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“Awesome. So, tomorrow? Three-thirty?”

“Wait, I’m in already?” I asked.

Emerson clapped me on the shoulder, and Sayid grinned while unplugging his keyboard. “Dude,” Sayid said, “we weren’t expecting anyone to respond. This kind of music isn’t exactly big in this school, in case you hadn’t noticed. Welcome to Absolution of the Chained. We could’ve been really big, had we all been born in a town with better music taste.”

“Way to make us sound desperate, Sayid.” Izzy scowled. “People like us fine. We just usually have to tone down the screaming when we perform.”

“A.K.A., put a gag on me,” Emerson said. “I only get to have real fun when we’re playing around.”

“You’ve got to know your audience, guys, like I keep telling you,” Sayid said.

The bell rang then. “Yeah, for sure,” I said. “See you tomorrow. Let’s do it.”

They broke out in grins. It was that easy. Sothat’show you got through a social situation without repelling everyone within ten feet of you. Speak as little as possible, and fill the silence in with music.

Note to self: carry bass around everywhere and break into impromptu solo whenever anyone tries to force you into conversation.

Foolproof.

As soon as we were dismissed the next day, I headed toward the music room. I got about halfway down the hallway when I ran into Juliette and Niamh. Or maybe they ran into me. Juliette did seem quite enthusiastic when she saw me. That appeared pretty normal for her, though.

“Ollie-oop,” she said, bounding over. If anyone could be called the human personification of Tigger, Juliette was it. Which made me Piglet, I guess. “Want to come hang with me and Lara? We’re gonna grab some fries then hit the mall for a bit.”

As tempting as a night with Lara was… “I can’t, actually. I’ve got band practice right now in the music room.”

“Band?”

“Yeah. It’s called Absolution of the Damned. No, wait… Apocalypse of Chains, I think. Can you have an Apocalypse of Chains? What would that involve, do you think?”

But, weirdly enough, neither of them was keen on philosophizing about various potential forms of the apocalypse. “Oh, do you mean Izzy’s band?” Niamh asked, at the same time Juliette jumped in with, “I didn’t know you played!”

“Mm, yeah. Guitar and bass. Do you?”

“Clarinet.”

“Slightly different genres, then,” I said.

“She’s seriously great,” Niamh said, and Juliette waved her hands around like she totally-didn’t-but-secretly-totally-did agree.

“I’m okay,” Juliette said. Which everyone knows is code forI was better when I was an infant than Mozart was at his peak, but N.B.D.“More importantly,you play.I could really use your help. I have to pick an audition piece for the Conservatory of Music, and I’m stuck between a couple of possibilities. Do you think you might give a girl a hand sometime?”

I was about to say sure. Totally. I know little to nothing about classical music but I’d give it my best shot.

I wasaboutto say all of the above. But I ended up staring blankly down the hallway. I probably should’ve been used to seeing him by now, but I wasn’t. I’d seen him in English several times—he was hard to miss, given that he had a smartass remark for every few sentences the teacher spoke—as well as around the hallways and in the cafeteria. And even though I definitely hated him, and he was nothing at all like the guy I’d fallen for, seeing him made my chest tighten. Right now he was walking right toward me, his group of basketball guys flanking their captain, Matt, like disciples in a sea of black and white. It was eighty degrees outside, for God’s sake. They always wore those damn jackets, like if they took them off for a second the rest of us might forget their place in the social hierarchy.

Which, to clarify, was: Above Everyone Else.

“Is that a no?” Juliette asked.

I scrambled to catch back up. Oh yeah. Clarinet. “No, no, I’ll help for sure. Easy. That’s, uh… a great, great idea. So great. Awesome.”

Niamh was giving me a hesitant look again, like the one she gave me when I over did it with the compliments at the back-to-school party. “All righty guys, well, I’ve got to run if I’m gonna make it to Spin class, but I’ll see you later.”

Sometimes being around Niamh exhausted me. This was the seventh time she’d gone straight to the gym after school in as many days. Who knew when she had time for homework.

Juliette folded her arms in the direction of the basketball guys as they disappeared down the hallway. “Will troubles, huh? Have you spoken to him since the party?”

I pulled my best “Will, who’s Will?” expression. Which was probably about as convincing as Juliette’s “I’m mediocre at clarinet” face. “Nah, but it’s fine. What happens over summer stays over summer, right? It’s not like we’re enemies. We just…”