Dark Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page B

class, David nodded and sat back against the table behind him,
while everyone else pulled their chairs into a neat circle around
me. Even Alana moved from her desolation in the corner and stood
beside Ryan, with her violin still in hand.
    “ Go get ‘em, Ara.”
Ryan waved an encouraging fist.
    “ Thanks,” I
muttered.
    The world disappeared
for a second then. I inhaled and felt the cool of the keys under my
fingertips—heavy and solid. Breathe.
    The first notes of
the song filled the air, and a familiar flood of excitement rushed
through my heart, then flowed down my hands. The keys were heavier
than the ones back home, but it only took two chords to get used to
it. “This is called United States of
Eurasia, followed by Collateral Damage ,” I
said.
    A few people laughed
loudly and cheered.
    As I panned over the
notes, feeling the long-forgotten muscles in my hands stretch; I
cleared my throat and sung the words. David looked down, keeping a
smile hidden behind his eyes as he nodded in time with the
music.
    On the second verse, a
violin came in out of nowhere; I looked over my shoulder and smiled
at Alana, who had her eyes closed. But her accompaniment gave me a
new kind of confidence, and my voice flowed, unwavering, into the
echo of the auditorium. It just felt so damn good to release the
air from my lungs this way again, as if this was my first breath in
two months.
    Everyone else in the
room became a part of the performance then—keeping the beat with
their hands and feet as I played. It was like a journey; a story
with a beginning, middle, and end. And right where I’d have done
so, if it were me, the violin cut out, leaving an eerie stillness
as I drew the song to an end; the high notes sorrowful, laden with
a distant kind of pain that reminded me of home—of my best
friend.
    With my eyes closed,
encasing the memories of my old school and the softly-weighted keys
of the baby grand piano in the music room there, my fingers played
for me, allowing me to drift away to the shores of days when life
was simple. Alone, in that place, I felt the last note leave, and
only silence remained—hovering like a breath held.
    I opened my eyes to
David’s beautiful face. “Oh, crap. Did I faze out?”
    “ No.” He stood up,
and Ryan started clapping like a seal at a marine park.
    “ Way to go, New Kid,”
one of the girls said.
    “ Thanks.” I smiled
sheepishly, steering my eyes away from David's soul-penetrating
gaze.
    “ Well—” Mr Grant peered down his sharp nose, “—I can see I
have nothing much to teach you , Miss
Thompson.”
    “ That’s okay, Mr
Grant,” Ryan said. “Dan still hasn't gotten past open
chords.”
    A boy ditched a pencil
at Ryan.
    “ Right.” Mr Grant
turned on his heel and walked back up the aisle. “Carry on, people.
We will be working on our performance pieces for the Halloween
concert.”
    My eyes stayed on the
keys until the heavy door to the auditorium closed with an echoed
thud behind the two-headed beast. What was that guy’s problem? “Did
he expect me to fail?” I asked, looking around the
group.
    “ He does it to
everyone new.” Ryan patted my shoulder.
    “ Well, thanks for the
heads-up, David.” I frowned at him.
    “ I figured you could
handle it.” He looked at Ryan then and they both
laughed.
    There was no way he
could’ve known that, unless he’d read my student file—which
I highly doubted.
This was obviously some cruel practical joke they played on new
kids. I folded my arms. “So what gave you that impression? That I
could handle it?”
    David stopped laughing
and folded his arms, too, looking a little smug. “Your fingers,
actually.”
    Slowly, I pulled them
out from the fold and studied them. My nails used to be perfectly
rounded atop the long, thin digits, but looked a little worn these
days from being munched on so often. But he was right.
    “ The hands of a
pianist,” he added.
    Very observant, Mr
Know-It-All. “Fine. I’ll pay that one. But