Claire turned a slow circle, taking in the empty auditorium. "It even smells the same," she marveled.

"You know, you're right," I agreed.

"How long until the rugrats show up?" she asked, glancing at the wall clock.

I pulled my notes out of my bag and set them on the top of the piano. "We have eight minutes, wanna see what I've got?" I fanned out the pages I had slaved over last night. "I'm not sure what Gid was thinking with these lyrics, but I was up half the night rewriting the closing number."

She leaned over and started laughing. "The lonely road out of hell?" she read. "He wanted six year olds to sing that?"

I shook my head. "No, now it's 'the stories we get to tell,' see that?"

She nodded. "Clever," and kept reading. "Oh my god," she exclaimed when she got to the end.

I read over her shoulder, grinning. "Right, see what I'm saying? I'm not sure Lydia Walker's parents are going to be keen on having her singing about 'losing faith.'"

"That's the Chosen girl you were telling me about, right?"

"Didn't I tell you about that? So her sister apparently defected last year, which is why her parents are allowing her to be in a play."

Claire widened her eyes. "Wow, the times are changing. Back when we were kids, the Chosen barely set foot in town. Now they're in public schools." She waggled her eyebrows. "Scandalous." She looked back at the music and hummed a few bars, nodding. "I mean, musically it's beautiful, but the lyrics..."

"So I got the whole story on that," I said, sitting down on the bench. "It seems like no one bothered to read what Gid put up, they were just desperate for a faculty member to volunteer."

Claire snorted. "It's just like Gid to use that to his advantage."

I was about to agree when the doors flew open. This time, as the kids came streaming in, I knew to just bang on the piano right at the beginning. The ear-shattering sound made them all snap to attention.

Claire looked at me, impressed. "You sure you need my help?"

I grinned, pulling out the script and waving it at her. "You have no idea."

The door banged open one more time and we all looked to see Luke Keely standing there looking mortified as he tried to wrestle the sticky door closed again. "Sorry," he grimaced.

"Maddy!" I greeted his daughter. "What are you doing? I thought you were sick today?" She hadn't been in class.

Luke rolled her eyes as Maddy streaked over to sit with Lydia and Kayleigh. "She was at death's door this morning, to hear her tell it, but by two in the afternoon, she was itching to come 'play rehearsal.' I think she has a new hero," he said gesturing to his daughter as she played with Lydia's long braid.

I bit back a smile. "They're good for each other," I told him, feeling a little smug about my matchmaking.

Luke looked at me for a long moment. He inhaled like he had something to say. I hesitated, wanting to let him speak but also not wanting to hear what he was going to ask. I had a feeling I knew what it was already. I could feel Claire's eyes taking us both in, bouncing back and forth like she was watching a tennis match.

Finally, Luke cleared his throat. "So I'll be back to pick her up," he said pointedly.

I nodded. "That's what I figured!" I said, smiling brightly.

He took a deep breath one more time, then turned and walked briskly back up the aisle. Then stopped. "The winter fest is this weekend!" he called back down to me.

"Yes it is!" I agreed.

He looked perturbed. "Want to go?"

"With you?"

"Yes!" he shouted, way too loudly.

I glanced at Claire, whose eyes were as wide as saucers. "I'll have to see!" I shouted back, acutely aware of sixty-six eyes taking all of this in behind me. "Thanks!"

Luke seemed to realize we had an audience. He turned even redder than normal and hurried back up the aisle.

"What was that all about?" Claire whispered in a voice that was loud enough to be perfectly audible. She bit her lip, grinning. "No wait, don't tell me."

"Shut it," I whispered back. I could feel my cheeks heating up. Not with pleasure or anger like they had with Jonah. I wasn't embarrassed by Luke, I was more embarrassed for him.

Which was a terrible thing to feel about a perfectly nice guy.

I shook my head and slammed my hand back down onto the piano." Okay everyone!" I gestured to Claire. "This is Miss King, she's here to help us out today!"

"Hi, Miss King!" the kids chorused, which seemed to tickle her.

"Nice job! Now!" I arranged the sheet music on the piano. "I need you all to listen because we're changing some of the words, okay?"

It was hard work rewiring them. Kayleigh in particular seemed pretty hell-bent on singing the "road out of hell" version. But I picked out the notes on the piano with my fingers and Claire sang in her bright, clear voice and we slowly maneuvered them over into less profane territory.

By the end of practice, when they were calling her Mrs. King and asking her if she was a princess, I knew we'd won them over.

"Thank you," I breathed in relief as parents started showing up for pick-up. I threw my arms around my friend. "I feel like Gid would be okay with us doing a little light editing here and there."

Claire laughed. "You call that light? We rewrote the whole thing!" She shook her head. "He would have gotten his ass fired for this." Then she got that wicked glint in her eyes, the one that made her look most like Jonah. "Maybe that was his plan? Go out in a blaze of glory?"

I fell silent and Claire cleared her throat. "It's still his music. It's a nice tribute."

"Yeah but I still have to figure out some way to play the music." I grinned. "I'm going to be up late practicing, that's for sure."

Claire sighed. "Let me think about this. I bet I can come up with something."

I nodded. Claire knew how to play probably every instrument in the book. I felt my load lighten considerably to know she'd play in my stead. "That'd be awesome, thanks." It was coming together. Everything finally felt under control.