“Mind if I join you?”
“Yes—I mean no,” I said, flustered.
Idiot, I thought. Stop acting so nervous.
Jonah flashed that smile of his, then sat across from me. He sat erect, with perfect posture, and put his violin down carefully beside him. He gently laid out his food. There was something about him, something I couldn’t quite place. He was different than anyone I’d ever met. It was like he was from a different era. He definitely did not belong in this place.
“How’s your first day?” he asked.
“Not what I expected.”
“How so?”
“Everything here is just so…different. So big. So loud. So….unwelcoming.”
Then, I quickly added:
“Except for you.”
He smiled.
“Meeting you was the only good thing that ever happened to me in this place,” he said.
I couldn’t believe it. It was as if we were th
