Page 48 of Fool Me Twice

Next thing I knew, Sebastián was barreling into me.

“Be careful.” Rodrigo reached out a cautious hand. “She only just had her cast removed.”

“I’m okay.” I hugged Sebastián. “Look at you. Did you grow a couple inches?”

He felt the top of his head, as if that might tell him. “Maybe.”

“It’s possible,” Rodrigo said. “He grows overnight.”

“Come see my room.” Sebastián tugged on my hand.

“Georgia just arrived,” Rodrigo argued. “She needs some time to relax.”

“I’m fine.” I allowed Sebastián to lead me to the stairs. “I can see your room.”

If Rodrigo didn’t like this, I didn’t stop to see it. Sebastián and I were already halfway up the stairs, my suitcase abandoned on the first floor.

In his room, he led me straight to the telescope at the window. “I got this for my birthday.”

“Wow.” I bent and looked at the telescope, which was currently pointed at some buildings.

“I can’t see that many stars, because of the light pollution. If there were a blackout, though, I would be able to see a lot more. I could probably see everything.”

He bounced around the room, showing me more things. His signed soccer ball. His slime. His artwork.

I took note of the walls and his desks. The only photographs were of him and friends.

“How is school going?” I asked, taking a seat in his desk chair.

Instantly, his mood shifted. “It’s good,” he mumbled, looking away.

“I heard that you’re having some trouble with it.”

“Who said that?”

I leveled my gaze with his. “Who do you think said that?”

His expression soured.

“Your dad just cares about you,” I said. “He wants to help you out.”

Sebastián fiddled with the art pencils on his desk, refusing to look at me. “Where do your parents live?”

“My parents?” The question took me by surprise. “Uh, they live in New York state.”

“What do they do?”

“They’re teachers.”

“Like for my age?”

“No, for high school.” I smiled. “They’re really good, too.”

“That must be why you want to talk about school.” He moved on to messing with his telescope.

“I wanted to talk about school,” I said, “because I also cared about you. I want to see you happy.”

“Do you know what my friend just got?” He switched the topic like it was expected and began talking about the toys from some TV show I’d never heard of.