by Grace Reagal
Nate cocks his head to the side, watching her intently. “I’m not my brother.”
Mell chokes out a laugh. “You and your brother, your family, your whole group of friends are exactly the same. Rich. Stuck up. And thinking everyone owes you everything.” She turns around to the crowd, and then back to Nate, looking at him, disgusted. “You guys make the whole school terrified of you.” She lifts her head, her jaw taut. “I already had a taste of your group.” Her face turns dark. “I fucking hate it. So next time…” She steps forward and keeps him frozen in her gaze. She is even shorter than me, so it’s incredible how she seems to rise taller than everyone. “Don’t try fighting my fights or do your twisted version of trying to be a knight in—”
My eyes bulge open as Nate leans in and cups her face. He presses his lips against hers, shocking her to silence. Almost like he can’t help it. Like everything in his body just gravitates toward her lips.
A shocked smile flits across my face, the part of me that is a hopeless romantic.
Ugh, you disgust me.
Mell jerks back as everyone starts whispering and giggling among themselves. Her face is rageful and even I wince as she takes a deep breath.
And like conjuring the power of nature and God, she smacks Nate in the face. The sound echoes throughout the whole cafeteria.
“Well, if that didn’t slap the sexual demon out of him, I don’t know what can,” I mutter.
Mutter. I swear I mutter it. But the students around me turn to stare. I blush horribly in embarrassment before realizing some of them are laughing and even chuckling. And for the first time…I don’t think they’re laughing at me.
I can feel Valentin’s voice as it rolls down my spine. “Can you control my demon too?” He sounds oddly serious.
I throw back at him, sarcastically, “I most certainly can. It can be our first date as a lovely project couple.”
And with that, I jerk out of his grasp and run after Mell who’s started walking quickly away from the crowd.
I spot Tom on the edge of the crowd and grasp his arm, pulling him behind me.
“Kitty? What in the world are you doing?”
I ignore him for the moment and run after Mell, dragging him. I finally let him go when the cafeteria doors close behind us. “Following our friend…in a non-creepy way though.”
I yell out in the hallway, “Mell!”
She turns slowly, a mix of emotions written across her face. She smooths her face and her lips fall in a straight line. “What the fuck do you want? I told you to leave me alone.”
Tom smiles nervously, and says, “Is about this the joke I made about you never being able to pass Geometry?”
I sigh deeply, still watching Mell. “Don’t worry, Tom. She’s angry at me.”
Mell snarls, “Fuck off, Caterina. I don’t need your bullshit anymore.”
Mell prowls forward, her eyes blazing. She looks like she’s ready to fight.
And I am not about to get into a fight with my best friend.
I realize that, suddenly and sharply. Mell is the closest non-family member that I have. Other than Tom. But Tom acts weird around me. And half the time, he is judging me because I’m around Valentin.
Mell is different. She doesn’t judge. She simply observes. She’s refreshingly honest in my world. And she understands people. She puts herself down and underestimates herself, but she really does. She has gut feelings about things that no one seems to figure out until it is too late.
Mell shakes her head and says sharply, her eyes shining, “Words mean something, Caterina. And you crossed the fucking line. I am not going to feel unwanted or like shit. Ever.”
I nod.
I turn to Tom, who looks like he is calculating the possibility of us getting into a fight, and the probable solutions if that should occur.
“Can you give us a moment? I’ll catch up with you in Psych.”
He nods and looks at us nervously. Finally, he turns and starts to leave. He turns back after a couple of steps and stares at Mell. “If it means anything Melanie, you are very much wanted. And you’re anything but shit.”
Something flickers across her face.
He shrugs and walks away.
I turn to Mell and take a deep breath. I put my hands up. “Okay, so just give me a chance to tell you something. And then if you decide you never want to see my face again, I’ll leave you be.”
My heart starts thumping. And I don’t know if it’s because of the possibility of her not wanting to be friends with me anymore or the fact that I’m about to reveal to her the secret I have been keeping from this school.
Chapter 35
Caterina
Mell blinks at me. Her face has gone blank with shock. “You’re Jessica Giovanni’s daughter?”
I’m taken aback that she’s more surprised about my mom than my dad. “Um, yeah. I decided to—”
“The Jessica Giovanni? The kick-ass civil rights lawyer? That’s your mom?”
I smile, proud. “She is pretty awesome.”
Mell shakes her head, surprise and delight shining in her eyes. “She’s more than awesome, Kitty. She’s a legend in the courtroom. She decimates every lawyer that she comes across. All the while flashing them a ‘bitch-I-have-you-by-the-balls’ look.”
I raise an eyebrow, my heart kind of bursting. It feels good when people talk about your family like that. Even better than if the person is to give you a compliment. “How do you know so much about her anyway?”
“She was kind of my role model. I wanted to be a lawyer and…yeah.” She blinks. “Anyways that’s awesome. So you’re what? Filthy rich? That’s why you won’t tell people your name?”
I look around again, making sure there are no students roaming the halls. “You have no idea how many people have tried to hurt my family, Mell. And my father…let’s just say he’s overprotective. It took years and something my mother did to get him to agree to even let me go to this school.”
