Chapter 33: Chapter 33

“I’ve noticed you’ve been sad. And your girlfriend never comes by anymore.”

Removing her hands from the clay with care, Emmy tried for a casual shrug and failed miserably. Her shoulders wound up twisted in the vicinity of her ears, stuck that way as she tried to restrain her threatening tears. “She’s not my girlfriend anymore,” she said, in a credible attempt at a normal human voice.

Mrs. Figueroa took a seat. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know what there is to say.”

The art teacher smiled indulgently. “Probably nothing and everything. Lots of things that are going to sound familiar to anybody who’s ever had their heart broken. And a few things that are so particular to the two of you that nobody but you and Iris could ever understand them.”

That did it. There was no holding back the tears anymore. She tried to respond to Mrs. Figueroa, but all that came out was a tortured, waterlogged attempt at Nico Mathis’s name.