Crescendo

Chapter 8

The cool evening air dampened my skin as I walked out of the theater. The crowd from the Dirty Dancing five o'clock showing walked to their cars.

I watched from the front of the theater.

After years of late movie nights with my mom, it was hard to come out of the dimly lit value theater alone.

My silent reflection came to an abrupt halt when a girl called my name. I turned around to see her lightly jogging over to me. The sun decided to make an appearance from behind the clouds, leaving me to squint as I tried to make out the features of her face.

"Hey," she smiled, revealing a prominent gap between her front teeth, "You're in my music class, right?"

A strained noise left my lips. I really need to start paying attention to my surroundings.

"I'm Iris. I sit in the front."

"Hi," I returned her warmth as best I could, "I'm Blair."

"Oh, I know. I mean, not to be totally creepy or anything." She rubbed her neck, "You dropped this."

Before I could respond, she handed over my student ID. "I found it in the parking lot by my Jeep."

"Thanks," I laughed, "Must've fallen out of my purse when I got out." Serves me right for not putting it back into my wallet.

"No problem it happens to me all the time," Iris pushed back her shimmering blonde hair, "How did you do on the essay? I barely got a B. Who knew a musician would be up my ass about comma splices."

Lucky.

I snickered, "He failed me."

And then I humiliated myself.

Iris's eyes widened, "But you wrote two novels."

Heat rushed to my face, "According to Professor Kane, I didn't live up to his expectations."

"That doesn't seem fair," her expression twisted, "I mean, a man gets hit by a car and then he thinks he can get away with GPA murder? Whack."

I stifled a laugh.

All it took was one SUV going "too fast for conditions" for Daniel Kane to almost meet his maker. I remembered reading the headline while sitting by my mother's bedside.

"He did give me the chance to rewrite it," I said, not ready to publicly slander him, yet.

"Well, that's good," Iris opened her mouth to say something else but someone in the parking lot called her name. A guy waved in our direction. "Sorry," she said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, "that's my cue."

I watched as Iris sprinted off toward him. Once they were out of sight, I tucked away my scratched ID and headed toward my car.

****

My polished nails dug into the palm of my hand as I walked down the hall. The steady flipping of my stomach was a tell-tale sign of a burgeoning panic attack.

"You're an adult," Tessa said as I drove to class, her Facetime call being the sole reason I even dared to show up, "Adults have sex. He can't shame you for that unless you let him."

I unclenched my fist and forced my shoulders back. The crippling embarrassment would have to wait until I could curl under my bed and waste away, like an adult.

The classroom door hung open, beckoning me inside. The other students whispered in their seats, paying little attention to me.

Perfect.