She asked him because there was one night left in high school when everyone would be in the same room.
And she wanted people to notice the boy they’d spent four years walking past.
I couldn’t speak for several seconds.
Then I asked, “Where is he now?”
Celeste laughed.
“That’s actually why I called.”
There was noise behind her, followed by cheering.
“He’s dancing.”
“My Tobin?”
“Very badly.”
I laughed through tears.
She continued, “A bunch of people are with him. Some of them had no idea he was this funny.”
Then she said something I still remember.
“They didn’t dislike him, Mrs. Hale. They just never knew him.”
That sentence hurt and healed something in me at the same time.
I had spent years wishing Tobin would become more outgoing, more confident, more like the children who seemed to move easily through the world.
