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Nodding, she starts walking between Luca and me.
As we head to ASL, I grab Paisley’s things and take her right hand. I gently tug her along with me. I don’t want to hurt her by pulling her too hard with all her bruises.
“You ready for class? Luca is going to kill us today. He has free reign in class, and I have it on good authority that he is going to ask you what kind of superhero girl you are. Marvel or DC?”
I look over at her, and she looks dumbfounded.
“You haven’t heard of either of those, have you?”
“I have but not enough to have a conversation on them,” she signs, looking down.
“That’s okay. I’m sure I can steer him away from the topic. I just realized it’s probably really hard to sign with that left hand being in a cast.”
She nods her head, and I tug on her hand again. I love the feeling of her hand in mine. It’s like it fits perfectly.
“Let’s hurry and get to class so we are not late. You two are slowpokes!” Luca quickly signs.
* * *
Arriving in class, we all take our seats. As class goes on, Paisley just sits there and people-watches, sometimes turning back to watch us. Luca and I go into this big tirade of which franchise is better and who is the better superhero that they have. We obviously don’t get anywhere because we like different franchises.
The rest of class goes by in a blur, until finally the bell rings. I really don’t want Paisley to go home to her mother’s house yet. I wonder if she would come over if we asked.
I’ll ask right before she heads to go home.
* * *
PAISLEY
We’ve just walked out of the building when one of them pulls on my arm.
“We were wondering if you were able to come over to our house sometime and spend some time with us outside of school?” one of the twins says.
“I can’t. I’m sorry. Mother is expecting me home as soon as possible. I didn’t leave her a note that I would be late or anything,”I rush through signing.
“That’s okay. We can drive you to your mom’s house and ask her ourselves then. Moms adore us. Our mom has been wanting to meet you. All we do at home is talk about how much we like you. I think it’s making her sick,” says Kade.
I pale and start to form a slight sweat.
“Is everything okay Paisley? You got pale all of a sudden.”
“Everything is fine. Just you can’t come to the house. It’s not clean, and Mother does not like visitors,”I clench my teeth while signing.
Mateo grabs my hand and leads me away from the other three. I love when the guys hold my hand. I know it’s only temporary.
I still need to talk to Atlas. Maybe he didn’t hear anything, but he deserves to know anyway. He walked in on a heavy conversation.
“...going on?” asks Mateo.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Mateo,” I sign shrugging my shoulders.
“You know, my dad used to beat on my mom for the littlest of things. One time, my mom made asparagus because I liked it and it’s healthy, and my dad hit her because he didn’t want her cooking it. She was just trying to have me eat healthy meals. I didn’t truly understand it when I was littler, but a few years later, seven-year-old me tried to protect Mom as best I could, wanting to take the beatings for her.
“I started going to school with bruises all over me, and I got taken away from my family. My mother was devastated, I know that now, but I was so angry then. She let them take me like I meant nothing to her. Again, I know now she didn’t have a choice, but I was so angry at her. The last thing I said to her was ‘I hate you.’ I never got to see my mother alive after that night. They had taken my dad into custody for abusing me, but he got out on bail. He came home and killed her. Basically one last ‘fuck you.’ Ya know?
“They didn’t tell me at first that something happened to her. But the day of the funeral, my foster mom, Betty, advocated for me to be allowed to go to the funeral. She said, ‘He deserves to have some peace in his life, and it’s not your choice to take his decisions away from him.’
“I cried for months. Angry at her. Angry at myself. At the world. So I understand probably more than anyone what you are going through. You just have to let us in. Trust us.”
