When Rose Wakes (18 page)

“Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” Mrs. Welch said. “We’ve got a new face with us today. Some of you may know her already, but for those who don’t, say hello to Rose DuBois.”

Mumbled greetings followed, along with small waves and nods. Most of the chorus regarded her with open curiosity, some even with what seemed suspicion or disdain, probably wondering if she could sing. Rose was wondering the same thing.

“Let’s try to start with something Rose will know, get her acclimated,” Mrs. Welch said. “Rose, if you stay with us, you’ll be expected to learn the repertoire. But for the moment, let me see…” She ruminated a moment, then brightened. “How about ‘Viva la Vida’?”

Rose tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t think I know that one.”

Or I don’t remember it,
she thought. Put on the spot, she realized how few of the songs she was likely to know.
She’d had a couple of months to listen to music, and from conversations with Kylie and Jared, she knew that she had developed limited but eclectic tastes in that time.

“You don’t know Coldplay?” Mrs. Welch asked, surprised.

Rose shrugged apologetically.

“What about Jason Mraz? Or Bob Marley? We do a lot of classic songs, but I’m trying to think of something you’re more likely to know. Wait, we do ‘Defying Gravity’ from
Wicked.
Do you know that show?”

“Sorry, I don’t.”

She heard a murmur from amongst the chorus but was glad she couldn’t make out the comment. Several people gave her dubious looks. She tried to think of something she could suggest, but couldn’t imagine the chorus doing songs by any of the bands she had started to get into.

“The Beatles?” Mrs. Welch asked hopefully.

Rose nodded. “Sure. What song?”

“‘Let It Be?’”

“I know that one,” she said quickly, leaving out the fact that she only knew some of the lyrics.

“Finally,” Dom muttered, sneaking her a smile.

Rose laughed, though she was sure most of the choir felt the same way.

“All right, good,” Mrs. Welch said. “We’ll run through it once so you can get comfortable. Just try to sing the same part as Kylie and I’ll get an idea of how best to utilize you. Now, Peter starts. Everyone ready?”

Mrs. Welch raised her hands like a conductor and Rose felt the entire chorus stand at attention, awaiting the signal. With a nod, she gestured to a heavyset blond guy, apparently Peter.

“When I find myself in times of trouble…” he began, in a strong, clear voice with just a touch of vulnerability. Rose felt inspired, listening to him.

Just a dozen or so words in—at “speaking words of wisdom”—the rest of the chorus joined in. Rose missed the cue, surprised at its abruptness, but she loved the sound, the way their voices all swelled together. She could feel the music inside of her, let it fill her up. They were not all gifted with lovely voices, but together they made the song beautiful.

Peter sang another solo line, and this time she was ready, chiming in with the rest, tentatively at first. She sang along with the chorus and by the time the second verse began she felt her inhibitions vanishing. Breathing deeply, listening to Kylie, she opened her mouth and sang, putting herself into the music, raising her voice with the others. It felt to her like taking flight, like something that had been caged within her had been set free.

So deeply involved with the music, at first she did not notice other voices faltering and dropping off. But by the time they reached the second chorus, she realized that all but a few had stopped singing entirely. Rose glanced around and saw them all staring at her, including Kylie and Dom—even Mrs. Welch—and a wave of sickening
humiliation crashed over her. She wanted to cry and run out.

“I’m sorry,” she said, dropping her gaze to the floor. “I shouldn’t have… I didn’t mean… I’ll go.”

“Rose?” Mrs. Welch said, shaking her head in what could only be disbelief.

With a sigh, Rose looked over at Kylie. “I told you,” she said, and she extricated herself from the group and started for the door.

“Rose!” Kylie called.

Dom broke from his position and started after her. “Wait!”

Others started talking all at once, people saying her name, but she wasn’t listening. Only when Mrs. Welch spoke in the authoritative voice of the teacher did it actually get through to Rose.

“Miss DuBois, please stop.”

Hesitant, wanting to bolt, face flush with embarrassment, and knowing that she should never have come, Rose looked at her and for the first time saw something else in the expression on the teacher’s face. Mrs. Welch wasn’t horrified by what she’d heard. Her look was one of wonder.

