*Caterina*
I woke up the next Monday, and it still felt strange to be ho. My things were still packed up in the suitcase and matching travel bag, pretty much just clothes and necessities that I had taken to the university with .
I’d never been the kind of person to hold onto things or give them aning. Even my old bedroom, which hadn’t changed from the day I left, was pretty empty. There were only a few items that I had kept.
I showered and got ready for my visit to UCLA. This was it. I was making it official.
Done with my shower, I sat down at the vanity Mom had refurbished for back when we first moved into this house. It still had the pink flower stickers that I had put on it around the mirror, though most were now discolored and peeling away.
Besides the old and worn jewelry box on the table, there wasn’t much else to greet . I sighed, grabbing the makeup from the table as I started the long process of changing my features to sothing more pleasant for to look at.
I added a bit of bronze highlights on my too-long nose, a bright shiny red lipstick on my too-thin lips, and a sharp black liner around my eyes, their green color still too bright and noticeable for my tastes.
Mom used to tell late at night how beautiful they were, and that she was grateful I had such beautiful eyes, just like....
It still hurt too much to think of Dad.
I glanced at the white and pink jewelry box on the table, knowing what it would contain if I opened it—a little twinkling lullaby and a ballerina in a pink tutu twirling around, surrounded by only one piece of jewelry that I kept hidden away in there, one I hadn’t seen since the day I had gotten it.
My twelfth birthday was not a mory I liked to revisit.
The birthday card propped up between the mirror and jewelry box had aged poorly over the years. It looked yellowed and frayed, even warped in so spots. But it was still readable.
‘Happy Birthday to the Sweetest Girl!” it shouted in bold letters, a little cartoon girl popping out of a cake on top with a huge smile. Inside of it was a slanted scrawl that I could repeat word for word.
Thinking back to the talk with my mom about UCLA, I was surprised at how well she had taken it. She had always pushed to go for a higher education, and she’d been the most excited when I had been accepted to the university that she had planned for , so I hadn’t been sure how she was going to react to my transfer.
Luckily, she seed completely fine with it, and even happy that I was coming ho. She even believed when I said it was because I just missed ho.
That kind of lie never would have gotten passed Elio.
I reached for my concealer, the expensive waterproof kind. I didn’t normally overspend on fancy or high-end products, especially if it ant dipping into the savings left by my father, but this was an exception.
I looked in the mirror and wondered what my dad would think, if he hadn’t gotten himself killed, about leaving the university he had paid for and coming back ho just to lie to my mother to her face.
Would his green eyes have been filled with as much hatred as they were when I looked in the mirror?
I dabbed my brush into the concealer, holding out my left wrist. The swelling had gone down, luckily, but the now-fading bruise was still ugly to look at. Long-sleeve shirts did the trick most other days, but I still used the concealer in case they rode up my arm.
I’d almost forgotten to hide it when Elio ca to fix my shower, but I rembered and kept that wrist out of sight.
It was a reminder of what I was running from.
I sighed, covering up the ugliness like I always did, making sure not a speck of it was visible to the eyes of those watching .
Maybe it was the coward’s way out, lying and hiding like that, but I didn’t want to tell my mom the truth. I didn’t want to tell anyone the truth. I wouldn’t burden them by bringing them into my own ss, especially my mom.
She had her own grief to deal with.
Once done, I dressed warmly in a sweater and gray infinity scarf, pairing it with my jeans and fluffy snow boots. I grabbed my backpack, hooking it onto one shoulder before I started out. Mom knew where I was headed, so I didn’t worry about leaving a note as I left the house, locking it behind .
We didn’t live far away from UCLA, but I found my bike in the backyard anyway. I hadn’t ridden it in so years, but they say you never really forgot how to ride. I wobbled a few tis but then it was just like when I was in high school as I took off down the streets.
Anna was waiting for at the entrance, a bounce in her step and a big smile on her face as she nodded to the various students going in and out. She bead as she saw coming and I pulled up to the bike rack, pulling off my helt as she bounced over to with a bubbly giggle.
“Cat!”
She hugged , her eyes twinkling as she watched lock my bike onto the rack. I shuffled my backpack to my other shoulder, giving her a soft smile.
“Hey, how’s the tea been?” I asked casually.
Her eyes lit up with excitent.
“Piping hot!” Anna gasped. “You don’t even know the half of it! You know Tara from high school biology? Well, she was supposed to get married a few months ago because she got pregnant and she and Todd... you rember Todd right? Well, they wanted to have the wedding real quick to cover it up.”
“Jeez, figures she’d have an ending like that,” I said, shaking my head disappointedly.
Tara had often been outwardly an, and from what I rembered, she had been one of those girls who didn’t have friends, only followers.
“Oh, it gets better!” Anna rolled her eyes. “Anyway, so they were going to get married, but then Todd called off the wedding because he found out that baby wasn’t even his!”
