Page 20 of Echoes of Us

I walk past her in the hall, and she looks up, meeting my eyes. I scowl and shoulder her as I pass, putting all of my rage into the contact. She wobbles and glares at me. “Watch where you’re going, princess.” I ignore her and walk into the calculus classroom. I sit at my seat sulking until Mills sits down beside me.

“What is up your ass? You look like you want to kill everyone in this room,” she says with a giggle.

I look over at her with a look of annoyance. Where does she come up with this shit? “Do you want to be first?” I say as she shakes her head exaggeratedly. “How is Mr. Roberts like…obsessed with her? I don’t understand how someone like that can get the meanest teacher to like her in one class. And not only like her, but act like she is some math prodigy.”

She looks at me warily and says, “So you’re mad that she is smart, and that Mr. Douche likes her? Why do you care so much about who likes trash panda? Our goal is to get her out of your house and our school. Everything else is pointless to think about.”

I roll my eyes and open my book. My phone vibrates in my purse. I glance down to see another text from my mom.

MOM 1:42 PM

You can ignore me all day if you want, but if you don’t come home with Teagan today, I am adding another week to your punishment.

Screw this day and screw that girl.

Chapter 21

Teagan

I stand outside of AP Calc waiting for Grace, still fuming over Emmaline shouldering me as she passed. Who does she think she is? What could I have possibly done from last night to today to piss her off? Is it because of Grace this morning?

“Hey, Headmaster McNeely wants to see you,” Grace announces, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Why?” I ask.

“Probably because you haven’t chosen an elective yet if I had to guess. Now, c’mon.” She starts walking down the hall and I follow.

Grace points to the office door. “You go ahead. I’ll meet you back out here to see where he wants you to go. I need to go grab something from my locker before soccer practice next period.” She turns to walk away.

I knock on the headmaster’s door and enter. “Ah, Ms. Parker. How is your first day going? I have already received a few emails from your new teachers letting me know you are ahead of the game, and they are so impressed.” Before I can even answer he continues, “The only problem is you never let us know what elective you’d like to take. We have art, dance, athletics band, orchestra, sports, you name it! So, what will it be?”

“I don’t want to do any of those,” I say flatly. He furrows his brows and looks into a file, which I assume is mine. I’m taken aback by how thick it is and really curious about what’s inside.

“I see here you took piano all through elementary, middle school and through your junior year of high school. We have a phenomenal pro…”

“No,” I cut him off very firmly. My mom was a competitive pianist her entire childhood and a piano teacher as an adult. Even while she was an addict, the piano was the one thing between us that was never tainted. She taught me how to play and never missed a recital, competition or school program. I have not touched a piano since the day she died. I don’t plan to start now.

He looks at me contemplatively before stating, “Piano it is. I have a feeling you need it. Grace will take you to the music hall.”

“I said no. I don’t want to…” I start.

He holds up a hand to stop me. “Look, Teagan. Ms. Thatcher is a great pianist and one of the school’s most no-nonsense teachers. I think it would be good for you to spend one period a day with someone who could bring you out of that shell. Now, go on.” With that, he dips his head toward the door and continues looking through my large file.

Rolling my eyes, I stand and leave his office. Grace is not outside the door, so I decide to go find her at the lockers where she said she would be. Walking down these halls has not gotten any less weird throughout the day. Everything is so much different than my old school. I hate to admit it but, besides the douche bag AP Latin teacher, all of the other classes and teachers have been kind of awesome today. I didn’t realize how little I was being challenged at my old school. It’s not like I think I will struggle; it has just been a nice change of pace. I’m putting more effort and thought into each class. Still, I really miss having Sean around, at least when he showed up. Plus, I am never going to truly fit in with these robots.

As I head toward the lockers, I spot princess and her meathead boyfriend leaning against the wall. It’s almost cringy to watch him grab onto her like he owns her, especially since she looks visibly uncomfortable. Meathead leans down to kiss her, roughly grabbing her chin to pull her mouth to his. He tries to deepen the kiss, but she pulls away. I can just make out what she is saying from her lips, “Not here.” Why she is with him if he makes her visibly uncomfortable? I notice Grace standing a bit past them and decide to add to princess’s obvious discomfort. I call out to Grace, “Grace! I got my next class, ready to go girlie?” Girlie? I just threw up in my mouth. What was that, Teagan? Both Grace and Emmaline turn in surprise.

I walk past Emmaline without so much as a glance and purposefully loop my arm into Grace’s. “Can you show me to the Music Hall? Headmaster McNeely helped me choose an elective and I am still a bit turned around.” Grace looks startled for a moment. She looks over my shoulder toward Emmaline and smiles slyly. I turn around to see princess is fuming.

“Of course, Teags. I just have to go change for practice first,” She asks as we walk arm-in-arm down the hall.

Using Grace to piss off princess is going to be so fun.

Chapter 22

Emmaline

What in the hell did I just witness?Earlier today, that girl couldn’t bother to talk to or look at Grace but now they are besties? I have never even seen that girl smile, but she was beaming when she walked up to Grace and hooked their arms together. Not to mention the smug look Grace gave me afterward. I am pissed at myself for not hiding my annoyance. The last thing I need is to give Grace more ammo against me.

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