“Rose, that was beautiful.”

“What?”

Mrs. Welch smiled and gestured to the others. “They stopped singing to listen to you. I’ve been teaching music
and voice for fifteen years and I can honestly say that has never happened before.”

Members of the chorus nodded in agreement. Kylie beamed.

“Really, Rose,” Dom said. “It was amazing. Just… wow.”

“Dom’s not the most eloquent,” one of the girls added. “But I can’t really think of a better word myself. Your voice is amazing.”

Rose exhaled, almost shuddering with relief and happiness. “Really?”

Mrs. Welch took her arm and guided her back to her spot beside Kylie. “Really. You’re going to need to pull it back a little, to blend in with the rest of the chorus, to weave your voice into the mix. But we will definitely be looking for opportunities to exploit that gift of yours. I’m already thinking of songs.”

Rose was smiling so wide that her face hurt. She received nods and thumbs-up and Kylie gave her hand a little squeeze and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“Welcome to chorus.”

Rose squeezed back. She wanted to thank Kylie but she didn’t know how. This, the music and the thrill and the enthusiasm, was a real gift, and Kylie had been the one to give it to her.

“Now, let’s start again,” Mrs. Welch said. “Rose, try to rein it in a little. We’ll run through it a couple of times
and then take a look at our song list. You’ll have to follow along today, but you need to start learning the other songs.”

“Absolutely,” Rose said.

Once again, they began to sing. And it was bliss.

At lunch on Thursday, Rose sat beside Jared and picked at the turkey sloppy joe sandwich and cold french fries on her plate, wishing she had followed her initial instinct and just gotten a salad. She glanced over to check the line, trying to decide if it was worth a second trip to change her mind.

“Hey, you okay?” Jared asked quietly.

Rose looked up and discovered that Kylie, Jared, and Dom were all watching her.

“What?” she asked, suddenly worried she had smeared sloppy joe sauce on her face or something.

“Nothing,” Kylie said. “It’s just, you look distracted. Like something’s on your mind. You didn’t say anything about nightmares this morning, but—”

Rose silenced her with a look, but not fast enough.

“Nightmares?” Jared asked.

“I have them sometimes,” she replied. “Not a lot. I mean, I did when I first woke up, but not lately. Not really.”

She knew she was babbling and stopped herself. Kylie made an apologetic face, but Rose couldn’t be mad at her for trying to be a good friend. She’d slipped, that was all. Lying to Jared made Rose uneasy, but if she was ever going to tell him about the nightmares and the paranoia that had been plaguing her, it certainly wasn’t going to be in the middle of the cafeteria.

“So what
is
bothering you, then?” Dom asked. “I mean, if I had the week you’ve had, I’d be dancing.”

Kylie scoffed. “Oh, sweetie, nobody wants to see you dance.”

“I know,” Dom said. “It is not pretty.”

“It’s like a seizure,” Kylie said, patting Dom on the head and nodding to Rose and Jared as though in sympathy. “The boy’s a spaz.”

“All right, they get it,” Dom said drily.

Rose smiled, but she saw that Jared remained concerned, and Kylie and Dom’s teasing each other was to make light of their own worrying.

“I’m fine,” she assured them.

“Are you sure?” Jared asked.

With a shrug, Rose picked up a cold french fry and bit it in half. “Yeah. I mean, no. This lunch is repulsive. But otherwise, yeah. Dom’s right. A week ago I walked in here like I was being thrown to the lions. That’s how I felt. But it’s all turned around now. I mean, people are generally okay to me, despite me being freaky amnesia Coma Girl. Chorus is amazing. And you guys… I’m
just really lucky to have you. Somehow it’s all turned around now. Well, not everyone’s a Rose DuBois fan, but I’m fine with that.”

“So why do you seem so serious today?” Kylie asked.

Rose took a deep breath, trying to find a way to express the trepidation inside her.