I still have no idea what Mom did, but I hear my aunts laughing about it on their girls’ night so it was probably very adult, mature and something I did not want to know about my parents.
My mood suddenly plummets, remembering how my aunt is gone.
Mell sees the change in my face because her eyebrows draw in instantly. She is very observant. “What’s wrong?”
“My aunt…she…okay, the reason I bitched at you today was that my aunt left our family yesterday. Just…walked out. And my uncle let her.”
There’s a pause. “Does he love her?”
There is no hesitation or wavering in my voice. I know it by instinct. “More than himself. Or anything in the world except for Kennedy…their son.”
Mell sticks her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “Then he’ll go after her. You don’t just let your whole life walk out the door.”
I worry my lips. “I thought so too, but I think it’s more complicated than that.”
Mell raises one eyebrow. “What can be simpler than love, Kitty?”
I smile slightly before frowning again. “I saw my family arguing about it. Almost like she wasn’t allowed to leave. And that if she does she can’t see any of us ever again. And then Valentin…”
“Valentin…? Dude, you gotta stop trailing off at the best parts.”
“Valentin knows about my family. More than I do. There’s a secret they’re hiding from me and he knows it. He’s disturbed, by the way.”
Mell nods. No smirk there. “His whole family is.”
“What do you mean?”
There’s a pause. “Justin Bieber.”
“Hm?”
She blinks, innocent. “What?”
“What did you say?” Her words register and I laugh, despite myself. “You listen to Justin Bieber?”
She grimaces. “God, no. He’s trash.”
“Hey, don’t be so judgmental. He’s not…too bad. I mean Baby was pretty good,” I joke, chuckling. It feels good to laugh, even if it’s for a couple of s
econds.
“Bitch.” She cocks her head with a smile, the corners of eyes crinkling, “If you’re going to like eleven-year-old music, at least choose Taylor Swift. But really, you don’t know real music until you’ve heard Kendrick Lamar.”
“I’m more of a Donald Glover kind of girl. But anyways, what I was saying was that his whole family is kind of weird.”
She leans back against the locker. “I’ve never seen his dad, even though I’ve stalked every person in this school. No mom either. And some of their friends are fucking weirdly…loyal. Like they’re family…but they’re not. I don’t know. They’re just weird. And obviously very influential since they freaking boss around everyone in this school. Apparently, they’re rich too.” She shrugs. “So maybe there’s a connection there.”
I lean in, my heart thumping fast. Maybe we are coming across something important. “Like what?”
Mell looks up at the ceiling. “I’m not a detective, so take my words with a grain of salt, but two influential families, both children of families in one school…all I know is some shit is about to go down.” She smirks, watching me with gleaming eyes.
I nudge her. “Mell! What do you mean by that? Like Valentin’s plans have something to do with his family and mine? All this time I was thinking that he wanted money or something.”
She pries my fingers away from her shoulder. “Personal space, Kitty, personal space. And I don’t know. I’m just imagining how the most dramatic telenovela would go down.” She bursts out laughing at my face. “Okay, we should probably get to class before your heart has any subconscious spasms.”
I scowl at her. “I’m fine.”
She narrows her eyes at me, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Are you sure? Are you really?”
I am actually not worried about how I’m now twenty minutes late for class, something that would have probably given me a heart attack yesterday. I’m worried about more important things. Like my aunt. And Valentin’s plan for me.
As we start walking down the hall, Mell turns to me with a blank face and says, “By the way, if given the chance, I would totally make out with your dad. Just keep that in mind whenever you talk to me from now on.”
***
When I get in the car, the first thing that Dad says is, “We are having a family meeting. Some relatives are already home. You are to remain quiet and respectful, do you understand?”
Mom gives me a kiss on the forehead and turns back around, clicking on her seatbelt. “I know you must be surprised by what you saw yesterday.” She glares at Dad. “What your Dad meant to say is that some of the family there are…very traditional. They don’t like kids interrupting—”
I interrupt anyway. “So you guys are going to be discussing Auntie and her decision to leave and I’m not allowed to talk? Even though I’m her niece? And what’s the talk supposed to do? It was her choice—”
Dad runs a hand over his face, looking in the rearview mirror. He hasn’t shaved and his eyes look tired. But I can’t feel bad for him. Not when he won’t defend her. “Caterina, stop asking so many questions.”
I cross my arms, like a petulant child. “You’re the one who always told me to question things.”
“Not like this. You are not even supposed to be at the meeting.”
“What? I’m part of the family too! Or did you guys just forget?”
“Caterina.” There’s a warning tone in his voice. But I don’t care. I’m angry at him. Furious.
“You know what? Maybe she wouldn’t have left if you hadn’t treated her and Mom and Aunt Chloe like little kids that needed to be managed. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t let your buddy talk to her like that!”
A dark look clouds over his face. He is rarely angry at me like this so it is something new.
But when he speaks, his anger is directed somewhere else. “Caterina, please—” His voice is strained.
But Mom puts a hand on his hand and whispers to him, “Let her cool off, love.”
I scoff and turn toward the window.
Has she so quickly betrayed her best friend?
