Amelia’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she managed to whisper, “Thank you.”

“It’s all right. No one here knows that it was you who wrote The Chitter Chatter. You can start over.” I squeezed the hand that was still on my arm. “I’m always here if you need to talk.

Now go and grab a pretty girl to dance with.”

Amelia let out an incredulous laugh. Then, without another word, she turned around and hurried down the stairs.

An arm slung around my waist the moment she was out of sight. “We really are some nice fucking people,” Elle muttered before pulling me down the stairs and towards the Great Hall.

However, we had barely made it to the entrance hall when the doors suddenly burst open and heavy steps made their way towards us.

I looked over to see who had entered, only to blink in confusion.

“Giovanni?” Seth shouted. “What are you doing here?”

The giant man steered towards us with a laugh. Even though he was wearing a suit and had his hair combed back, he looked out of place between the students and parents bustling around the hall. “Ah, bambini!” he hollered, frantically trying to straighten his tie. “How nice to see all of you alive, eh? Maria told me what happened!”

“Are you here for her?” I asked.

“Yes! Have you seen her?”

“Actually, we have no idea who—” Seth began, but got cut off by Giovanni.

“Ah, bellissima, there you are!”

I turned my head just in time to see Miss Pepperman coming down the hallway. Her face lit up as soon as she saw Giovanni, and she hurried towards him faster than I would’ve thought she could move.

“Oh my, there you are! I was already thinking you forgot!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.

Giovanni shook his head. “Of course not! The restaurant . . .

there was so much to do, so many guests, I just couldn’t leave and then I looked at the clock and it was already six! I came here as fast as possible!”

Miss Pepperman let out a youthful giggle as he pressed a kiss to her cheek and turned to look at us. Standing next to each other, they were like a caricature, Giovanni huge and heavyset next to the tiny librarian. “Children, I didn’t realize you knew my Gio! Why did you never say anything?”

Giovanni nodded, resting his hands on his hips. “Yes! Didn’t I tell you to say hello to Maria for me when you came to the restaurant?”

“Wait, so y-you . . . you are Maria?” I stammered. “And he’s the mysterious guy living in town that you’ve been seeing all along?”

“Why, of course! We’ve been together for a few months now!”

“Oh my God,” Seth said, turning to stare at me. “How did we not see this coming?”

“Shall we go inside then?” Miss Pepperman chirped, pointing at the door to the Great Hall. “The food is already waiting.”