Page 137 of My Family

"Reeves."

Miles says, "Present," very quietly.

"Westfield."

"Here," Harry says. "Beautiful morning for institutional confinement," he murmurs, just loud enough for us to hear and just quiet enough for plausible deniability.

I try not to laugh.

Jack snorts.

"Moment of silence," Griff says. "Think about what you have to be grateful for today."

We bow our heads.

The room goes quiet. If anybody talks now, they get detention, except for the rushed prayers some of the guys whisper under their breath. I just stay quiet. I think I'm grateful for not being outside freezing and for having Ethan and my friends here.

"No announcements today. Dismissed."

The room detonates.

Jack does a full-body stretch. Miles starts walking before the rest of us. Harry is already at the door, but he stops to wait for us, something that definitely changed this year.

Ethan is beside me, and he smiles before we start moving.

Classes.

I go with Jack for our carpentry program.

I dread carpentry.

I suck at it.

I only like the classes where we're all together, like art.

We sit in the shop, get a board, and start working. My hands hurt.

I think about talking to Griff about changing programs. I'd only have to restart the program-specific classes. The core curriculum is the same for everyone. But I don’t know about it.

The bell finally rings after an eternity. We meet up before lunch and sit outside for a little free time after classes. It's fucking freezing. I don't want to play in the snow today, but Jack doesn't hesitate before throwing himself into it and making snow angels.

I head to my kitchen shift instead of Quiet Time.

Margarete is at the prep station, bent over a cutting board. Dora moves around carrying two large trays. They're both talking in Portuguese. Lu is making rice for dinner later.

"You're late," she says, which she always does.

I'm two minutes late. I usually am.

"Today," she says, "you'll learn my mother's soup."

The three hours there feel like three minutes.

When I get out, I meet the guys for snack, and today they're merciful enough to let us have it inside instead of out in the freezing yard. We get chocolate cake. I baked that cake.

I feel ridiculously proud when Jack takes a bite and says, "Fucking hell, this is good."

After snack, Ethan and I go work out.