Page 47 of Tell Me Softly
“We’ll miss you,” I said with a sad smile.
“Take care of your little brother, dear,” she said, pulling me under her arm. “And be good and help out your mother. It’s no easy feat, keeping this house in order.”
My brother and I nodded and accompanied her outside. On the porch––I couldn’t help myself––I glanced over at the Di Bianco house. Taylor was getting into the car with Thiago. They both looked over. Taylor smiled, Thiago ground his teeth, and as soon as he’d turned the key, he stomped on the gas. Soon the two of them vanished down the street.
My mother appeared behind us.
“I’m going to get a handle on this situation or my name isn’t Anne Hamilton,” she said. We both turned to her. When I asked, pleasantly surprised, “Are you telling me you’re going to get a job?” she looked at me as if I’d insulted her.
“Take your damn brother to school,” she said, kneeling down and brushing off Cameron’s clothes. “And no more fights, young man.” She kissed him on the cheek, grinned, and walked back inside.
“Does Mom know how to work?” Cam asked.
I sighed. “Seems like she doesn’t,” I said.
***
I dropped Cameron off after almost getting in a fight with him because he kept insisting we should play hooky. He said we deserved to get away, just as Mom did when she said too many things were bothering her. I worried sometimes about her influence on him. We had this sense that he was still a baby and didn’t understand what was going on, but he was the opposite. He was very sharp, and he’d soon realize something major had changed in our household.
I crossed the parking lot, and everybody waved at me as if it was just another ordinary day. It was funny to think about what aclosed world families are. When we were at school, all of us were just teenagers trying to pass our exams, graduate, maybe get into college and get a scholarship. But there was so much else––affairs, fights, financial struggles—and all of that was hidden inside us. Most of us never gave a hint about it. That’s what we get for always looking at the surface. People are like apples: inside, they might be rotten and full of worms, but on the outside, they’re bright and shiny, and you don’t know what is lurking under that perfect skin until you take a bite.
That made me think: What would happen if people could see the worms eating their way through my supposedly perfect life? Would they stop saying hi to me? Would they stop admiring me or wanting to imitate me?
Probably so.
But the funniest thing was, I couldn’t care less.
“Hey, babe,” Kate said, coming out of nowhere and hugging me to her shoulder. “Double practice today.”
I froze. “I can’t go to two practices. I’ve got detention.” How the hell had she not realized that?
“Shit! What should we do, Kami? We’ve got to rehearse. We suck, and the game is right around the corner.”
“I know! But I can’t skip detention. I’m sorry.”
“Hopefully you’ll stop getting in trouble.”
I didn’t have a chance to respond before she walked off. Senior year was proving to be hard. Between homework, these projects that counted for half your grade, cheerleading practice, and detention…
A thousand things were swirling in my head, and by the time third period came, I didn’t know whether I needed a nap, a drink, or a vacation on a desert island. I was so distracted that I didn’t even realize who had sat next to me in history until five minutes into the lecture. Our teacher was telling us we were going to watcha movie that day about the Bolshevik Revolution and that we’d have to turn in a project on it next week.Great,I said to myself,more work. Just what I need.
“You can choose from the following topics: the origins of the revolution and the justifications for it, Lenin’s role in the First World War, or the socioeconomic consequences of the Russian Civil War.”
I blew out a long breath. It was all so boring! I decided to raise my hand.
“Yes, Kamila?” Mr. Stow said.
“Can’t we choose something else?”
“If it has to do with the Bolshevik Revolution, sure, but you need to get my approval first.”
I nodded as the teacher turned off the lights and started the film.
“You’re going to do Anastasia, right?” the person next to me said.
I was startled and looked over to see Taylor. I hadn’t even realized he was there. I could barely tell he was looking at me in the scant light coming from the TV in the front of the room.
“How’d you know?” I asked, grinning.
