The Beginning (The Life 1)

“Wow, what is this?” She gravitated to the books that lined one wall, all classics, most of which were collector’s editions. “Is this an original Herodotus?” She pulled her hand back from the volume making the twins laugh, and me smile. She acts like Pop and Uncle Garrett with books. They swear the rest of us are heathens because we don’t all genuflect before the greats like they do.

“Should we get started? I still don’t know what you need help with.” She didn’t seem as nervous with just the girls there, which is a good thing, I guess. Just then, Sheila walked into the room with a tray of snacks. That would be Ma’s doing, something I counted on. “Oh, put it down here.” Why my fucking desk?

“Come, Gia, let’s have a snack; I’m starving.” Rosa all but dragged her to a chair. They crowded her before she could argue, and before you know it, the three of them were sitting around my desk, picking at what looked like cucumber sandwiches and sipping tea out of cups rimmed with twenty-four-carat gold. I guess Ma was in one of her high-tea moods.

Poor Gianna looked lost as fuck, but each time she tried to get a word in, the twins bombarded her with another question. She seemed to relax only when they turned the conversation to Calculus, doing a good rendition of airheads who didn’t have a clue. Truth is, I’ve already prepared them for it when I first started taking the course, knowing that it would be another year before they had to take it and the fact that the shit was hard.

Those two are very competitive, and as their older brother, it’s my job to make sure they run shit among their little friends. Things quieted down a bit, and I watched and listened as she fumbled a little in the beginning before getting her footing. She walked them through the basics like a natural, and I found myself feeling proud.

The twins did a good impression of not knowing what the hell she was talking about, but the jig was up when she tested them on what she’d taught them. It had been an hour or more since they’d walked into the room. Now to see maestros at their best. “You… this is perfect, how did you…?” She looked from one to the other. “Oh, we don’t really need a tutor; we just wanted to be your friend.”

“And we didn’t want your stepsister to tag along.” Well, they are Draco’s kids, straight to the fucking point.

GIANNA

Their words made me nervous and excited all at once. Nervous because even as I sit here with them, I can’t help thinking about what awaited me at home and excited because they were the first people since mom died who’d wanted just me as a friend. I’m not sure what Victoria did to piss them off, but I couldn’t help being secretly pleased that someone at least had seen through her bullshit.

Add the fact the Russo twins are like royalty in our community, and that just makes it all the sweeter and that much more terrifying. Then a sudden thought struck, taking some of the gleam from the afternoon. “Wait, is this a joke?” From their surprised looks, I doubted that it was, but it never hurt to ask. This way, when it turns out that I am, in fact, right, there’d be less egg on my face.

“A joke? What do you mean?” I think it was Anna who spoke, but I’m not sure since I can’t tell them apart.

“Yeah, like a prank.”

“Of course not. Why would you think that?” The other twin spoke up, seeming genuinely perplexed.

“Well, even seniors fight to get close to you, and from what I know, you’re rather selective in who you let into your inner circle. We’ve never met…”

“Oh, that, what you say is true. We do vet our friends before they become our friends, and let’s just say we like what we learned about you.”

“Really, thanks, I guess.” I suddenly felt like I was being interviewed.

“So, tell us about yourself; we only know who you are at school. Why do we never see you at any of the socials or going on school trips?”

“Oh, I’m not very good with crowds, so I always stay home.” I could tell from their looks that they weren’t buying it and with good reason. I’ve never been good at lying unless it was a necessity, and even then, it had taken me years to master the craft. The truth is that Becky or Victoria would always find some way of talking dad out of letting me go.

I’m not sure if dad had noticed the pattern or if he even cared at this point, but I’d learned to live with it. Even if he couldn’t see that Becky was doing her utmost best to push her daughter into the spotlight while leaving me in the dark to give Victoria a better start, I saw and heard it a long time ago. In her warped mind, because I come from high society blood as she calls it, and her daughter didn’t, I have an advantage. Her antiquated way of thinking never ceases to amaze me, but there you have it. I guess she forgot that dad came from a middle-class upbringing while mom was a member of the monied elite, so at least half of my blood comes from what she considers the less privileged.