Crossing Read Online Free PDF Page B

flowing carpet that lifted me high. I harnessed my voice, nuanced out the slightest inflections of sounds. And when at last the final note trailed out into a stillness, I was breathless.
    I opened my eyes. I saw the look of wonder on my face in the hazy mirror. I was shaking slightly from side to side. Trembling.
    The door. Sometime during my singing, it had opened and I hadn’t even noticed. There was someone standing there. He had one hand lifted in front of his gaping mouth like a shy geisha. Astonished. Bewildered. Stupefied.
    Enchanted.
    It was Mr. Matthewman.

SEPTEMBER 12
     
    Y ou’re not joking?” she asked.
    It was a couple days later on a late Friday afternoon. Naomi and I sat in the mostly vacant food court, in that gap of time after housewives had left but before the hoards of Friday night revelers arrived. I’d been biding my time to tell her about the audition. I wanted to do it where it was quiet, and with all the pandemonium at school over the last few days, this was my first opportunity.
    “You are. You are joking, right?” she said.
    “No,” I said for the second time, this time barely able to conceal my annoyance.
    “I can’t believe,” she said, pulling her eyebrows together in a soft, irritating arch, “that Mr. Matthewman thinks you can take the lead role. I mean, I’ve heard you sing, Xing. I know what you sound like.” She sent me a smile that I knew wasn’t meant to be unkind.
    “You’ve never heard me sing.”
    “My point exactly. In music class way back when, you just stood silent, you hmm hmm hmm -ed your way through class.”
    “But you’ve never really heard me sing. Mr. Matthewman thinks I’m good enough.”
    Her fingers drummed against the table. A few seconds lapsed. Then she took a deep breath. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, OK, Xing? I’m sure you did really well at the audition and everything, but…”
    I leaned back in my seat. “What? Just say it, will you?”
    “It’s no secret that Matthewman hates Anthony Hasbourd. Hates the fact that the school makes him coach Hasbourd every year for the school production. Hates the way Hasbourd’s parents think their son is too good for him.”
    “I know. So what are you saying?”
    “It’s just that…” She looked at me. “Do you think he might be using you to get back at Hasbourd?”
    I reached down and stuffed a spring roll into my mouth. I chewed slowly. “I’m not replacing Hasbourd. I’m only going to be his understudy. I just wanted you to know of the audition, that it went well.”
    “I’m sorry, Xing,” she said, leaning forward towards me sincerely. “I didn’t mean to say anything hurtful.”
    “You weren’t there. How do you know what I sounded like?”
    “I’ve known you my whole life, practically. I know what you sound like.”
    “But you weren’t there when I auditioned. You have no idea what I can sound like.” I took the last spring roll, the one I had been planning on leaving for her, and rammed it in. I chewed hard, vigorously. “It doesn’t matter in any case,” I said through a mouthful. “Hasbourd’s still got the lead.”
    She looked at me and didn’t say anything.
    I chewed harder, swallowed. Sometimes I could just about kill her.
    “What exactly did Matthewman say?”
    “He thought I was amazing and told me so.” I could still hear the words resonating in my ears. “He said I was raw but had real talent.”
    “I’m sorry, I just can’t see it.”
    I picked up my cup and sipped through the straw, sucking up pockets of empty air. “He said he wants me to come in early every morning to practice. I don’t know if I should or not. Probably not. I don’t know.”
    The truth: I was confused. The thought that maybe it was just an aberrational fluke had crossed my mind a thousand times. Maybe it was just the acoustics of the bathroom or a once-in-a-billion, never-to-be-repeated freakish moment.
    I wanted to switch topics, and quickly. I knew exactly what to