Page 84 of Finding a Melody

Even glaring didn’t stop them from opening their stupid mouths. I wasn’t generally a violent person, but I wanted to punch all their teeth out. Why would they say something like that about someone? It was cruel and disgusting.

“You look like you’re about to kill someone with your eyes,” Paxon said, setting his tray down next to me. We were eating inside since it was pretty windy outside.

“Half this school,” I snapped out.

“What’s going on?”

“You haven’t heard any of it?”

Paxon’s cheeks turned red, letting me know he knew exactly what I was talking about. This school was making Cadence out to be some kind of slut.

“Where is Cadence?” Paxon asked. It was only me at the table so far and whenever someone tried to approach me, I’d glare at them until they thought it was a better idea to go elsewhere. I only ever sat with my friends at lunch. That was our tradition—no matter who our other friends were, we always ate lunch together. Even Paxon didn’t sit with his soccer team during lunch.

“Justin is with her. They went to the nurse’s office. He grabbed her after class and took her there.” I wanted to go, but they wanted one of us here to grab a table.

Bryan plopped down, glaring at his tray. “How is Cadence doing with all this bullshit?” he asked.

“She seems unfazed and it’s pissing me off,” I admitted. “It’s like she doesn’t even hear what they’re saying.”

“Has anyone asked her?” Paxon asked.

I shrugged. “I haven’t.”

Bryan shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together.

“Why are these rumors even spreading? Who’s doing it?” Paxon seemed genuinely confused.

“Since we sang our apology to her. Apparently that was all of us admitting our undying love to her or something.” I snorted, though my stomach seemed to flutter at the thought of being closer to Cadence. I liked her. A lot. I didn’t know what that meant for me, but it didn’t mean she deserved to be talked about like she was. It pissed me off.

How was she not affected? I really didn’t get it.

Or did she not know?

“We should talk to her, feel her out, see what she thinks,” Paxon said. “We can’t just assume she’s fine or doesn’t know what’s going on.”

“Know what?” Cadence asked, setting her lunch bag down on the table, making us all jump. None of us could look at her for a moment, too embarrassed to have been caught talking about her.

Justin settled in next to me, eyeing my food. Since I was a kind generous human being, I slid over my baggie of carrots to him, knowing he was probably starving at that point. The school lunch was never enough for him, and he never used extra money to buy food, even when Bryan said he’d pay. He was the stingiest of us all when it came to money.

Bryan and Paxon shared glances, suddenly unsure and nervous.

I was going to have to be the one to ask. They probably thought this was too sensitive, but I knew Cadence wouldn’t like being kept out of anything that concerned her.

“The rumors around you.”

Justin’s head whipped up and his eyebrows shot up as he stared at me. “What are you talking about?”

“Have you really not been paying attention?” I asked.

“I’m exhausted from the swim club and did an extra practice this morning. Had to prove to Coach that I still have it in me after missing a week.”

Fair enough. Sometimes swimming got him so swamped, we’d be lucky if he even remembered anything else like the day of the week or holidays or birthdays.

“I know,” Cadence finally said in a lower voice. “It’s been going on since last week.”

“You mean when we sang to you over the intercom?” Bryan asked.

She nodded. “They were able to figure out pretty quickly that it was me you were singing to. I guess you guys have a bigger presence in the school than I thought.”