Then something happened that no one expected.
The boy in the middle row started clapping. It wasn’t polite, quiet classroom clapping. It was real applause, the kind you hear at concerts. His hands came together hard enough to echo in the room, and he stood up from his desk without even thinking about it.
Then Timothy jumped to his feet, applauding too. His face was full of genuine amazement. All thoughts of competition forgotten.
One by one, like dominoes falling, the other students rose from their desks. They clapped and clapped, some of them whistling, some of them shouting, “Woo!” and “That was amazing!”
The girl who’d been recording was clapping so hard she almost dropped her phone.
Even Rachel, after a long moment of inner struggle, stood up and clapped. She didn’t look happy about it, but she clapped.
The noise was incredible. Twenty-three students applauding like they were at a symphony hall instead of a school classroom. The sound echoed off the walls and probably could be heard all the way down the hallway.
Lily sat at the piano bench, her eyes wide with shock. She looked around at all the standing students, at their smiling faces and enthusiastic applause, and she seemed completely stunned. A small, hesitant smile started to form on her lips.
And Mrs. Patterson stood frozen at the front of the room, her face cycling through shades of red and white. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. She looked like someone had just pulled the ground out from under her feet.
The door to the classroom suddenly opened. Mr. Rodriguez, the school principal, stood in the doorway. He was a kind man in his 50s with gray hair and smile lines around his eyes. He’d been walking past the classroom when he heard the music and had stopped to listen.
“I apologize for the interruption,” he said, his voice carrying over the applause.