4. Chapter 4
One Week Later
Nervously, I sit beside Alli in the backseat of her mom’s SUV. We’re on our way to school for our first day, but that’s not the only thing I’m nervous about.
Last week, when we got home from clothes shopping, Mom was nowhere to be found. Πατ?ρα (Dad) had sat me down along with γιαγι? (grandma) and told me that he and Mom were going to be getting a divorce. After we had left to go shopping, my parents got into a huge screaming match that lasted hours. He didn’t tell me everything, but apparently between what happened the first day we arrived and that morning, he learned a lot about how she’s been treating everyone the past few years. When his family would tell him about things she’d done or said, he hadn’t wanted to believe them since he’d never witnessed it himself, so he had brushed off their concerns. However, he said that the things she said during their fight confirmed that his family had been right all along.
The fight finally ended when πατ?ρα (dad) gave Mom an ultimatum. That she either needed to change and be a loving and supportive mother and wife or to leave and never come back.
Without another word, she grabbed her purse and what she had brought with us in the car, called a car service, and went to her parent’s house.
Πατ?ρα (Dad) said that as soon as she left the house, he called παππο? (grandpa) Haris and asked him to draw up divorce papers for him. I hadn’t known it, but this wasn’t the first time πατ?ρα (dad) had talked to παππο? (grandpa) about the papers, so it didn’t take him long to get them done. Then later that afternoon, πατ?ρα (dad) asked me to repeat everything I’d already told him so that παππο? (grandpa) would know as well. By the time I was done, I could almost imagine steam coming out of παππο? (grandpas) ears at how angry he was at how Mom had been treating me.
The papers were served to Mom the next day.
Παππο? (Grandpa) is a well-known lawyer in this area and from what my πατ?ρα (dad), γιαγι? (grandma), θε?ε και θε?ο (aunts and uncles) say, you never want to cross him on a good day, let alone in a courtroom.
The same day Mom was served the divorce papers, πατ?ρα and I went through every box we’d moved with the help of γιαγι? (grandma) , παππο? (grandpa), and a few of my θε?ων (aunts). Everything of Mom’s was boxed up and set aside for her in the garage. It helped that we were doing the unpacking of our things and then repacking Mom’s things at the same time. There was less hassle, according to what my θε?ε? (aunts) had said. The boxes and packing materials were already there, so there wasn’t any need to dig out supplies or go and buy stuff. If we opened it up and saw it was all her ‘gaudy shit’, θε?α (aunt) Selena’s words not mine, it got rewrapped if πατ?ρα didn’t want to fight for it. Though, I know from what πατ?ρα said, Mom will probably argue about some things that she might want or won’t want him to have. Even if she doesn’t want it herself.
According to παππο? , because of her trying to starve me to ‘help’ me lose weight and my lightheaded episodes, Mom isn’t allowed anywhere near me and isn’t allowed to step foot in our house. Though, πατ?ρα and παππο? made one exception in that she can come and pick up her stuff, but that she couldn’t enter the house. It also had to be supervised, so Brady’s dad, Sam, came over since he’s a cop.
Πατ?ρα (Dad) ended up getting a restraining order against her because of what she’d done to me and the things she’d said during their fight. He wouldn’t tell me what she had said, but θε?α (aunt) Catherine said it must have been bad if παππο? advised him to get the restraining order.
Unfortunately for Mom, that means she can’t keep the job she just got at the school, since that’s where I’m enrolled. I feel guilty about that part, but if things were as bad as πατ?ρα and παππο? said, then I’m not sure I want to be around her at school. I don’t know what she’d try, especially with not knowing what she threatened to do.
