What Happened to Once Upon A Time?

The classroom erupted into applause when I finished. All the faces mirrored my own bright smile and their eyes sparkled with lasting impression. Ms. Greenfeld clapped loudly. “Brava Blair! Brava! That was truly stunning. Now class. Class!” All attention returned to her, so I quickly sat down. Zane eventually let go of my hand, and a deep part of me wanted him not to. “So, I wanted to inform you on what this year is going to be like. You will have a partner for a duet project, two partners for a harmony project, multiple partners for a band project that will have a special reward and presentation, then we will attempt for the first time to put on or at the very least assist in putting on a school musical!” Everyone cheered once she was done, and all of us were almost bouncing in anticipation. “Now, you are free for the rest of the period. Go!”

         Suddenly, a swarm of students engulfed me. The hum of everyone talking at the same time commenced, and my head pounded. A gentle hand gripped my forearm, - seriously, what it up with people and dragging me today? – whisking me away. I looked at the hand’s owner to see Ms. Greenfeld. She led me to a beautiful black wood piano, sitting on the bench and looking up at me.    

         “Who taught you to sing like that?” she asked.

         “I’m completely self-taught,” I admitted. She looked shocked.

         “Wow. Amazing. Do you play an instruments as well?”

         I looked at my feet, a blush creeping up my neck. “Guitar, bass, drums, and piano.”

         “Self-taught as well?” I nodded, finally looking back up to see her astounded smile. “How did you…?”

         “I had a lot of free time you could say.”

         Ms. Greenfeld nodded, that bright smile still on her face. Then, her smile turned slightly suspicious. “So… you and Zane?”

         I laughed, but a blush still warmed my face. “What about us?”

         “Are you two going out?” she sounded genuinely curious.

         “No! We’re just friends,” I quickly denied.

         At my answer, she frowned. “But you like each other, right?”

         Once again, my gaze was locked on my feet. “We just met each other a few hours ago.”

         “That’s not-” the teacher was interrupted by a voice calling my name. My head snapped to see Nate at the door. My eyebrows drew together as I excused myself from Ms. Greenfeld and walked over.

         “Why are you here?” I hissed. He faked hurt, then grinned.

         “The office wants you to come in.”

         “Oh,” I muttered. I looked back at Ms. Greenfeld. She nodded, but gestured for me to look to the right of her. I looked to see Zane. He was watching us carefully, his face stoic. For a moment, I was going to send him a smile, but I noticed his gaze wasn’t actually on me, but on the teen standing behind me. Why was it that the two seemed mad at each other when they were perfectly fine before? Before I came, they were like brothers! …Did I do something?

         Nate snapped me from my reverie by lightly laying his hand on my arm. Seriously, way too many people touched that same arm so far today. I looked over to him, nodding at his expectant face, and following as he whisked me away. The halls were empty, silent other than the sound of our footsteps. Echoing in the hall, our steps seemed as loud as thunder. Neither of us talked, but the silence wasn’t too awkward. Just a little bit. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Nate opening his mouth as though he was going to say something but quickly shutting it again. I tried to hide a smile. He was completely at a loss for words. Apparently, I didn’t hide my smile very well.

         “What’re ya smiling about?” Nate asked. His voice rang through the halls with our footsteps.

         I shook my head. “Oh, nothing,” I told him, smiling the littlest bit more.

         He nudged my shoulder with his. “Come on. Tell me.”

         Quickly, I wracked my brain for an excuse, “Vocal IV was just really fun.”

         All of a sudden, Nate’s face darkened. “Have fun with Zane?” he practically spat the name.

         My eyebrows drew together. “Yeah, I did. What’s up with you two?”

         He brightened his face, but it looked as fake as it was. “Nothing. Just a little rough bit, like brothers.” I nodded even though I didn’t believe it at all. The tone of voice he said that in just screamed false. Not to mention, his smile looked forced, like he wasn’t actually happy.

         Soon enough we reached the wooden door with the plain blue font reading “OFFICE”. I almost groaned at the sight alone. Nate opened the door for me, his charming smile once again in place. With a wary glance his way, I walked past him into the office. Multiple people sat at computers on the other side of a desk in the middle of the room. There were multiple doors leading to the nurse’s, VP’s, and principal’s offices.

