The Low Notes (33 page)

The bell rang and she was out in the hall fast, heading to her locker. The faster the day was over, the sooner they could talk again. Reaching in her bag she found her cell phone which had been lighting up in her first period class like crazy.

She had fifteen text messages since the start of school. Nina never considered herself very popular so she panicked. Maybe something bad happened. Then she remembered the prom incident.

The first round of messages were questions.

Is it true? Is Todd lying? Was it good?

Then there were congratulatory messages
.

Way to go Nina. Ur my hero.

Nina felt sick. She looked around after stopping at her locker and realized most eyes were on her. She tried to breathe deep, she knew this was going to happen but she still wasn‘t expecting the glares and whispers in quite the volume they were coming. Just as she was about to delete them all, James was in front of her, wild-eyed and frazzled.

Nina smiled at him. “Hey, what’s up?”

James looked around frantically. “Have you heard?”

“
Uh, that I’ll be on the cover of any and all Wexley Falls tabloids? Yeah. It’s ridiculous. But it should blow over soon,” she teased, grabbing her Government text book. James’ face fell and he stared at the floor in silence.

“
Oh, it’s alright. I’ll be fine. It’s just gossip. It’s only a rumor,
remember
?” Nina pressed.

She’d prepped James and Nick over the weekend that should anyone ask, namely administration, they should just call it a juicy rumor.

“
Nina, he’s not here,” James said.

She blinked. “What do you mean? Of course he’s here.”

“
Hannah Bruckheimer is in his first period class. She said they had a sub and the sub told the class he quit. He’s gone.”

Her eyes stayed fixed on James, the wounded puppy look on his face, as she flipped open her phone and hit Kevin’s number on speed dial. She listened to it ring, her blank eyes locked on James. Her heart leapt for a moment but she shoved the feeling down when she realized the voice she heard on the other end was only his voice message telling her to leave her name and number.

“
Hey, it’s me. I’m hearing some weird things at school and I’m just wondering why you aren’t here to face the storm with me. I really want to talk to you. Call me back.” Nina felt her throat getting tight as she finished her message. Something about James’ face told her it was true and he was still looking at her cautiously as if he was waiting for her to explode.

“
Look, I’m not going to worry about this right now. There's no way he would’ve let me say all the things I said Saturday without telling me he’d
quit his job
. It’s just not possible.” Nina slammed her locker shut and stared down the hall. Girls were giving her grins and raised eyebrows while boys were whispering to each other, slapping one another on the back with a laugh certainly at her expense. She put on a brave face and pushed the nonsensical idea of Kevin quitting to the back of her mind where it stayed until the end of the day. In her last class she was studying quietly at her desk when a student aid came through the door and handed her teacher a slip of paper.

“
Nina. They need you in the principal’s office,” her teacher, Mrs. Felling said through a tight mouth. Nina could tell even the faculty had been talking about her. And now she was going to be interrogated.

The rest of the students in her class chuckled and ogled at her as she stood, grabbing her things, ready to follow the student who'd been ordered to summon her. She acted as if it were normal, no big deal but inside she was fuming. The walk to the office seemed endless. She envisioned an old pirate cartoon she’d seen as a kid, the evil captain forcing traitors and captured enemies to walk the plank. That was exactly how it felt. The ground beneath her felt unsteady like a thin wooden board off the side of a ship and soon she wouldn’t even have that to stand on. Soon she would plummet to the sea, left to drown.

Principal Andrews was waiting for her, holding his door open to her with a solemn face. Nina smiled at him just to spite the office secretary glaring at her from the side like she had a scarlet letter emblazoned on her chest. Walking through the door to his tiny office, she thought she heard the distant sound of a splash in water as the door shut behind her.

“
Have a seat Miss Jordan,” Principal Andrews said, sitting in his cushy leather chair behind his desk. Nina sat and folded her hands in her lap, relaxing, showing no signs of guilt or worry.

“
Do you know why I’ve asked you in here?”

She felt like rolling her eyes. If this man knew anything about the students he presided over, he'd know gossip is the blood of the Wexley Falls High School vampires. The bigger the story, the better the feast.

“
Of course I know. I’ve been stared at and mumbled about all day,” she snipped. She immediately regretted her tone. Acting defensively would only show weakness.

“
Well, I’m sorry about that. I hate for a student to be blathered about but what I’m more concerned about is, well, the story itself.” His voice trailed off. Nina watched him roll a pen between his fingers in thought. She wondered what version of the tale he’d heard. The ‘Mr. Reed and Nina fell in love over Shakespeare's sonnets’ version or the more widely spread ‘Nina the Lolita, hot-steamy-sex-on-the-desk’ version? Judging by his reddening face, it was the latter.

“
It’s just that, Sir, a story. A rumor started by Todd Dawson,” she said with confidence.

Principal Andrews cocked his head to the side, playing the part of the concerned authority figure. “Why would he say such things?”

Nina took a deep breath. “Todd has been bothering me since he returned this year. I've put him off and told him no at every pass. At prom, Todd made a pass at me when I refused to dance with him and he pulled me onto the floor anyway. I shot him down and tried to leave. He got aggressive. Mr. Reed saw it all and intervened. He helped me. Todd’s ego must have been bruised so he started spreading garbage to hurt me. Todd told me once he didn't like Mr. Reed. Maybe he saw it as the perfect chance to ruin his career, too.”

She waited nervously for some kind of sign that he bought the story and honestly, it really too far from the truth so it had to be somewhat believable. Principal Andrews started to nod slowly then he smiled at her.

“
You know, normally I don’t pay any mind to rumors like these but I guess the timing of this is what made me want to look into it,” he said.

“
What do you mean?”

