told them about her, right?”
There was a chorus of “no”.
Nathan spoke up, “But why don’t we tell them? Why don’t we tell her?”
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” Kota said. It was the first time he sounded doubtful. It surprised me. What were they talking about? It wasn’t a good idea to become my friend?
“How are we going to hide it from her forever?” Gabriel asked.
“She needs us,” Victor said, his baritone voice dropping an octave.
“We can’t take in every stray dog we come across,” Nathan replied.
My hand fell over my heart and from my mouth escaped a gasp. I slapped a hand over my mouth but it was too late. North turned and spotted me.
“Sang,” he said, his eyes wide open. He reached out to me with a hand, his fingers spread out as if he wanted to grab at me.
I shook my head, taking a couple of steps back. It was hard to breathe or think. The others turned, looking at me, their cheeks all flushing to the same bright red and they all froze. I turned away from them, walking to the door.
“Wait, come back!” Kota called behind me.
I opened the door to the main hallway, running blindly through the crowds of people until I was out in the parking lot.
The unwanted dog.
***
I had to suck it in until my dad drove us home. When we got there, I locked myself into my room, turning off the light. My pillow quickly became soaked with tears.
They weren’t friends with me because they wanted me. They were sorry for me. They saw my weirdness. They got a glimpse of my family. Now they felt obligated to be nice to me. The conversation they had in the courtyard I kept replaying in my mind. My heart burned from the humiliation. A poor dog to feel pity on!
I heard the vibration of the phone in the attic. It was hard to hear unless I held my breath. Over time, I got familiar with what was a text message and which was a phone call. From what I could hear, there were no less than twenty messages and over a dozen attempts to call.
