three

Valentina

"Cielo, come here and meet Tina, darling."

Cielo looks up at his mom, then at me and he smiles, but there's something about him that makes me feel weird.

"Hey, Tina. Nice glasses," he says.

I'm pretty sure he doesn't think they're at all nice.

I adjust them, pushing them farther up my nose as my cheeks burn. "Thanks," I say, although I'm not thankful. I'm embarrassed. I should have put on my new glasses. They make me look a little less nerdy.

Cielo's dad clears his throat. Cielo rolls his eyes but holds out his hand for me to shake. I take it and do the shaking because he just lets his hang there, limp.

"What's in there?" Cielo asks.

I look down at what he's pointing to and remember the cookies. It feels stupid to have them now. I feel like a little kid.

"Tina baked some cookies to welcome you all. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" Dad says. He squeezes my shoulder encouragingly. I'm sure he knows I feel embarrassed. We're close, my dad and me. I guess that's normal when you don't have a mom or siblings.

"Yes. Here you go." I hold the tin out and Cielo takes it, pops the lid off, and helps himself to one without offering any to anyone else. He shoves the whole thing right into his mouth.

"Cielo!" Mrs. Ricci chastises.

"What? We missed lunch," he says, reaching for another one. "They're good. Thanks," he tells me. "Want to see the pool?"

"Sure," I say, relieved to just go outside. I look up at Dad for permission, especially since he said I shouldn't expect to be invited to swim, but it's Mr. Ricci who answers.

"You two go on. Horatio, you have a few minutes?"

"Sure," Dad says after a moment. "We don't want to be in the way, though. Business can wait."

"It's why we pay the movers," Mr. Ricci says. "Let's go to my study."

Dad and Mr. Ricci disappear, and Mrs. Ricci turns to Cielo. "No swimming until after you've unpacked your room, young man."

"It's why we pay the movers," Cielo says, mimicking his dad and taking another cookie before finally offering me one.

I take one. "Thanks," I say, even though it's weird to thank him for giving me one of my own cookies.

We walk out to the pool, and around the corner, I see the little house from earlier and the woman with the long dark hair setting a plant by the front door. When she sees us, she bites her lip. She's pretty, and close up, I see she has a very thin braid with a feather in it tucked behind her ear. I smile and wave. She looks surprised but then smiles and waves back.

"Dad says you moved from New York City," I say, feeling awkward trailing behind Cielo.

"Yeah." He stands at the edge of the pool.

"You miss it?"

He shrugs a shoulder. "Only just got here." He hands me the tin of cookies and strips off his shirt.

"Your mom said you can't swim until after you unpack your room," I remind him, not wanting him to get into trouble.

"And I reminded her we pay movers to do that." He slips off his flip flops. "Don't suppose you know anything about the boys' school here, do you?"

I shake my head, squinting up at him. The sun is in my eyes. "The sisters keep the girls' and boys' schools strictly separate." The school I go to, Notre Dame Academy, has two buildings on the same grounds, one for boys and one for girls. The property is several acres large, so it's not hard to keep the two schools divided.

"That's too bad," he says.

"I like it," I say.

He looks me over. "You're twelve. Wait until you're my age." He walks to the edge of the pool and dips a toe into the water to test the temperature.

"Because you're such an adult?" comes a low voice from behind us.

I spin around, startled, and for a split second, it's like everything goes quiet around me, like time stops for that tiny little moment.

It's the boy with the turquoise eyes.

Cielo groans and turns to face him. Up close, I can see the right one is more blue than green and the left one is the opposite.

This boy is definitely older than Cielo. Being just a few feet from him, I can see the little bit of stubble on his jaw and the lean muscle in his arms. My stomach flutters like it does when I'm nervous or anxious.

He glances at me and raises his eyebrows. I'm staring and just being weird. I blink, close my mouth and look away.

"Shouldn't you get to work with the rest of them?" Cielo asks him, stepping right up to him in a way that tells me they don't like each other very much.

The older boy looms closer, towering over Cielo. "You mean the rest of the help?"

Cielo shrugs a shoulder. "You said it, not me."

"Useless piece of..." he mutters the last part under his breath and turns to me, but I can guess what he says. He looks me up and down. I don't even know him, and I get the feeling he's angry even with me. "Where are your binoculars?" he asks.

So, he did see me. I feel my face heat up, and my mouth feels like I swallowed sand.

"What binoculars?" Cielo asks.

The older boy grins, then turns to Cielo and ruffles his hair. "Don't tax your brain with more info than it needs, kid. Space is limited as it is." He looks at me. "What's your name?"

"V" I start but have to clear my throat. "Valentina. Valentina Russo." My heart thuds against my chest and I rush to correct myself. I'm not sure why I gave him my full name. "But everyone calls me Tina." Not knowing what to do, I hold out my hand to shake his. He just looks at it, eyebrows furrowing in confusion or amusement, and I'm sure my face is red as a beet now.

"Do they? Well, Valentina Russo, careful with those binoculars. Some things are better left unknown."

Confused, I want to ask him what he means, but I can't find my voice.

He eyes the tin I'm holding. "Aren't you going to offer me a cookie?" he asks, tone taunting.

"Oh," I croak. "Would you like⁠—"

"You don't have to offer him shit," Cielo says, snatching the tin from me. "Don't want to give the help the wrong impression."

"Is that right?" the older boy says, stepping right up to Cielo, taking a cookie, and shoving it into his mouth whole. He chews, swallows, then grins. "They're good. Mom will like them. I'll take them back to her. Not like Mira's going to eat them."

"Just try it," Cielo says.

"All right," the older boy says and before I even know what's happening, he takes the tin from Cielo, and with a little shove, knocks Cielo into the pool.

Shocked, all I can do is stand there with my mouth gaping and watch Cielo go under, flail for a moment, then pop back up.

"You fucking asshole!" Cielo yells. I take off my glasses to wipe away the water, but my dress is soaked from the splash, so I just end up smearing it. Mrs. Ricci comes running out of the house, her high heels digging into the lawn. The older boy just turns toward her, nods his greeting, and shoves another cookie into his mouth, taking the whole tin with him as he turns his back and walks away.

"Nicholas Hendrick, you stay away from my son!" Mrs. Ricci yells and rushes toward Cielo, who is climbing out of the pool. "Honey! Are you all right?"

Cielo curses under his breath and watches the boy, Nicholas Hendrick, casually walk back to the little cottage where the woman with the dark hair stands outside watching until Mrs. Ricci turns to face her. At that, she slips inside and disappears from view.