         One woman with short red hair, a splash of freckles, and brown eyes looked up with a relieved smile. She must have been happy to stop typing for even a short while. She flexed her fingers as if they were sore.

         “Blair, right?” she asked. I nodded and she gestured for me to follow her. Nate started to follow, but the woman waved him off. He took a seat in on of the padded chairs by the door as I continued with to a back room labeled “Storage”. She quickly flipped the light on so it illuminated the small area. Many boxes with different last names as labels were stacked on top of each other on shelves, but my suitcase and my soft material bag were on the ground at the end of the closet. I looked to the woman with a questioning gaze.

         “We need you to find another place to put these. A teacher has boxes to store, and this is where we need to put them,” she informed me. As I nodded, my mind raced to think of a place I could put the,. Not one popped into my mind. The lady nudged me so I walked forward, pulled the handle of my suitcase up, and positioned the strap of my soft bad comfortably over my shoulder. Then, I walked back to Nate, a thank you from the woman caressing my ears with a sweet tone.

         Nate raised an eyebrow at the luggage I now had. I gave him the “don’t ask” look, so he changed the subject. “Do you need an escort back to class?” he offered. I contemplated over my answer.

         If I said yes, I definitely wouldn’t get lost. There was no doubt to that. Plus, I would get more time with him. He was really sweet, and a complete gentleman. Not to mention easy to talk to. At the same time, something about him made me uneasy. I just didn’t know what.

         “No, I’m fine,” I found myself saying. He respected my decision and backed off, saying goodbye. Just as he did, I left, though a tad clumsier. Let’s just say going through doors with that luggage is NOT easy. Once I finally figured that mess out, I walked quite slow on my way back to music. I don’t know how long it took, but all I accomplished was tripping, running myself over with my suitcase, and numerous other fails. As soon as I was visible through the large glass window beside the door, I felt a gaze burning a hole in my head. Immediately, I looked up to see an expressionless Zane. I waved, causing his face to relax as he walked over to the door and proceeded to open it for me. I nodded in thanks, and then I felt a tug on my suitcase. My gaze snapped over to my hand as it tightened its grip on the handle. A tan hand was lightly gripping it as well, and my eyes trailed up the strong arm to the plain black t-shirt, to the strong jaw to the full lips and up to the golden eyes. They showed curiosity and a spark of confusion. Yet they were warm, like melted gold. My hand slowly opened, letting go. Zane smiled very softly, taking my suitcase into the music room. All the students that cared to notice had matching expressions of confusion. I followed Zane to Ms. Greenfeld, whose eyebrows were raised as she watched our approach.

         “May we be excused in order to bring these bags to a safe place?” Zane politely asked before our teacher could utter a sound. Her eyebrows drew together at the question.

         “Is she unable to do it herself Zane?” she replied with a question of her own. Zane chuckled.

         “Is it wrong to fear for the safety of a beautiful girl walking alone?” he shot back. My cheeks heated. He was the first male to call me something apart from hot or sexy. Ms. Greenfeld smiled when she glanced at my flushed state.

         “Alright. I’ll give you passes for being late to your next class.” And that is exactly what she did. Next thing I knew, I was walking with Zane towards the front of the school. Although, I didn’t know why. My legs moved quickly passed each other as I raced to keep up with Zane’s longer stride. The rolling of my suitcase was the loudest sound.

         “Where are we going?” I finally asked, almost panting.

         “The parking lot,” he answered nonchalantly. His answer almost made me freeze. The parking lot? Like, the place my parents dropped my off? Great. Cause I totally wanted to go back there. For about 5 minutes we walked, and then we were exiting the front doors of the school. A large lot of cars were laid out before us, and I scanned my eyes across them all. How could the students possibly pick out their own car from all the rest? It seemed impossible, but Zane gently took my hand in his as he pulled me the right direction. I could feel my face heating up already.

         Zane finally stopped in front of a sleek black convertible that had the top opened up. I must have looked like a gaping fish with my wide eyes and open mouth. Zane chuckled as he put his rough fingers on my chin and shut my mouth. My face heated up even more than before when Zane’s fingers lingered slightly more than necessary.