Page 14 of Bring me Back

He was a cute kid, younger than the rest. I knew from the minute I heard his eager voice onstage, he had something to prove. Whatever it was, I recognized it in the tone of his voice. Shyness, eagerness, fierceness. He was determined to make Lysander work for him. There was so much passion in his monologue, I almost cheered from backstage. Whatever reason he thought Lysander was for him, I wanted him to have it.

So Puck went to Scott Garcia.

I had a few minutes before the bell rang, little time until there were kids everywhere. Looking from one side of the hall to the other, I read the call sheet taped beside the theater’s doors. My fingertips traced the names on the call sheet, one after the other, more from curiosity than anything else. And then I saw the last name I wanted to see.

Campbell.

Delilah Campbell, it was her name. I didn’t know Delilah, but I knew her sister too well. My fingers trembled as they hovered over the printed name. I schooled my features. I had no reason to be scared. I was an adult now. I was a twenty-two-year-old woman who shouldn’t fear teenagers.

I didn’t want to think how much of a disappointment I was to myself. When I approached Mrs. Carr and volunteered, I felt a great deal of accomplishment. I was a grownup, ready to ignore the past. Coming to Bluehaven High was my biggest achievement. But in the weeks that followed, I didn’t feel fearless, rather the opposite. I hid when the bell rang. I winced if someone talked directly to me. I used Mr. Miller’s presence as a shield. I knew very little about him, but he looked like someone who wouldn’t stay still in the face of cruelty.

Cruelty.

Rationally, I knew they couldn’t do anything to me. Not anymore, and even if they did, I wouldn’t have let them walk away like last time. I urged myself to be braver, and every time I flinched, I was defeated. Relying on Miller was a poor choice. I could have been completely wrong about him, but something told me I was not.

His calming presence always seemed to pull me back from the edge, and he definitely had a sense of humor. Daniel Miller, for some reason, decided my silence was the most amusing thing to ever happen to him.

I wasn’t the chatty type, and I was taking the morning and lunch shifts at the diner to make it to the theater after school hours, so by the time he was in my presence, I was all talked out. That was an explanation.

Though it was more than that. It was our thing.

When I kept quiet, he’d ask questions to encourage me to talk. To that, I’d reply with nothing more than a shrug, or an arch of an eyebrow. I’d flash him a look. I loved that he found it funny, but I couldn’t deny it was more to me than a silly game.

By the end of the week, I was fascinated he could understand full sentences when no words left my lips. I held back a smile, thinking about how silly the game was, when an icy tone brought me back to Earth.

“My sister told me about you.”

I spun around to come face to face with a blond girl. The second I looked at her, I knew she was Delilah Campbell. Katie’s sister. My finger was still hovering over her name, suspended on air. I retracted back and closed my hand in a fist, hiding it behind my back as I blinked at the girl. I wasn’t bothered enough to reply to Delilah. Whatever Katie said about me wasn’t kind or true.

It was minutes before the bell rang, and I did not know why she wasn’t in class. There were years and years of history between me and Katie, a thread that I did not want to pull.

Delilah licked her teeth with the tip of her tongue, looking at me with a sly smile. I wanted to end it. I needed to be left alone. I stepped back; I knew my knuckles must have been turning white with the force I held a fist. I hated to be cornered.

“Lost?” a voice interrupted Delilah’s staring game.

The breath I locked inside my lungs escaped. A warm hand spread on my lower back and the intense scent of cedar embraced me.Wood. Daniel Miller.

I almost collapsed when I felt his body next to mine, and I kept my gaze from his in case he saw how much I needed his rescuing.

I was supposed to rescue myself.

Delilah blinked up at him, her expression morphing. “Sorry, Mr. Miller. I was just on my way to the bathroom and I saw my name here…” she pointed at the list with a smile. “I’m Hermia.”

“Go back to class.”

Just that.Go back to class.Even though she was smiling at him using the sweetest tone of voice and cocking her head to the side.

“Aren’t you going to congratulate me?” she whined.

Steam rolled off Mr. Miller’s body, and I glanced his way. He stood tall with his chin up. The man who joked around my silence was gone. He looked like every bit the authority figure I knew he was.

“Congratulations,” he offered. “Now back to class before I write you up.”

Delilah finally was done pushing; stepping back once, she still watched Miller with a pleasant smile in place. When her eyes flashed at me, I could only see hatred.

“Do you know her?” he asked once Delilah disappeared through the hall.

I shook my head and dared to look up at him.Damn, he was close. I needed his presence so much before I forgot to freak out about his closeness. Even as I stepped back, I craned my neck to look at him properly.

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