As for our house, I didn’t know it, but it’s only in πατ?ρα (dads) name. Not both of theirs, which θε?α (aunt) Sofia says is how it’s usually done with married couples. Apparently, παππο? advised him to only put his name on the paperwork since he qualified for the house loan on just his income alone. Because of that, Mom has no claim to it. Or his car. Her car had been brought up along with the moving truck, and even though Dad paid for most of it, he said he wouldn’t fight her for it. Since hearing that the house and car were only in πατ?ρα (dads) name, I’ve often wondered if πατ?ρα had suspected that things might go south in the near future.
Shaking my head, my mind wanders to a couple of days later and how things changed after Mom left with the last of her things. It was calmer for πατ?ρα and me, but I know he misses her. Or at least, the woman he thought she was. I’ve overheard him crying each night about her. Asking what or where he’d gone wrong? How did he not see who she really was sooner? Why did he marry her?
After one really bad night, I shuffled downstairs for breakfast, and noticed πατ?ρα (dads) red-rimmed eyes, which probably matched my own.
“ Πατ?ρα? (Dad) ? Do you… Do you regret having me with Mom?”
Instantly he shut off the stove and a few seconds later, I was wrapped tightly in his arms. After a few moments, he leaned back and brushed my hair out of my face. “Never. You are the one decision I will never regret. I’m guessing you heard me talking to myself last night, huh?”
Sniffling, I nodded.
“ Kορ?τσι μου (My girl) , I’m sorry that you thought I regretted having you. No, what I regret is that I didn’t see through your mom’s act sooner. I could have saved you a lot of heartache if I had. The only thing I’ll thank her for is giving me you.”
I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and we held each other as we both cried.
After that, things got better for both πατ?ρα and me. I know he still has moments where he still questions himself and Mom, but I think he tries to hide them when they happen. If I do happen to see him breaking down, or hear it, I don’t mention it.
Γιαγι? (Grandma) stayed with us for a few days and was happier than I’d seen her in a long time. However, I think a part of that is because πατ?ρα had asked her if she could set up the kitchen like how she used to have hers. I had thought our kitchen was similar to hers when I first saw it, but he confirmed it and said that was part of the reason why he chose this place.
Πατ?ρα (Dad) said that he had always loved how easily it was to move around γιαγι?? (grandmas) kitchen when he used to cook with her. With how important food is to them, γιαγι? (grandma) was beyond pleased to help set up our kitchen and help stock whatever we needed. Well, after hugging πατ?ρα for a long time and making him bend down so she could pepper his face with kisses. I giggled a lot at that, which turned into a bigger giggling fit when γιαγι? skirted around the island and did the same to me.
While πατ?ρα set up his office, that was off the living room, γιαγι? and I worked in the kitchen. One thing I like about his office is that if the French doors are open, you’re able to see almost all of the living room and kitchen. Something πατ?ρα took advantage of while we all worked so he could easily check in on us or we could ask each other questions about where to put stuff.
Πατ?ρα (Dad) had only closed the French doors once since we moved in and γιαγι? told me it was because he had to call the HR person at his new job to notify them that my parents are getting a divorce and that Mom will soon be off his insurance. Not to mention let them know that he was now a single parent, but that he had a support system in place for when they were at their peak during tax season or if illness hit.
It took a while, but by Saturday, we were all unpacked and settled in. Πατ?ρα (Dad) and I hung out together this past weekend, and I enjoyed having him home and to myself. We didn’t have to worry about Mom ruining our movie marathon with complaints about both of us eating popcorn with extra butter on it or that our choices in movies were boring or childish. Or that we ordered takeout pizza so we could keep watching the movie instead of stopping to cook.
“We’re here,” Meghan says in a sing-songy voice, and I shake my head, pushing those thoughts away for now.
Seeing the school in front of me brings back all those first day jitters to the forefront as Meghan pulls into a parking space. Since she and Ellie are teachers here, they brought us kids in over the weekend so that I could get a feel for the school and where things were. Also, for where their classrooms are for if I ever needed one of them. Since Stephanie wasn’t able to join us, they showed me where her counselor’s office was as well.
