Book cover :)
He came over later, and knocked on the door.
"Ready to go?" he asked. I sighed, and looked to my grandmother. Why'd she have to commit me to this? She just smiled and handed me some grocery money and a lista of things she needed. We walked out of the house, and down the sidewalk. "So, are te visiting?" he asked.
"I hope not," I said. He smiled, but furrowed his eyebrows.
"How come? What about your parents?" I shook my head.
"They don't like me. So I left. Hopefully she'll let me stay."
"I'm sure they Amore you. You're their daughter. What could te have done that would've made them feel otherwise?"
"I'm me... and I punched a kid in the face." His smile faded a little bit, and he seemed to make the spazio between us a little bigger.
"Oh. Well... I'm sure they still Amore you."
"Can we please not talk about this?" I snapped. His smile disappeared completely.
"Sorry." The walk to the grocery store was silent the rest of the way. "Ok, well, te get these things, and I'll get these," Foster said, glancing at the list. He tried to memorize the few items he had to get, then handed me the list.
It took me forever to find the items; I'd never been grocery shopping before. I felt kind of stupid, because it was a tiny store. Foster had to help me find the other things, and then we were done. We were going back home, carrying all the groceries, when a guy stopped in front of us on a bike.
"Hey Foster!" he looked at me, and his smile flipped upside down. "Uh... Who's this...?"
"Hey Lowell. This is Mrs. Hayner's granddaughter, Cosette. I was helping her get Mrs. Hayner's groceries."
"Ok then..." Lowell said. "You wanna go hang out at the pattinare, skate park?"
"Sure, we'll meet te there," Foster said.
"Uh... not her," Lowell said, glancing at me then looking back at Foster. My face blushed, and I turned my face to the ground.
"Um... Ok... Sorry, Cosette, may--" Foster began to say, but I shook my head.
"It's fine," I sighed. I took the groceries from his hands, and began walking home. It was a little difficult carrying all of them, but I eventually made it home. I only dropped some things a couple times.
"Where's Foster?" Grandmother asked as I shuffled inside.
"Gone," I said, trying to get everything to the tavolo without any più spills.
"What do te mean?" she asked. When I didn't respond, she sighed. "I thought for sure you'd like him. I just wanted te to have a friend--"
"I don't have friends," I snapped. "I've never had friends. Why would I have Friends all of a sudden?" I started putting the groceries away, and tried not to look at my grandmother. I heard her inhale, like she was about to say something, then closed her mouth and walked away. I put the groceries away da myself.
She came back a couple minuti later, holding a mirror. She placed it into my hands.
"Look in it," she ordered. I picked it up, and saw my reflection. I grimaced and put it back down.
"Why?" I grumbled. She rolled her eyes and held it up again.
"Do as your grandmother says," she told me. I sighed and looked into the mirror. I bit my lip as I saw myself. I was starting to think I knew why my parents didn't like me. All their children were beautiful. Except me. They all had silky, beautiful blond hair. Except me. All their children were refined, and polite. Except me. I was coming up with millions of reasons per second. "What do te see?" Grandmother asked finally.
"Me," I sighed. "Why?"
"Explain to me what te see," she urged. I raised an eyebrow.
"I... I don't know." She sighed and shook her head impatiently.
"Well, I see a beautiful young woman. Who's strong, but in pain. She's misunderstood, and she misunderstands herself even." She put the mirror down and looked at me. "You have no idea how special te are, Cosette. And I wish your father could see that." She hugged me, and I felt like I was going to burst into tears at any moment. "You can stay," she whispered. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to cry.
I sat at the cucina tavolo with her, and watched TV. When a commercial came, I took a deep breath.
"Why don't te talk to my father anymore? I mean, I'd never even heard of te until I wanted to run away," I said. She pursed her lips, and sighed.
"Cosette, I loved your father very much. But, as te know, he's... controlling. He wants everything to be the way he wants it; no exceptions." I nodded. I knew that very well. "After my husband died... He wanted everything his way. He assumed the position of the man of the house, I guess. He started telling me what to do, and bullying his siblings around... It was frightening at times. Then, one day, I stood up to him. I was done taking orders from my son. And he got so angry and left. I never heard from him again."
"Oh," was all I could say. "That sounds like him alright." I recalled one time, Mother and Father were arguing about whether Tzipora should take piano, o ballet class. He wanted piano, Mother wanted ballet. He got so upset, he started screaming at her. I remembered hiding in Anastasia's room, and her holding Asteria and me close. We were all so frightened. Tzipora tried to stop them, but he was dead-set on her taking piano. It was all extremely ridiculous.
After about an hour, he just left. He didn't come back till after midnight, and it was obvious he had been drinking.
I shook my head, returning to the present. Grandmother looked at me with a sad expression. Tears stung in my eyes. I've been very emotional lately. It was getting really annoying.
"I think we should call your family," she said.
"They won't care," I said. She sighed. "Please, don't," I asked. "I don't want them to take me back." She sighed again and looked at me for a while.
"We'll see. For now, we won't. But we'll have to sooner o later." She stood up and headed to the kitchen. "I'm going to make---" she looked at the burned stove. "...Wanna order pizza?" she asked. I laughed.
***
I stayed with my Grandmother for a week. It was awesome. She was fun to talk to, and a great listener. Best of all, she loved me for me. She made commenti on my style, but none were judging. No one had ever been so nice to me.
Then one evening, she practically dropped a bomb on everything.
"Time for bed, Dear," she said, clicking off the TV.
"...It's only nine o'clock..." I said, trying not to complain. Maybe she was just tired...
"I'm aware. te need to be up early tomorrow."
"How come? What are we doing?"
"You are going to school," she said, smiling. My jaw dropped, and my hands got sweaty. My cuore raced, and I started to panic.
"What?!" I asked. This was going to ruin everything. This place had been perfect. And now my own personal hell would return. High school.
"You need to go to school, Cosette. te may be a runaway, but te still need an education," she winked at me. I groaned a little bit, but there it seemed there was nothing I could do to change her mind.
"Fine..." I grumbled, and went to the couch, climbing into my covers once again.
"Goodnight," she smiled, and flicked off the lights. I laid there in the darkness, completely awake and alert with fear. This was going to be terrible.
