Dark Secrets (Dark Secrets #1)(72)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“I have,” I said. I just broke his heart.

“Did he say anything?”

“I never gave him the chance.”

He nodded to himself, his hands still on his hips. “Did you have a fight?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Come on.” The stench of his sweat wafted up when he put his arm around me. “I’ll take you to the office—get you a tardy slip.”

“Thanks, Ryan.”

Chapter Fourteen

Emily sat with her hands wedged under her knees, her legs swinging over the edge of the stage, trying to talk through the sobs. I wandered down the aisle silently, hugging my sheet music, trying not to disturb her quiet speech.

“If he was here right now, he’d probably slap us on the shoulder and tell us to get up—that the show must go on.” She sniffed, wiping her face softly with a tissue. “I know it’s been a hard day, and—” she motioned around the room, “—most of us have gone home. But, Nathan’s gone, and…I know this whole thing started out as a way to help his mom with the hospital bills, but now she’s got a funeral bill on top…of…that.” Her voice broke. Ryan leaped up and sat on the stage, wrapping his arm over her shoulder. “So—” she composed herself, “—having said that, rehearsals will continue and so will the show, as a memorial concert.”

“But we’re not doing it this week, right?” someone in the front row asked.

Emily shook her head. “We don’t have to. Any votes on when we should hold it?”

“Yeah,” a boy said. “Weekend after next. The funeral’s this Thursday, so…” he let his voice trail off.

Emily looked around the rest of the group. “Everyone agree with that?”

People shrugged or nodded. Emily looked at me, and I smiled, bringing one shoulder up to my ear.

“Okay, so, two weekends from now. And we’ll need to draw up new ticket sale signs—if you guys can take care of that?” She nodded toward the art students; they nodded back. “Okay. So, thanks for coming, everybody, and—” she stood up, “—let’s get this show on the road.”

The small group disbursed, murmuring between themselves, while Ryan walked Emily off stage and talked to her quietly at the base for a second. She nodded, wiped her face, then hugged him tightly and walked away.

“Hey, Em,” I said, deliberately avoiding how are you or I’m sorry.

“Hey, Ara. Where’s David?”

“Didn’t Ryan tell you?” We slid into the end seats on the front row.

“Mm. No. What happened?” Her eyes narrowed.

I just shattered him to pieces. “He uh—he left school for the day.”

“Really?” She slid down in her seat, folding her fingertips over her eyes. “I feel like such an idiot for crying at school. I wish I’d left, too.”

“Oh, Em—don’t. It’s not silly at all. Hell, even I’ve done it.”

“Really?” She sat up a little.

“Mm-hm.” I hugged my music sheets.

“Well, why? Was someone mean to you?”

I shrugged.

“Who?”

“Remember the theatrical kiss thing—with David, the toilets, my first day?”

“Oh, yeah—Summer and that short girl she hangs around?”

“Yeah.” I laughed.

“Summer was telling us the whole story, you know, that afternoon.” Emily leaned back in her chair. “No one believed her, though—about David kissing you. I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t told me about it in History class.”

“Why? Is it so hard to believe David would kiss me?”

She laughed once. “That wasn’t what we didn’t believe; it was how Summer said he was doing it to stand up for you. David doesn’t stand up for anybody,” she added with a hint of spite.

“He stood up for the Apple King, at lunch that day.”

“Yeah, it seems you’ve unearthed a new David.” She looked down at her hands, flipping her silver padlock bracelet. “So—he went home, huh?”

I shrugged. “Do you think he’ll come back?”

“He does this, you know?” She smiled sympathetically. “If things get too…emotional, he takes off for a few days. But, he’ll be at the funeral on Thursday. I’m sure you can speak to him then.”

“But, what if it wasn’t because of Nathan that he left? What if it was for some other reason? Would he still come back for the funeral?”

“What other reason would he have?” she asked, smiling at Spencer as he walked past; he didn’t smile back.

“What’s the deal with Spence?” I asked. “Was he close to Nathan?”

“No. You saw that, huh? The quick-look-away thing he does.”

“Yeah. Does he do that a lot?”

“Every time I look at him.”

“And you think it’s ‘cause he doesn’t like you?” I tried to stifle a giggle.

“It must be. Why would he do it if he liked me?”

“Because, Emily—” I shoved my notes on the chair and stood up, “—he’s a guy. They’re more afraid of you than you are of them.”

“Ara!” she squeaked. “What are you doing?”

I ignored her, walking over to Ryan, Alana and Spencer. My brilliant idea of setting Emily up with Mike was about to go out the window…

“Hey, guys.”

“Hey, Ara.” Alana leaned a little closer. “I was thinking…about the sleepover this weekend?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, could we…maybe move it to next weekend?”

“The Saturday before the concert?” I confirmed.

“Yeah. With the funeral this week…” She nodded at Emily, sitting low in her chair, staring at her feet. “Might be a bit much.”

“Yeah. That’s cool. Next week’ll be fine.”

“So, Ara?” Ryan asked. “Are you coming to the wake at Betty’s on Thursday night?”

“I um—I didn’t know about it. Why is Mrs Rossi doing it there?”

“She’s not,” Ryan said, placing his arm around Alana. “It’s just a bunch of us kids fare-welling Nathan in our own way. Betty’s was his favourite burger joint—we figure it’s appropriate.”

“Oh, okay. Well, that sounds cool. I guess I’ll try, but I may have to go to Mrs Rossi’s with my dad, you know—pay my respects as a family.” I shrugged.