Free The Starboard Sea: A Novel by Amber Dermont Page B

left her behind, running off and laughing. They didn’t
look back. Didn’t notice that I failed to join them.
I stood across from Aidan, chewing on my tongue and breathing
heavily from the short run. She turned and stared straight at me. “Oh,
look. Another raptor, circling.”
Aidan started back toward campus, with the harbor on her right
side. She walked past saltbox dormitories and a pair of tennis courts.
We stayed parallel to each other. Every time a car passed in the road, I
worried that I would lose her. I skipped sideways just to hold her in
my sight. Aidan kept her head down and her shoulders hunched. I
moved like a distant moth hovering by a screen door, unable to reach
the porch light.
She finally crossed over to my side of the street. “Don’t follow me,”
she warned.
“Let me apologize,” I offered, making an effort to stay a few steps
behind her.
“No.” She straightened her posture and walked up the cement path
that led to the library. As she entered the building, I decided not to
hesitate and followed her inside.
The ground floor was divided into a reference section no one used
and a fiction/nonfiction room no one visited. Aidan bypassed the
lobby, trailing up the stairs and to the second floor. I waited at the bottom of the staircase. When she reached the top, I clutched the railing
and bounded up the steps, two at a time. The yearbook staff and
school newspaper had their offices on the second floor. I’d been up
there once already; most of the rooms were locked. Aidan used a key strung on a silver beaded chain around her neck to open a door that led to more stairs. I caught the door before it closed and continued to follow her. At the top of a narrow staircase, I found myself inside a reading room. There were two large overstuffed leather chairs, three walls of built-in bookshelves, and, to my surprise, a grand piano. Instead of choosing a chair, Aidan sat down on the windowsill, her back
to me, and gazed out at the harbor.
I’d never met a girl this quiet, this determined. She sat at the window, leaving me standing without any acknowledgment from her. I
walked over to the piano, took a seat on the bench, and began to play.
Nothing really at first. Just notes and chords. Aidan gave no indication
that she even heard me. I decided to break the moment and sing.
    When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school It’s a wonder
I can think at all.
And though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none,
I can read the writing on the wall.
    Aidan didn’t join in, but as I continued singing “Kodachrome,” I saw her hand tap twice against her knee. Encouraged, I broke into a furious piano solo, before remembering that I was in a library. When I looked up from playing, Aidan stood in front of me.
    “Hope these walls are soundproof,” I said.
“They’re pretty thick.”
“Do you play?” I asked.
“No. My hands are tiny.”
“Is this your private study?”
“Mr. Guy put me on key permission.” Aidan rubbed her palms
    over the outside lip of the piano. Her fingers were thin and childlike for someone so tall.
“What’s Mr. Guy like? Tazewell told me he’s a closet pervert.”
“Well, Tazewell would know, wouldn’t he?”
“Sorry. That was stupid.” I looked down and continued to play. “I haven’t been speaking to many people lately. I think I’ve forgotten how.”
Aidan went over and sat on one of the chairs. Curling her legs and stretching her skirt down over her feet. She closed her eyes.
“Why did they bother you back there?” I asked.
“I can’t imagine the movies inside their heads.” She spoke with her eyes closed.
“You said your name was Aidan, but they called you Hester.”
“Race’s attempt at a literary allusion.” She picked up the key that hung like a charm on her necklace. Running it back and forth along the silver chain.
I shook my head and looked down at the piano. The keys were real ivory, but I could tell where a few had been replaced and covered