Chapter 6 — Emma Learns Why Her Name Turned Red
After rehearsal, Emma walked into the office.
Zoe followed several feet behind.
“Are we still playing?” Emma asked.
Daniel looked toward Marcus.
Marcus answered:
“Yes.”
Zoe smiled.
Emma didn’t.
“Then why did the computer say I didn’t pay?”
Daniel glanced toward the other adults.
This was not a conversation they could hide completely.
But Zoe did not need her family’s private circumstances exposed either.
Marcus crouched so he was closer to Emma’s height.
“I made a mistake with the payment records.”
Emma frowned.
“You changed mine?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus chose his words carefully.
“Because there were students who needed help paying for the concert.”
Emma looked toward Zoe.
Zoe’s smile disappeared.
Marcus immediately continued.
“We’re not discussing who.”
Emma looked back at him.
“So you used mine?”
“Part of it.”
Emma thought for several seconds.
Then asked:
“Why didn’t you ask Dad?”
Marcus swallowed.
“I should have.”
Emma’s next question was even simpler.
“Why did you tell me I couldn’t play if you knew you changed it?”
Marcus looked ashamed.
“Because I was scared to explain what I had done.”
Emma stared at him.
“So I got in trouble?”
“You weren’t in trouble.”
“It felt like trouble.”
Marcus nodded.
“You’re right.”
Arthur watched silently.
Children had a way of stripping complicated adult explanations down to their actual effect.
Marcus wanted to protect other students.
But Emma had still been standing in a rehearsal hall believing she lost something she earned because her family supposedly failed to pay.
That mattered.
Zoe quietly asked:
“Is my payment okay?”
Marcus looked toward her.
“You are performing.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
The adults exchanged glances.
Zoe already understood enough.
She looked toward Emma.
Then whispered:
“Was it me?”
Emma immediately shook her head.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
Zoe’s eyes filled.
“But—”
Emma interrupted.
“You didn’t change the computer.”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
Then at Marcus.
Emma had understood the distinction faster than most adults in the room.