Something You Said (The Faderville Novels Book 6) by N. Gemini Sasson

Author:N. Gemini Sasson [Sasson, N. Gemini]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: heartwarming dog story, dog novel for adults, books for dog lovers, well written dog book, dog book series
Publisher: Cader Idris Press
Published: 2023-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

chapter 16: Rowan

My footsteps echoed down the empty hallway. Fluorescent light beamed off waxed linoleum. It might have passed for a hospital corridor, but for the multicolored lockers flanking either side and the low buzz of scattered voices seeping from beneath closed doors.

First bell had already rung ten minutes ago. I was alone among hundreds.

I checked my schedule, looked at the room number on the door, then checked the schedule again. The last thing I wanted to do was walk into the wrong class. This new school in Bowling Green was easily five times the size of Faderville. Brand-new and brightly lit inside and tastefully landscaped outside, it looked more like a college campus than a high school to me. I wanted to be back in my old building with its columned façade, cracked foundation, and leaky windows. There, I knew the layout of every room, the temperament of every teacher, and which kids to sit next to and which to avoid. Here, everything was an unknown.

If I wanted to leave, I could walk straight out the front door. Nobody would miss me since nobody knew or was expecting me. Anonymity had its perks.

Tempting, but if I was caught, that would end up in a call to my mom, who’d darted off to her job at the college fifteen minutes ago after dropping me off. I’d lingered in front of the school, then in the hallway until now. If she had to hear from the principal how I’d tried to skip school on the first day, I was pretty sure that wouldn’t go over well, even if she was nice about it.

Hands shaking, heart racing, I gripped the doorknob to the classroom and pulled. Two dozen sets of eyes lasered me.

Suddenly, I wanted to be taking Periwinkle on a walk, teaching her tricks. Anywhere but here.

I might as well have been wearing a giant sign that said, “Hi. I’m new here.”

The slip of paper crinkled as I set it on the teacher’s desk. A little bit ago, the guidance counselor, Mr. Grewell, had given me seven identical forms for each period, each with my name filled out and some basic information about me and where I was from. As if you could sum up who I was in a paragraph.

The teacher took one glance at the paper, then handed me a textbook and syllabus. “Good morning. Have a seat.”

As I plopped into the desk by the window she’d waved at, I felt relief that she hadn’t used my name. Also, disappointment. I wanted to be greeted warmly in a way that put me at ease—and yet I wanted everyone to pretend I’d been here since the beginning. That I was neither friend nor foe. That I was no one worth envying or regarding with suspicion, yet also not anyone who could be poked fun at.

A dark-haired boy in the next row glanced at me. My heart pounded harder. Was he checking me out? A girl in front of me whispered to the girl in the next aisle.

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