Alli reaches over and slips her hand in mine, squeezing it slightly. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay. You’ve got me, Luke, and Brady on your side. You aren’t alone.”
I nod, giving her a small smile even though I’m still worried about what the other kids will say about me. I look better than I ever have in the past with my new clothes, new sneakers, new supplies, and new, durable backpack that isn’t duct taped or sewn back together repeatedly.
Climbing out of the SUV, I hoist my heavy backpack onto my shoulders. I had missed the school supply drop off date, so I have to carry all of my supplies in with me.
Meghan heads inside to get her classroom ready, and Alli and I sit on a bench outside chatting until they open the doors to the students. I haven’t seen Luke or Brady yet, but maybe they’re with their moms in their classroom or office.
Once we’re allowed into the school, Alli guides me through the halls. Even though I’d recently walked the halls, I was still forgetting some stuff. When we reach our class’ cubby area for our coats and bags, we hang our stuff up, and I rehoist my backpack onto my shoulders as I follow her into our classroom.
Luke and Brady both wave when we come in, and I wave back before walking toward Mrs. Eddington’s desk with my bag of required tissues and a few other things. She’s got light blond hair that’s got a fair amount of white in it that’s pinned into a bun at the back of her head. Her smile grows as I approach her, and I think my friends may have been right. She seems like a really nice teacher.
“Um, hello Mrs. Eddington. I’m Mary Catarino and I’m new here. I missed the supply drop off date, but here are the things you asked for on the list.”
She smiles again at me and nods, taking the bag from me. “Thank you, dear, and welcome to Forest Creek. I’ll get these put away.” She pauses and nods to Alli, who’s still standing by my side. “I see you’ve already made a friend. Did you by chance show her where the class’ cubby area is, Alli?”
Alli nods her head, her ponytail bouncing at the action. “Yes, Mrs. Eddington.”
“Thank you, dear. Now, how about you both take your seats? Class doesn’t start for a few more minutes, so that should give you enough time to put your things inside your desk, Mary. Don’t worry about your backpack. You can take it to the cubby area when it’s time for recess.”
I give her a genuine smile, glad to have a few minutes to set things up rather than digging through my bag all morning. “Thank you, Mrs. Eddington.”
She nods and gets up, going to a cupboard in the back of the room. I look around for my name tag and sigh inwardly. Apparently, Mrs. Eddington had set us up in alphabetical order by our last names, so I’m right in the front row. I notice that the others are more toward the back of the room.
I plaster a smile on my face, hoping it covers my nerves, as I walk to my desk and start putting my things away. Luckily, I finish right as the bell rings.
The morning goes really well, and I can confidently say that I love my teacher! Morning recess was fun and I spent it playing with Alli, Luke, and Brady. No surprise there. I can’t believe how fast I’ve become comfortable around them, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
We’re standing in the lunch line, and I just grabbed my tray of food and am about to head to a table when I feel like someone’s watching me. I look around, but no one is staring at me that I can notice.
“What’s your fat ass doing here?” a voice sneers from behind me.
Confused that a kid would curse in school, I turn around to see who it is and who they are talking to, and immediately wish I hadn’t.
It’s my cousin, Isaac.
My good mood instantly vanishes. I had completely forgotten that him and a few of my other cousins on Mom’s side of the family go to this school.
My stomach tightens as my heart sinks. Out of all the cousins on my mom’s side, Isaac is the worst. He’s a downright bully, and he isn’t afraid to hurt people. Something I know from personal experience. I just pray that being at school will prevent him from hurting me. Physically, at least.
I hold my head up high, hoping that none of my nerves are showing. “We moved here and I go to school here now.”
“Your pathetic, wussy-assed dad should have left to head back to Iowa and taken you with him last week after what happened. I don’t know why Aunt Eileen shunned the family business to marry that low life in the first place.”
What? Family business? What’s he talking about?
