When Autumn rolled out beside him, the room quieted.

Not because anyone had announced a dramatic story, but because the program listed their original song as the final performance.

Noah looked toward her.

She gave him a tiny nod.

He started the melody.

Autumn began to sing.

Her lyrics described a hallway as a river, each classroom door a bank of light, and a school bell that could never measure how hard someone had tried to arrive.

By the chorus, the words had turned hopeful.