“
The fact that this rumor took over the school right when Mr. Reed resigned from his position just seemed odd. I suppose it was only a coincidence. An unfortunate one at that.” He stood up and walked to the door to release her from her questioning leaving Nina's heart thudding loudly, pulsing in her ears after hearing the truth.

“
Hopefully this will all blow over in a few days. Until then, chin up and if anyone gives you any serious problem, you let me know,” he said, shooing her out into the hall. Nina forced a smile but her head was reeling.

The end of the day bell rang before she made it back to her classroom so she turned on her heels, mindlessly wandering to her locker. James was leaning against it, wringing his hands.

“
Nina...”

“
I know.”

Chapter Seventy-One

She called and called, sent text message after text message. No answer, no response. It was as if he never existed at all. She was surprised her fear and anxiety had yet to make her burst into sobs. No, she hadn’t cried. She was too panicked to cry. Nina drove straight to Kevin’s house. Surely he'd be home. She’d bang on the windows as long as it took to get him to come out and explain himself.

She instantly noticed his car wasn’t there but that didn’t stop her from going to the front door. Standing on the porch, she felt a chill up her spine remembering how he’d said goodbye on prom night. He had really meant it?

She knocked until her knuckles felt raw. She peered in the windows and saw all of his things just as they’d been the last time she’d been inside. Pulling out her phone, she dialed his number.

“
It’s me again. Why are you doing this? Why didn’t you tell me about resigning? Why did you let me end it? I love you. I’m in love with you, Kevin. Now where the hell are you?”

Each message had been similar but she couldn’t stop calling. She was determined to find him. A thought flew into her mind and just as quickly she was back in her car and on to another house, knocking on its door.

The door opened and Nina saw the look of disappointment right away.

“
Mrs. Benson, I’m really sorry but I didn’t know where else to go. Do you know where Kev...Mr. Reed is?” Her voice was quaking as she kept her teacher’s gaze timidly. Mrs. Benson's face was blank. Her eyes shaming.

“
I think you should go home,” she said gravely.

“
It’s not how you think. He’s a good man.”

Jennifer scoffed and rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest. She glared at Nina from inside her doorway, waiting for Nina to turn and leave. Defeated, she did, hearing the door slam behind her. She felt the breakdown coming and then she heard another voice.

“
Nina?”

She whipped around, the tears starting to well. She prayed it was Kevin and that his voice only sounded different. But as her eyes cleared quickly she saw Jeff, Kevin’s cousin, before her. She’d only seen him a few times but the resemblance to the man she loved was undeniable and almost made her heart leap. He was halfway down his front yard when he ran his hand though his hair. Her stomach knotted, missing Kevin even more.

“
You won’t find him.”

She opened her mouth to ask why, to ask a million questions, but nothing came out.

“
He didn’t tell me much but he’s not in Wexley. I think he just wants to let you go,” he said.

“
He
wants to let
me
go? What about me? Don’t I get a say?”

Jeff didn’t answer, he only shrugged. Her breath started to feel like it was being ripped from her, sucked out of her by some unknown force. Nina hung her head and her eyes brimmed with tears again as the reality hit her hard. She heard the front door open again. Mrs. Benson stood angrily in the doorway and Jeff looked back at her with a pitiful face.

“
Nina, I’m really sorry,” he muttered quickly before heading back to his house.

She didn’t really remember the drive. She didn’t know how many traffic laws she may have broken but she made it back to Kevin's house, her breath still heaving out of her. Reaching into her book bag in the backseat, she found a notebook and a pen and did the only thing she could think of. She wrote him a letter. She said everything she might’ve said had he been face to face with her in that moment. When it was all written, when every word was on the page, she signed it with a heartfelt
I love you.

Putting her body back on autopilot, she eventually ended up at her own house, in her room, on her bed, a pillow clenched in her arms. That’s when the sobs took over. As tears rolled down Nina’s face, she felt lost and alone. Confused as to why Kevin would do such a thing to her and angry that she didn’t have the chance to make him change his mind.

There was a knock at her door and she tried to compose herself enough to tell whoever it was to go away but she couldn’t and her sister walked right in.

“
What do you want?” Nina growled.

Greta didn’t fire back. Shutting the door behind her, she took a seat on the edge of Nina’s bed.

“
You know Blake’s little brother Cameron? He’s a freshman at your school. He heard something today and…well, I just wanted to see if you were okay.” Her voice was soft and sweet. It was a genuinely concerned tone Nina had never heard out of her sister. She sniffed and looked over at Greta whose eyes were sober and patient.

“
What do you care?” She couldn’t bring herself to believe Greta’s sincerity.

Greta sighed and scooted closer to Nina on top of the comforter. “I know we don’t always get along but you’re still my sister. And whether it’s true or not, you shouldn’t be alone right now. Especially if it’s true.”

Nina glanced at her, giving her a look that told her quickly it was indeed true. Greta’s face fell at the look and Nina was overtaken with sobs again. Without a word, Greta slid even closer to her and wrapped her arms around her and began stroking her shiny black hair as she cried.

“
It’s all gonna be okay, Sissy,” Greta whispered down at her as she curled up near her, now nestled in Greta’s lap, letting her tears flow. Greta hadn’t called Nina ‘Sissy’ since they were children, when they liked each other. Before their mother left and their father played favorites. Before school and friends had changed them. Nina relaxed under her sister’s touch knowing even with all of the ugliness between them, when it really counted, she had a sister who loved her.

****

He let two weeks pass before returning to his home. Anxious still that she might see him or come by the house, Kevin acted like a ghost in his own home, never turning on too many lights and keeping all the blinds shut. But he saw the folded piece of notebook paper stuck in the front door.