Page 52 of Echoes of a Silent Song
But when she turned her phone back on and hadn’t heard anything from him, it was both a relief and an aggravation.He wasn’t even going to mention the dance?The fact that they’d almost kissed?Had it meant so little that there was no explanation forthcoming?Or maybe it had meant something—so much that he wanted to discuss it in person.
And what if he did?What if he asked what it meant to her?What would she say?
Those were questions she couldn’t answer.And that was why she’d parked off-site and come in through the side door.Why she wouldn’t go into the choir room until the bell rang.
Mercifully, the commons had returned to normal.Twinkle lights had given way to the usual fluorescent.Fake trees had been replaced by lunch tables.Nothing remained of homecoming except a spirit-week poster still taped to one wall.
Okay.Maybe things with Callum could go back to normal as quickly as the commons had.Maybe there wouldn’t be any discussion or mention or anything.Maybe they could just sweep whatever happened under the rug and go back to the way things were.
Or maybe she should’ve taken a sick day.
“Ms.Em!”
She looked up at the sound of her name, and there was Thalia, sitting alone at her usual table.A mostly full iced latte from Teddy’s sat to one side, and the girl’s ever-present sketchbook lay open on the table.
Blair approached and patted her student on the shoulder.“How are you, my dear?”
Thalia popped out her earbuds.“I’m okay.”Then she tilted her head to the side, considering, as she stashed the earbuds in their little white case.“Well, maybe not yet.I’m still kinda mad.”
“As you have every right to be.”Blair pulled out a chair across from Thalia and eased into it.“Have you talked to Ryden?”
“He texted to let me know he got suspended today and tomorrow.He apologized.”
“Good for him.”
Thalia reached for her latte.“Whatever.I’m done with him.Done with boys in general, at least for a while.Boys are awful.”
Blair smiled.“They can be.”
“Besides, I’m graduating this year.I want to get into a good college and make something of myself.”She offered a shy smile.“Lately I’ve been thinking I might even want to be a teacher.”
Affectionate pride swelled in Blair’s chest.“You’d be a wonderful teacher, Thalia.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely.”
Thalia gave a crisp nod.“Then I don’t have time to waste with Ryden or anyone else right now.Relationships are a distraction, anyway.”
As if to illustrate her point, Callum chose that exact moment to stride through the commons, coffee in one hand, his head bent over his phone.Of course he’d worn that deep-green dress shirt of his, the one that brought out all the beautiful shades in his eyes.And of course his hair was tousled just so in that effortlessly perfect way handsome men had about them.
And then their eyes met.
Suddenly it didn’t matter that there weren’t any twinkle lights or fake trees.Just a glimpse and she might as well have been right back in his arms, breathing him in, and—oh for the love, Blair, you have got to stop thinking about him like that.
“You’re absolutely right.”She forced her gaze back to Thalia and put on a bright smile before the girl could grow suspicious.Thankfully, the early bell rang, and students around them reluctantly gathered their things and headed toward the hallways.“You better get to class, and so should I.But I’m really glad you’re doing okay.”
Thalia headed for her locker, and Blair squared her shoulders.She couldn’t avoid it any longer.Time to face the proverbial—and literal—music.Time to enter the choir room and spend the day somehow not looking at or thinking about the guy who occupied 90 percent of her brain.
She definitely should’ve taken a sick day.
Chapter Twenty
December 2,1969
THE NEXTmorning, the hallways at school were buzzing.
“Kenneth’s number got called ninth.It’s so unfair.He’s already got an older brother over there.”
