Dark Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page A

half
laughed.
    “ So, we always have
music class in the auditorium. Good acoustics. And more space,” he
said, and as the door opened, my breath caught in my throat. “It’s
much brighter in here when the House Lights are on,
though.”
    “ Are you kidding?
This room is great in the dark.” My eyes followed the long columns
of steeply inclined seats, stopping on the red velvet curtains
framing the stage. It reminded me instantly of ballet—with the
smell of latex, chipboard and wool carpet, while the sound of feet
on the floorboards over a hollow stage, if I closed my eyes, took
me home again. In the aisle before the front row, students had
dragged tables and chairs into a small, disorderly cluster, where
they all sat, tuning their instruments or laughing and
talking.
    In the seconds it took
to size up the group, my eyes swept past them and stopped on a long
forgotten acquaintance of mine. “A piano?”
    “ Very observant,”
David said, and I rolled my eyes at him. He laughed. “Come on, I’ll
introduce you to her.”
    “ Her?”
    “ Yep,” he said simply, and as he let go of the auditorium
door, it thudded loudly behind us, making everyone look up; the
shambolic wailing of their instruments stopped abruptly, leaving a
dense silence as we started down the aisle. “It’s okay,” he leaned
closer to whisper. “They’re not necessarily staring at you, Ara,
more the fact that you’re walking with me .”
    “ Why? What does that
matter?”
    “ You’re a
girl.”
    “ I know,
but…”
    “ Guess I just don’t
really ever talk to girls.”
    “ Oh.” I folded my
arms around myself. “Why?”
    He grinned and slipped
a guiding hand through the strap of my backpack, resting it just
under my shoulder blade. “I uh—I don’t like any of
them.”
    “ Oh.” I tried to
laugh off the nerves, but nothing came out. All I could focus on
was his touch against my cotton dress, so close to my
skin.
    As we neared the
stage, some of the kids stood up, but their eager smiles sent my
shoulders to my ears.
    “ Hey, guys.” David
nodded his greeting, keeping his hand safely on my back. “This is
Ara.”
    I took a deep, shaky
breath, and waved, but the forced smile probably made me look more
like a troll than a friendly newcomer.
    “ Ah, a fellow muso.”
A vertical palm appeared at my mid-section, ready to shake my hand;
I looked up from his thin wrist to his sandy-blonde hair, then back
down to his broad, honest grin, warmly inviting
friendship.
    “ Um, hi.”
    “ Nice to meet you.
I’m Ryan.” He shook my hand then inclined his head to a small,
dark-haired girl in the corner, quietly playing her violin. “And
that’s Alana.”
    “ Hello.” I smiled at
her, but my troll face clearly scared her back into the shadows
after a quick nod my way.
    Ryan laughed, leaning
closer. “She’s shy.”
    “ Oh.”
    “ Anyway, that there
is Fiona, and that’s Jess, Jay, Dan…” He rattled off names as I
nodded and smiled at the faces, forgetting their names instantly.
They should’ve all been called Bob—make things so much
easier.
    “ So?” Ryan asked.
“What’s your poison?”
    I stared at him,
trying to figure out what the hell he meant.
    “ He
means what do you play ?” David added, barely masking his
amusement.
    “ Oh. Um. Piano?” I
said, but it sounded more like a question for some
reason.
    “ Nice.” Ryan nodded
then pointed to the old brown upright. “Well, that’s Big Bertha.
She’s old and large and always in the way—but she’s in
tune.”
    “ Big Bertha?” I
scratched my head, looking at David.
    “ We have a name for
everything around here,” David said.
    Before I could laugh,
a loud clap resonated around the auditorium. Everyone stopped and
looked to the silhouette at the entrance. “I hear we have a new
student today.”
    “ Right here, sir,”
Ryan said, and I was pretty sure I just shrunk about two
inches.
    “ Excellent.” His booming voice reached my ears with the
presumption