Shaking my head, I put those thoughts out of my mind for the moment. “Whether you like it or not, we aren’t leaving. Πατ?ρα? (Dad) and I like it here, so if you don’t like it, tough. Nobody said you had to come over here and talk to me.”
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. His face turns red, and he pushes me, trying to knock me down. He’s only a little over a year older than me, but he’s always been stronger than me.
Arms wrap around me, catching me while someone else takes the tray out of my hands before my food or drink can spill on me or the floor.
“Back off, Isaac,” Luke says in a hard voice that sends a chill down my spine. I look up at him, realizing it was him that caught me, but he doesn’t take his eyes off Isaac.
Refocusing on Isaac, he shrinks back at the sight of Luke standing at my back before straightening. “Ah, so the fat-ass has found some poor old shmuck to back her up, huh?” he pauses and then smirks at me. “This isn’t over, bitch. I’ll make your life a living hell if you stick around here.”
He turns around to leave, but his steps falter when he sees an adult standing behind him, arms crossed and staring down at him. My focus had been entirely on Isaac, so I hadn’t even seen him approach.
“Starting fights on the first day of school, eh, Isaac? Well, how about we go into the office to have a little chat? I think a phone call to your parents is in order.” The man pauses and looks past Isaac toward me, his eyes softening slightly. “You must be Mary. We only have a handful of new students this year, but you’re the only girl among them, so it’s a little easier for me to remember your name. I’m the elementary principal, Mr. Reese. I had approached you to welcome you to Forest Creek and overheard everything.”
My cheeks heat in embarrassment and he gives me a small smile, though I do notice a lot of kids watching us, which makes my cheeks heat even more.
“No worries, Mary. You aren’t in any trouble. However, I will need to let your father know about what has happened. Now, if you will excuse young Isaac and me, we need to have a little chat.”
Mr. Reese places a hand on Isaac’s shoulder, and carts him off, all while Isaac is sputtering about how it should be me in trouble and not him.
When he’s out of sight, my body sags as my limbs start to tremble. My mind starts reeling as memories from the last time I saw Isaac bombard me.
“Crap, Mary!” Luke curses, and then he guides me to a nearby chair. Immediately, Brady and Alli are also by my side.
“Talk to us, Mary,” Brady says softly.
“He’s my cousin on my mom’s side. He and his parents are mean, but thankfully we don’t see them often. Well, at least before. Last year, Isaac was picking on me at a family gathering at my aunt’s place and pushed me off the play set that was in the backyard. I fell and broke my arm.
“Isaac told them that I had been the one instigating everything and that he pushed me to get me off him. No one believed me when I told them my version of what happened except for my Uncle Mateo, who had said he’d seen the whole thing. Aside from Isaac’s father, Uncle Carlos, talking to him, he didn’t get punished for what he’d done.
“Later, I’d overheard Uncle Carlos and Uncle Diego telling Isaac that if he’s going to pull a stunt like that to make sure no one’s around to rat on him. Then they both gave him pointers on what he should have done instead. Out of all my family on my mom’s side, Grandmother, Mom, Uncle Diego, Uncle Carlos, his wife Gianna, and Isaac are the ones that treat me the worst.”
All three of them get angrier, but then they surprise me by wrapping me in a hug.
“No one’s going to get to you with us around,” Luke says, and the others voice their agreement.
I don’t know what I did to deserve friends that are so supportive, but I’m thanking all my lucky stars that I met these three last week.
A few hours later, I’m playing with the others on the playground during the last recess of the day when the kids around us go quiet. Looking around at them, I’m confused until I turn around and see a group of kids approaching us. They look a year or so older than us.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” a boy says, who appears to be the ‘leader’ of their group.
“Looks like the three freaks have added a fat blob as a fourth freak,” another boy sneers.
The others step closer to me, but I’m frozen in shock by their words. After a few moments, I shake it off and look at them closer. They’re calling me fat? Three of the seven kids in front of me are bigger than I am, including the leader. And I’m not trying to say that to be mean.
