Johnson walked up beside me.
“Oh!” I said, and touched the front of my dress.
“Oh,” he said.
My face colored.
“That’s rude to mimic me like that,” I said. I marched forward over the sidewalk, embarrassed. The smell of the desert kicked up from a slight breeze that blew in from the west.
Joshua laughed. “I’m sorry, Kyra,” he said, hurrying beside me.
I refused to look at him. Instead, I kept my eyes forward and headed across the parking lot around the Temple, feeling a little angry but more horrified and even more pleased that Joshua had surprised me.
“Where you going?” he asked.
With my head, I gestured at the Fellowship Hall.
“Why? There’s no Youth Meeting tonight.”
I stopped, planted one hand on my hip the way Mother Claire does when she’s especially unhappy, and said, flapping the book at him, “To practice piano, if you must know.” Oh, you are so so so cute, I thought. So cute! Ahhh!
Joshua nodded, then shaded his eyes against the setting sun. “Can I come along and listen?”
My heart thumped. He was so pretty to look at, with his brown hair all golden in the setting sun, I didn’t know what to do. The only boys I’d been around were my own brothers. And now here was Joshua Johnson.
“What do I care?” I said. But I did care. I did. There was Joshua with those warm-looking eyes of his and that cute face and Look how tall he is, I thought, way taller than me, and he looks so good in that plaid shirt and those blue jeans.
Don’t look at those blue jeans.
You looked at his blue jeans.
I reached for the Fellowship Hall door, but Joshua caught it first and opened it for me. He motioned for me to go ahead.
I did with a flounce, but my foot caught on nothing and I stumbled forward.
Just get to the piano without falling and breaking a bone, I thought. Just make it to the piano.
I could hear some boys playing basketball in the gym, could hear the squeak of their tennis shoes on the floor and the echoey pounding of the ball.
“You look pretty today, Kyra,” Joshua said. He opened another door for me and we stood in the near darkness of the Assembly Room.
I looked toward the piano. Just make it there, I thought. He is so cute. So cute.
“Want me to catch the lights?” he said.
“If you’d like,” I said. I sat down at the piano, my legs shaking so I wasn’t sure I could work the pedals.
The fluorescent lights overhead flickered on and a low buzz filled the room.
Joshua pulled a seat up near the piano bench.
I flipped open Beethoven. Why, I was so nervous my eyes couldn’t make out even one note at first. My fingers trembled and for a moment I wasn’t sure if I could even feel them. It was like I was numb. I ran through scales once.
“That was good, Kyra,” Joshua said. And then he grinned.
A little laugh slipped from me. “I’m just warming up.”
“Play something,” he said.
At first my fingers wouldn’t work. Then, as I played Beethoven, I almost forgot Joshua was sitting right there.
Almost.
Oh, all right. I snuck quick peeks at him the whole time we were together.
And every time, he was looking right back at me.
“You’re good,” he said when I’d finished my practice. He nodded toward the piano.
“I know it,” I said. I wasn’t being stuck up. That’s a sin, to think you’re better at something than another person. But the fact is, I know I’m better than any of The Chosen Ones so I wasn’t being a braggart.
Joshua raised his eyebrows. “And modest,” he said.
I shrugged and my brain all on its own thought, I cannot believe someone like you is talking with me. You smell so good.
“It takes a lot of work to succeed at this,” I said. “A lot of practice. And I want to be good.” I waved my hand over the piano, then turned back to the score. Leaning in close to the music, I made marks on the page. Here, here, and here I needed more intensity. Here, I needed less dynamics.
“I want to learn.” Joshua stood and moved right next to me. He hit the low E note. The sound thumped in the room.
“Sister Georgia teaches,” I said, not even glancing at him, my heart thumping like that low note. “Talk to her. Tell your mother. I’m sure she has time for you.”
“My mother?” Joshua asked.
“Of course your mother,” I said. I