I winced. “Oof.”
“But this is the best part,” Anna sent a grin. “Turns out the baby was actually Mike M’s! You know, from the track team?”
I halted in my tracks. “Mike M?” I asked cautiously.
“Yup.”
“Aren’t they cousins?”
“Yup.”
“Oh, my god,” I sighed, wincing at the information overload.
Anna had always been a bit of a gossip, ever since I knew her at least, but she’d never been harmful about it. If she wasn’t so much of a ditz, she might’ve made a good investigative journalist in another life.
Anna led to the main office, talking my ear off as usual, and I chatted a bit as we entered. The receptionist behind the desk was a little bit older than us. He gave us a bright smile as we entered, his little desk filled with trinkets from clay figurines of frogs to plushes of cats, and all sorts of drawings and photos on the boards on the wall.
“Hey there,” he called out happily. “I’m Caleb. Welco to the office. Can I help you?”
“Hi.” I pulled out a file of paperwork I had made sure to bring in my backpack, setting it on the desk as I told him, “I called earlier. My na is Caterina Leone. I’m here to transfer.”
“Transferring to UCLA or out?” he asked simply, with no judgnt in his eyes either way.
“To.”
“Lovely. Alright, is all your paperwork here, Miss Caterina?” he asked, opening the folder as I nodded. He went over it, filling it out and entering the details into the computer with his fingers flying across the keyboard.
“Let just file this away and you’ll be all set to go.” He smiled, getting to his feet and heading through the door behind the desk, probably where they kept records or other items they needed.
I sighed, leaning my elbows on the desk as Anna rocked back and forth on her feet, humming tunelessly to herself.
“You doing okay?” she asked softly.
As much as a head-in-the-clouds kind of girl she was, Anna was my best friend for a reason, and that reason was how sweet and caring she could be to her friends.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Life is just... a lot, too much sotis, I guess.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re transferring over here,” Anna said honestly. “I think it’ll be good for you, getting away from all that toxicity.”
I stiffened, my hand imdiately tugging down the sleeve of my shirt as I nodded to myself. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Alrighty!” Caleb ca back with a huge grin. “Here you are! You should be starting after the winter break, and an email will co soon with your first classes, once they’re decided. Sound good?”
“Yeah, thanks,” I grabbed the remaining paperwork, including a brochure of classes they offered, and waved as we left.
“Now that that’s done, let show you around!” Anna said, her expression shining hopefully as she gave her puppy-dog eyes.
“Alright,” I laughed, letting her drag around by the wrist.
Despite how much I wanted to go ho, I could give her this ti for all she’d done to help . We stopped by the coffee shop where Anna said, “Their lattes are to die for!”
And we went to the library, which was practically empty with the holiday break going on. The campus was huge, and I was glad I let Anna take on a tour or else I would’ve for sure gotten lost.
But eventually, Anna and I parted ways to go back ho.
By the ti I was walking my bike up the driveway, the sky already dark and the moon out, I spotted Elio walking straight out of his house. I parked the bike, locking it up, trying to ignore him out the awkwardness from the kiss, but of course things couldn’t go that easy.
“Where were you?”
The demanding tone in his voice was familiar to and just as irritating as when I was a teenager and I got caught sneaking out of the house for the first ti. I’d never done it again after that, mostly because of the asshole standing behind .
“None of your business.” I crossed my arms as I turned to face him.
He rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Look, Cat, don’t—”
But he didn’t get to finish because a loud ringing cut him off. I jumped, imdiately grabbing my phone and glancing at the screen, which read, ‘Blocked number.’
My heart dropped to my stomach... not again. I bit my bottom lip, trying not to freak out as I held down the power button, shutting off the phone and stuffing it into my backpack. I hoped to God that Elio hadn’t seen the worry on my face.
“Who was that?” Elio asked firmly, the space between his eyebrows furrowing like it did whenever he was worried about sothing.
“Just spam,” I lied, avoiding his eyes as I moved around him, keeping my head down.
Before I could completely get past him, I saw a flash of a hand from the corner of my eye and before I knew it, I had jumped back, wrenching my wrist behind with a panicked look.
“Cat?” he asked, alarm in his eyes.
I just swallowed, putting on an annoyed expression as I shuffled my bookbag on my shoulder.
“Don’t try to grab people like that,” I said, keeping my eyes trained on the ground as I rushed up to the house.
As I reached my door, I heard a ringtone, the most basic and generic one that ca with the phone, and I could feel Elio’s eyes on my back like a heat wave as I heard him answer.
“Hey, Al,” he said as I shut the front door behind .
I breathed out. I could only tell myself that it was nothing, that he didn’t suspect anything was wrong, and that everything was fine.
I didn’t need him getting involved in my life. I didn’t need him trying to control .
I certainly wasn’t a kid any longer.
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