Chapter Nine

I wake up to a knock on my bedroom door.

I look around the room. I slept through the night. I didn't think I would. I came home fuming because I was in no mood to meet up with my friends. Mom had managed to ruin my whole week with her words and attitude concerning Luca Ferrante. Sometimes I close my eyes and can't believe that actually happened.

To be frank, I'm not surprised, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm less hurt by what she said and did. It was no surprise to me that she meant to arrange a marriage between Mary and Luca, but telling me to stay away from him was taking it a step too far, even for her standards. The dress. The speech. It's all messing with my head. I don't remember feeling this angry with something she did, and so the best thing that I can do is keep my distance from her. If she tries to tell me something else regarding the issue this morning, my response won't be pleasing to her.

There's the knock again. It interrupts my train of thought. I had forg