Khanh picked up the notebook and flipped through a few pages.
“This one?”
“Yeah. I still haven’t found anyone to sing it.”
“You could ask the class president.”
Quang glanced at Mai.
“Can you sing, Mai?”
Mai froze.
“No, I don’t know how to sing.”
“Khanh once said you had a really beautiful voice.”
Mai whipped around to look at Khanh. He was drinking milk and immediately choked on it.
“You’ve never heard me sing,” Mai said.
Khanh coughed until his face turned red.
“Once.”
“When?”
“Back in sophomore year.”
“Were you eavesdropping?”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping. You were singing in the music room, and the door was open.”
Quang propped his elbows on the desk and smiled.
“Then it’s settled. Mai, will you try singing this afternoon?”
Before Mai could refuse, Khanh spoke up.
“She has to make the decorations.”
“She can finish those first, then sing.”
“Mai doesn’t like being pressured.”
Quang looked at Khanh, a flicker of change passing through his eyes.
“I was just asking.”
“Then stop asking.”
The air beside the desk suddenly went quiet. Mai looked at Khanh. His face was still expressionless, but his hand was clenched tightly around the milk carton.
Quang didn’t argue. He picked up the notebook.
“Okay. If Mai changes her mind, let me know.”
He turned away, leaving behind a silence that was hard to name.
Mai watched Quang walk off, then turned to Khanh.
“Why are you being so intense?”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You just chased your friend away.”
“Because he was bothering you.”
“Quang was just asking me to sing.”
“And you already said no.”
“But you answered for me.”
Khanh fell silent.
For the first time since the two of them had grown closer, Mai felt a tiny ripple appear between them. It wasn’t big enough to turn into a fight, but she couldn’t pretend it wasn’t there.
That afternoon, the decorating group gathered in the old classroom. Mai tried to work as quickly as possible, but her mind kept returning to their conversation that morning. Khanh sat across from her, cutting strips of colored paper into equal lengths. He was quieter than usual, too.
Lan looked at the two of them and finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“Are you two fighting?”
“No,” Mai and Khanh said in unison.
Lan nodded knowingly.
“Then you’re definitely fighting.”
Mai lowered her head and continued gluing the name tags. Khanh had just opened his mouth to speak when the classroom door flew open. Quang stood outside, his guitar still slung over his shoulder.
“Sorry, can I come in?”
Lan pointed at the empty chair.
“Come on in. But if you’re planning to steal someone from the decorating group, you have to pay us.”
Quang laughed.
“I came to give Mai this.”
He placed a sheet of paper on Mai’s desk. Neatly written across it were the song lyrics, with one more line at the bottom: “If you change your mind, try this song.”
Mai looked at the paper.
“Thanks, but I really can’t sing.”
“That’s okay. I just thought this song would suit your voice.”
Khanh looked up.
“You’ve heard Mai sing?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know it suits her?”
Quang looked at Mai and answered calmly,
“Because people you talk about usually have a voice like that.”
The room fell completely silent.
Mai lifted her head and looked at Khanh. He stood perfectly still, his face stripped of its usual unconcerned expression for the first time.
“Do you talk about me a lot?”
Khanh didn’t answer right away.
Realizing he’d said too much, Quang took his guitar off his shoulder.
“I’ll get going. Khanh, if you’re free this afternoon, meet me in the music room.”
“Okay.”
Quang left. The door closed behind him, but his words remained in the room.
Mai lowered her eyes to the paper, trying to hide the smile slowly spreading across her face.
“What do you tell people about me?”
“Nothing special.”
“Nothing special, and he knows what my voice sounds like?”
“Quang was just guessing.”
“You’re lying.”
Khanh looked at her. His confusion was so obvious that Mai suddenly felt her heart soften.
“Yeah,” he said. “I did tell him.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That you have beautiful handwriting.”
“What else?”
“That you always forget to bring an umbrella.”
“What else?”
Khanh looked out the window. Outside, the late-afternoon sunlight rested on the treetops.
“That your smile is really cute.”
Mai didn’t have time to react. The hand holding the glue bottle went still, and a drop of glue fell onto the paper.
Khanh immediately turned away.
“But I only said it once.”
“You told Quang?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
This time, Mai didn’t believe he truly didn’t know.