The two girls with them look down their noses at me in the way that only a spoiled rich girl can. “You’re just a waste of space and air. You’re so pathetic that you can’t do anything right. It’s no wonder your mother gave up on you and left you and that worthless lump she married, but at least she’s back where she belongs now.”
My heart breaks at that, and it’s then that I know Isaac must have set these kids on me. It already hurts enough to know that Mom’s love for me faded once I started taking after πατ?ρα more and more in the looks and personality departments as the years went on.
I’ve seen the pictures. When I was a baby, I was slightly chubby, but as a toddler, I’d lost the baby weight and was thin, like Mom. In the pictures, Mom had truly seemed happy at that point. You could see it in her eyes. But somewhere between ages four and five, the weight started coming back on, even though I was still pretty active. The number of pictures of me thinned, and when Mom and I were in the same picture, her smile never met her eyes.
Internally, I shake myself. Mom must have gone back to her parent’s house and cried that it’s all our fault rather than taking the blame for what she’s done.
“Well, at least I don’t have to suffer her poison anymore. However, I’m guessing that your parents are still pouring their poison into your ears, judging by how you’re acting.”
One of the girls visibly recoils at that, but then her eyes narrow at me along with the others.
“And what would you know? You’re nothing. Not a blimp on anyone’s radar. You think these three want to hang out with the fat-ass nobody that got cut off? You’re delusional. They just feel sorry for you and that’s all you’ll ever get in life. Pity,” the other girl says.
“You’re better off killing yourself to save yourself the heartache. You’re a fat-ass and that’s all you’ll ever be. A nobody that everyone pities,” one of the boys responds with a sneer.
“You’re wrong,” Brady says beside me. “Mary isn’t a waste of space, and she isn’t a fat-ass. She has friends. Real friends.”
“If you haven’t looked at your so-called friends, three of you are even heavier than Mary. What? You think that it’s okay to act like you are just because you three are spoiled rich boys? You’re all hypocritical jerks,” Alli says as she takes my hand and squeezes it.
“A person’s size does not define them, even if you’ve all been brainwashed into believing that. It’s their heart that matters, but I’m pretty sure yours are all raisins, since you’re acting like little puppets for Isaac and your rich parents. Go back to your caviar and fancy cars. We don’t need your filth around here,” Luke says from behind me as he places a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it slightly.
The lead kid scoffs. “You think you’re so special cause your dad is a doctor? You’ll regret talking to us like this.”
“No, we won’t, William, but you might. You think you can rule the school just because your daddy is one of the richest men in town. He didn’t earn his wealth; it was handed to him. He never had to work a day in his life, and it shows. Listen good, you little puppets. Mary is with us, and we won’t tolerate your picking on her like this. Or do you want a repeat of kindergarten?” Luke asks him.
The boy who I now know is William pales significantly, but he quickly masks it. “We’ll see about that,” he says with his nose in the air before turning and walking away. His groupies soon do the same.
My body sags slightly when they are further away and Alli wraps me in a hug.
Looking over my shoulder, both Brady and Luke are still watching the other group retreat.
“Um, what happened in kindergarten?” I ask, and then Alli’s body shakes against mine with her giggles.
She pulls back and wipes at her eyes. “They decided to make me their target that year because I was bigger than all the other girls. Luke, Brady, and I have been friends since we were in diapers. They stood up for me and Luke got into William’s face, telling him to back off. William got so scared; he peed his pants in front of the whole grade at recess.”
“So, they’re also in second grade? They look older than us.”
Brady nods. “Yeah, they are. It’s just how they’re made up that makes them seem older than they are. All their parents run in the same circle, so they’ve also known each other since they were babies.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of their nastiness, but don’t worry, Mary. We’ve got your back and we won’t let them hurt you,” Luke says as he looks straight into my eyes.
Something in his eyes makes me believe him and for once, I finally feel like I belong.
Truly belong.