In Fair Verona

XLIII

"You know who came up to me the other day?" Isaac says.

We're sat on the bleachers out on the field.

"Who?"

"Penny. Actually it was this morning."

"Odd."

"Yeah. She asked me if I knew why you moved here because you didn't want to tell her but then I realized, I have no idea why."

He digs through his bag for his lunch.

I shrug.

Why would she ask him though? If I didn't want to tell her then isn't it none of her business?

He looks to me as he grabs his sandwich.

"I haven't heard you talk about your mom that much."

"I came here to live with my dad," I say. "I didn't have any other family."

"You get kicked out?"

"No."

He slowly stops chewing and he lowers his sand which.

"Is your mum...?"

I look away and out to the field.

"I've never known my mom," I say. "And please don't pity me. I didn't know her it's not as sad as it seems."

It really is but anything to make this less awful.

"I—" He doesn't know what to say. I hate that.

"And so I grew up with my grandma but when I was eleven or older I don't even know she started losing her memory. Then her hearing and slowly her sight and it was like I was taking care of her. I didn't grow up with a lot of rules so back in Vancouver I used to get in trouble a lot."

"Trouble?"

"Yeah. Lots of suspensions and things with the police. My friend Jake and I used to be horrible. Ari would sometimes join in on things. I think Jake and I were just kids who had no discipline and were angsty. Ten times worse when you don't have the proper parenting."

"Oh," Isaac says. "I didn't know any of this."

I shrug.

"Do your siblings know this?"

"Auguste and Grace might. That's if they were told before I arrived but I think I might of talked to Phoebe about it before that or she might of picked up on it. I think I mentioned something about it when I got mad at Richard when I first came here."

"Grace is older then you... did Richard cheat?"

"Yeah. I guess on one of his business trips to Vancouver. Got my mother knocked up, ruined her life."

He stays quiet.

Everyone's burning question is 'how did she die'. But nobody ever has the guts to ask.

"She committed suicide when I was four," I say quietly. I think my voice cracks a bit at the end but I keep my composure.

He stays quiet for a bit.

It's about ten minutes later when he's going though his lunch bag that he speaks again.

"I forgot to tell you but I brought some extra cookies for you," he says smiling as he holds out a bag of homemade cookies.

I smile back.

A bit later he talks again.

"I leave for France in two weeks."