“You know how it feels outside when a rainstorm is coming? Like the air is heavy and the clouds are just waiting to crack open and let you have it? Things have been almost too good this week. It feels kind of surreal, like it’s too good to last. I can’t help thinking it’s all going to fall apart.”

Kylie took a bite of her Cobb salad, gesturing with her fork.

“How many times have we talked about the paranoia thing, DuBois?” Kylie said, affecting a tough-guy edge that became silly thanks to her talking with her mouth full. Somehow, with her, it was charming. “We. Us. Your friends at this table? We’re not going anywhere. And chorus? You’re like a goddess there. Instant superstar.”

Dom leaned back in his chair. “It’s totally understandable, though,” he said, looking from Kylie to Jared to Rose. “Whatever life you had before that you can’t remember. It got taken away from you, so you’re afraid it’ll happen again.”

“What are you, her psychiatrist?” Kylie teased.

Rose laughed and threw a french fry at her.

“Hey!” Kylie cried in protest, picking a piece of
cucumber from her salad and getting ready to use it as a projectile.

Dom put a hand over hers and nodded toward a lunch monitor who had taken notice of them. Kylie arched an eyebrow and popped the cucumber into her mouth.

“Next time, woman. This food fight ain’t over.”

Jared touched Rose’s hand under the table. He caressed her hand. “You think maybe Dom’s right?”

“Probably,” Rose admitted. She looked at Dom and Kylie. “You’re both pretty perceptive with that stuff. I mean, the logic is obviously pretty…”

“Logical?” Kylie suggested.

Rose chuckled. “Yes, Kylie. The logic is logical. I’m still a basket case. I should just be happy that I’m happy and not worry so much.”

They moved on to other subjects, but when Dom and Kylie started teasing each other again, Jared nudged her.

“You going to finish that?” he asked, nodding at her tray.

“No. Do you want it?”

He smiled. “No. I kind of have a surprise for you.”

“Really? What is it?”

Jared picked up his tray and stood. “Come with me and I’ll show you.”

“Oookay.” Rose had no interest in her lunch anyway, so she grabbed her own tray and got up.

“Where’re you guys headed?” Kylie asked. “Lunch period’s not over for, like, fifteen minutes.”

“Apparently Jared’s got something to show me,” Rose said, nodding toward Jared, who had already headed off toward the tray return window.

Kylie grinned and waggled her eyebrows. “I’ll bet he does.”

“I so knew you were going to say that!” Dom said, giving her a conspiratorial nudge.

Rose rolled her eyes theatrically and left the two of them there, giggling. When she caught up with Jared and dumped her tray, she shot him an inquisitive look, but he pretended not to notice and gave a theatrical bow, ushering her ahead of him. They threaded through the cafeteria tables and went up the steps, but once they were in the corridor, she nudged him.

“So, where are we headed?”

“Surprise,” he reminded her.

As they started up the stairs a sudden turmoil filled her. She hoped that he hadn’t gotten her a gift because she certainly hadn’t thought of giving him anything, and gifts were supposed to be reciprocated. Or maybe that was only when the gifts were for a particular occasion, like Christmas or Valentine’s Day or an anniversary of some sort. Yes, that seemed right. Still, receiving a gift would be sort of awkward. They were behaving like girlfriend and boyfriend but they hadn’t discussed what it was they meant to each other. Every new day brought surprises for her. It was all virgin territory.

She smiled to herself at the irony.

“What are you grinning at?” Jared asked.

“Nothing.” No way was she about to answer that question. “You.”

“Why me?”

“You’re funny.”

“Funny strange or funny ha-ha?”

Rose arched an eyebrow. “A little of both, I think.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I like the combination,” she assured him.

At the second-floor landing, Jared held the door open for her and then followed her into the corridor, turning right and heading toward the chem lab.

“I’m glad,” he said.

“What? You couldn’t tell I liked you?”

He opened the door of the chem lab. She tensed for a second before realizing that the room was empty and dark. Heavy shades kept most of the daylight out in a lame attempt to replicate actual laboratory conditions. Rose had not realized that the lab was empty during their lunch period, but given the roguish look on Jared’s face, he had known perfectly well what to expect.