Emily and Nick were working and talking quietly in the library one December morning. Emily, having finished her French work, left her small class of five to do other work; Nick, who was an assistant, had nothing to do for Mrs. Sansing and was sent to the library to do homework. Emily was looking off into the distance and pondering over a difficult trig problem when Nick reached under the table and grabbed her knee.

 “Dude, cut that out!” she giggled.

 “You’re ticklish there, aren’t you?”

 “Yeah, but don’t tell that to anyone else.”

She suddenly came up with the answer to her trig problem and scribbled it down frantically before she could forget it. “Hey, I’ve got some good news.”

 “What’s that?” He didn’t look up from his English book.

 “I got accepted to Central Michigan.”

 “You did?”

 “Yeah. I got the letter yesterday. They’re giving me a scholarship, too.”

 “So you’re gonna go there?”

 “Yep. I want to see what it’s like to go away to college for a year. If I like it, I’ll stay; if not, I’ll come home and go to Mott or U of M-Flint. Want to know what my plans were last year?”

 “What?”

 “Marry Ben and go to U of M-Flint, and work, and live with Ben.”

 “Other than getting married to Ben, the rest of it sounded good!”

 “Living with Ben?”

 “No, not that part, either. He would have just sucked off your earnings, whether you were married or not. Besides, you’re too young to get married.”

 “I know.” Emily looked over at Nick, who was looking at her, and smiled shyly. She had a feeling that their old close, wonderful friendship was returning.

 Emily was looking in her bedroom mirror and adjusting her blue crystal earrings when Justin walked in. They were both getting ready for the Christmas concert.

 “Ooh, Justin!” Emily teased. “My, don’t you look snazzy in that tux?”

 “The collar’s choking me,” Justin complained. “I won’t be able to play my sax.”

 “You’ll be fine,” said Emily. This was Justin’s first high school concert, but Emily had been through this many times before and knew the routine. She was wearing her pretty white blouse and long black skirt, with her hair done simply and neatly and her favorite crystal necklace around her neck.

 The band, Emily knew, was not ready for this concert. Rehearsals had been difficult since the senior show, even with the members that weren’t in marching band. Some of the seniors had simply stopped working as hard as they had before. Emily was trying her best, but she couldn’t work with a band that refused to play very well. Justin’s band, the concert band, was doing better.

 Emily and Justin arrived at the school. The concert band stayed in the band room, while the symphonic band was herded backstage to wait while the concert band performed first. This required a very short trip outside, from the band room back door, across the loading dock, to the backstage door. Emily shivered anyway. It was horribly cold.

 When she got backstage, she found a small stool by the toolbench, lit by a dim blue lamp. She sat on the stool and began warming up her horn by blowing air through it. She was sitting in a quiet spot, away from the rest of the group. Nick joined her by pulling up a small rocking chair next to her.

 “It’s nice and warm back here,” said Nick. “Why are they making us wait back here, anyway? Why can’t we sit in the auditorium?”

 “Fifth-graders are in the band room, and Minuzo doesn’t like us sitting in the auditorium because we have to get up and leave and make a lot of noise when it’s our turn to play.”

 “That’s gay.”

 “Howcome you didn’t know?”

 “I haven’t been here, Emily. I had that Student Congress thing in Lansing.”

 “I didn’t even notice you were gone.”

 “Some friend you are!”

 “Nick, I’m still your friend.” Emily reached down with one arm--the other one was hanging onto her horn for dear life--and gave Nick a hug. Nick hugged her back, trumpet and all.

 “We need to be friends again,” said Nick.

 “Why?” asked Emily. “You have all the friends you could ever want. And they’re all girls. You don’t need any more girls.”

 “Just one more to add to my collection.”

 “You jerk!” Emily hissed.

 “I’m joking, Emily,” Nick laughed a little. “You know, you’re the only one that actually listens to me. All those other girls that you’re always talking about... they expect me to listen to all their petty little crises, but I just can’t talk to them about any of my problems.”

 “Well, you know, there are some things that a guy just can’t tell a girl.”

 “I know that. That’s what Curtis is there for. And Andy Murray. The only really close girl friend I have is Serena. But Andy’s all jealous because Serena’s his girlfriend and he doesn’t want me getting too close.”

 “Serena?”

 “Kimball. I’ll point her out to you sometime.”

 “Okay,” Emily shrugged. “Well, now that we’re friends again... now what?”

 “I suspect that you have a crush on somebody. Besides me.” Nick smiled.

 “I don’t have a crush on you anymore.”

 “I’ve heard that you like someone. But I seriously do not know who he is.”

 Emily turned away a little and said quietly, “Aaron Burnley.”

 “Who?”

 “Aaron Burnley!”

 “Oh, yeah. Aaron’s cool. He’s smart. Isn’t he Angie’s brother?”

 “Yeah.”

 On the other side of the stage, Emily and Nick saw Mr. Gutierrez signaling for the band, indicating that it was their turn to go onto the stage. They put their free arms around each other’s shoulders--one of Nick’s hands held his trumpet, while one of Emily’s held her horn--and walked as far as they could together until Mr. Minuzo separated them.

 The concert went fairly well, but Emily knew they could have done better. She couldn’t hear Nick, Colette or Jodie, and she knew they weren’t trying very hard. Emily was doing the best that she could, covering for timid Alisa’s quiet playing and Don North’s frequent mistakes. She was dismayed that she could not hear the concert band play. She wanted to hear Justin and Amanda play.

 Still, Emily was pleased. She got approving looks from Mr. Minuzo when she played her difficult solo well, and she got her friend back. She went home after the concert feeling quite satisfied.