Take a Bow
Page 30

Everybody comes to visit me — Jack, Chloe, Ben, Mr. North, even Kelsey — but I don’t hear from Emme.
I head into class with my arm in a cast and sling.
“Welcome back, Mr. Quinn,” Mr. North says to me as I settle into my seat.
“The prodigal jackass returns!” Jack says with a laugh.
Jack and Ben both seemed to have accepted my apologies for my behavior. I know Jack likes to have yet another thing to pick on me for.
“Oh, nice sparkly white teeth, Toothy McGee.”
My tongue runs over the caps that were put on the teeth that I broke. If only there were caps to fix everything in life.
Emme walks into class and gives me a halfhearted smile as she sits down.
“Hey,” I say to her.
She nods at me.
Mr. North gives us the hour to go over our pieces for next week’s concert. The one where I’m supposed to do a killer guitar solo.
Jack gets right to it. “We obviously have a problem with old gimpy here.”
Mr. North pulls up a chair beside us. “Listen, guys, we still want you to perform. I discussed with the other department directors, and we are fine if you want to pull a guitar student from the junior class to perform with you.”
Jack and Ben start going over different guitarists to fill in for me.
Emme speaks up. “I’m going to do the solo.”
“What?” Jack looks surprised.
I smile.
“Find someone to fill in for my rhythm part. I’m going to do the solo.”
“Red! That’s my girl! Although, I don’t mean to doubt you, but it’s pretty hard.”
Emme glares at Jack. “I can do it.”
And the way she says it, there is no question at all that she can.
I’m waiting for Emme at her locker after class.
“I’d say that I don’t mean to stalk you, but …”
She doesn’t look surprised to see me, but she doesn’t look pleased, either.
“What’s up?” she asks.
I didn’t think she was going to acknowledge my existence, so I don’t really have a plan.
“We still need to record some more songs for our thesis projects. I wanted to see when, ah, you wanted to come over.”
She stares at my sling. “Can you really work the soundboard with your arm?”
“I’m willing to try.”
She lets out a small sigh. “I don’t know….”
“Please.” I feel the desperation seep into my voice and I don’t care. I need to fix this. I need Emme. I hate myself so much right now, probably more than she hates me. If that’s even possible.
She nods to herself a bit, apparently weighing the pros and cons.
“Hey, guys. Welcome back, Ethan!” Tyler approaches us and I try to look happy to see him. Okay, maybe not happy, but I try to push down the murderous rage I feel inside.
I hold Emme’s gaze as Tyler stands between us, looking back and forth, waiting to be acknowledged. Then the corner of Emme’s mouth turns up slightly and she tilts her head at me. She looks at Tyler and grabs him by the shirt and kisses him. Hard.
I’ve never been so jealous of a person (or shirt) in my life.
“Hi,” she says as she pushes him away.
His eyes are wide. Clearly not the hello he was expecting.
She can hardly look me in the eye when she finally addresses me. “Yeah, I guess I could come over later. I’ll call you.”
She and Tyler leave hand in hand.
I feel sick to my stomach.
But I deserve that and so much more.
Emme does come over as promised. But instead of heading to the studio, she sits down on the couch in our living room.
“I’m pretty mad at you, Ethan.”
“I know.”
She starts playing with the tie that’s on her shirt. “But that doesn’t excuse me from not returning your phone calls or visiting you while you were out.”
I don’t even know what to say.
She continues. “I don’t know. I felt like I needed to get back at you for what you did. Which is why I made a total fool out of myself today with Tyler in front of you. But I don’t really think there is anything that I can do to make you realize what you’ve done. I want to move on from all of this.”
“I’ll do anything to make you not hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.”
Part of me doesn’t believe her, although I desperately want to.
I sit down next to her and take her hand. “Emme, I will do everything possible to make this up to you, I promise.”
She doesn’t respond. She slowly pulls her hand away. “There’s something I want to show you.” She takes out her phone and hands it to me.
I see an e-mail from Juilliard telling her she’s been invited to audition in February.
“You did it!”
She gives me a weak smile. This is something she’s dreamed about for so long. The old Emme would’ve been ecstatic, and a feeling creeps up inside me that makes me wonder if I killed that part of her.
“Emme!” I jump up on the couch. “You got invited to audition at Juilliard. JUILLIARD!” I jump right next to her so she starts to shake around.
She stands up. Her eyes get wide. “Flippin’ Juilliard!” She jumps up on the couch and lets out the most glorious laugh I’ve ever heard.
I lose my balance and fall backward onto the couch.
“Ethan!” She lets out a little scream.