When we slow into our driveway, I instantly climb out of the car before any of them can say anything to me.
When I walk into the house, I’m greeted by a chorus of “Bebe!” “Amore!” “Caterina!” and “Kitty!” I can’t help but break out into a smile as people rush toward me. I’m embraced and kissed what seems like a hundred times.
I spot Uncle Diego across the room. Instantly I drop my bag and run toward him. He picks me up like I weigh nothing and spins me around.
“Ahh!” I scream. Thankfully and finally Annabel, his wife, tells him to put me down.
“I need to hug my niece too,” she tells him.
I laugh, turning toward her and hug her. She kisses my cheek three times, looking at me lovingly. “Oh, Caterina, how you have grown, amore!”
We talk for a little, the same chitchat all grownups have with kids.
“How’s school?”
“How old are you?”
“Wow you’ve gotten so big.”
“Are you taking care of your Mom?”
“Are you getting good grades?”
Except in Italian families, there is an addition: Are you eating enough? And with the men, Is anyone bothering you?
Aunt Annabel is a woman with red hair raging against the world. But that contrasts who she is. Her face is motherly and soft and welcoming. When we were little, all the kids would gravitate toward her and Mom because they gave desserts even when we didn’t eat our veggies.
Amabel refused to punish anyone even when we made a mess of the house. There were other aunts who were known to dish out punishments…like Mom. Mom was known to the kids as a mix of “the best aunt ever” and “Dio mio, I’m scared of this lady. Must avoid her in the course of searching for the big monstri.”
I duck Uncle Diego when he tries ruffling my hair. “Bella, you are so big.”
I groan. “You’re messing with my hair.”
His eyes crinkle at the corners when he smiles. He has gray hairs. I think he is in his late forties now. And he is tall, although not as ginormous as Uncle Ken. Now that guy is gigantic. Aunt Chloe calls him “mio gigante” to tease him.
Most of these relatives live in Italy so I only get to see them on some holidays. And then there are other family members that I never see at all. And they were here.
This must be bigger than I thought.
Ginger, Uncle Smoke’s sister, spots me from the back of the living room. I run to her and she hugs me, whispering, “My little gattino.”
I was known as everyone’s kitten when I was a baby. But I grew out of it when all my cousins meowed every time they passed me.
I beam and hug her tighter. “I missed you!”
Ginger is like the older sister I have always wanted. I haven’t seen her since Christmas. I haven’t seen most of them since then.
Beth and Evon bounce in the room yelling, “Auntie!”
All the women turn at once and I resist the urge to laugh. The issue with having a big Italian family is that…well, it’s huge. I probably have a hundred cousins and nephews and aunts and uncles.
There is a chuckle throughout the room of about twenty people. Beth bounces to Ginger and I let her go reluctantly. “I’ll see you later, Auntie.”
She kisses my forehead, her eyes shining. “I wish it wasn’t under these circumstances.”
I let Beth jump into her arms. I weave my way throughout the room, occasionally stopping to hug or kiss someone.
At the edge of the room, I look around for Francesca, the cousin who’s most close to my age and the only one who doesn’t seem to be scared of me.
We used to be really close as kids when she came to America for school. But she returned home in third grade. Maybe that was why the kids at school had felt free to do whatever they wanted to me. She was always protective of me.
I press really close against the wall and try t
o take a breath as the familiar feeling of panic fills my throat. It had supposedly faded away. Like my habit of picking at my thumb.
My head shoved into the toilet bowl. Again and again like some type of game. The boys with black masks who had held me down despite my writhing and the girls who are laughing around me.
And suddenly I realize that I can’t breathe.
I can’t. I can’t.
It is like it was happening all over again.
Suddenly my phone starts buzzing in my pocket, snatching me away from my nightmare.
Surprise goes through my system as I realize it isn’t my regular phone.
It is the one that Valentin gave me.
Extremely wary, I walk into an adjoining room before answering. “Hello?”
Valentin’s voice is deep and serious on the other side. “Did your aunt leave your family?”
My heart jerks. How did he know? I search my mind for anything I could have said this morning.
No…I hadn’t told him anything except for revealing that there was a family issue…right?
A headache rages in my head, with all the voices in the other room and exhaustion in my body.
“Kitten?”
I blink, leaning against the wall. I rub my temples and whisper into the phone, “I’m here. Why are you calling me, Valentin?”
“So I am correct. She left the family.”
“Shut up. You don’t know anything.”
“I know more than you think, Kitten.”
I open my mouth to curse him through the phone, but freeze when he says, his voice softening, “Kitten, do you care for her? For your family?”
My breath catches. “Yes.”
“Then do what I say. Do not interfere with what’s going to happen.”
My forehead wrinkles. “What? What’s going to happen?”
I can hear him sigh deeply from the other side. There’s a long silence before he speaks. I think I hear him mutter, “…not supposed to tell her…”
“What aren’t you supposed to tell me?” I ask, my voice rising.
“Kitten, you need to let things take their course. Your aunt…she knew what she was getting into when she decided to leave. Don’t try saying anything. Let whatever decision your family makes stand.”
