A Fresh Start by Trisha Grace Page A

pushed my things onto the floor. Somehow, Drew heard about it. The next day after school, the boy was tied, half naked, to the flag pole with the words ‘I am an idiot’ scrawled over his chest and stomach.”
    “Gosh, your brother must have been a terrifying boy,” Mrs. Seymour said, half-laughing.
    “That’s not all. The boy kept yelling over and over again that he was an idiot and he was sorry for pushing Paige Watson’s stuff onto the floor.”
    “Your brother is very protective,” Mr. Seymour noted.
    “He is,” she agreed. “He got a week of detention. But after that, even after he’d graduated, no one ever bullied me.”
    “Even after he graduated?”
    “Yeah. He had friends who were still in town, they kept an eye on me and they weren’t shy about roughing anyone up.”
    “Your boyfriends must have been terrified of him,” Mrs. Seymour stated.
    “Oh, I didn’t date until I was in college. And by then, he was in the army.” She smiled wryly as she said that. “I made sure I didn’t tell him anything he would have to worry about. I wanted him to concentrate on coming home alive.”
    “And he’s back now?”
    “He is. Thank God he is. And this time, he won’t have to go back.” Then she sighed and change the subject. “So besides work, where it was more of a backstabbing thing, no one ever said such mean stuff to my face.”
    “So what happened at church for her to be so mean?” Justin looked over at her and waited.
    She pressed her lips into a thin line. “Nothing. Nothing important,” she eventually said.
    “I like to hear about unimportant things.”
    She played with the ring on her finger, pulling it off then putting it back on. “Nothing you haven’t told me, except with a little exaggeration and an additional dose of malice.”
    He kept his eyes on her, refusing to let it go until he got a straight answer.
    She looked over to Mrs. Seymour who was busy ignoring her. Licking her lips, she turned back to him. “She told me about your mom’s drinking and…and her bad relationship choices.”
    “You’re very political.”
    “Let’s stop talking about this.”
    “In a minute,” he assured. “I want to know what you said.”
    “I told the truth and I was slightly mean in return. So I guess we’re even.”
    “I know what she said,” Mrs. Seymour interjected. “Something about you being helpful and big-hearted. Nice stuff.”
    Paige turned to Mrs. Seymour, her brows raised. But Mrs. Seymour was back to ignoring her.
    “You have been helpful,” Paige said.
    “And the big-hearted part?”
    She pursed her lips then tried to buy time by chewing her bite of pizza for the longest time.  
    “I’ll wait.”
    She rolled her eyes and swallowed. “I heard you built your house for your mom, even after everything. I thought that was big-hearted.”
    Justin frowned at Mrs. Seymour.
    “What? Was that a secret?”
    Paige took a sip of coke and suddenly said, “Do you all know that Italian is the most romantic language in the world?”
    Justin shook his head, his lips forming a grin. She seriously needed to work on her skill of changing subjects.
    “Oh, is it?” Mr. Seymour asked.
    “Si,” she answered. “Italians used to speak different dialects and couldn’t understand each other. So this group of intellects came together and picked the most beautiful words of the different dialects, resulting in the Italian language they speak today.”
    “Is that why you’re learning Italian?”
    “Not really. I like learning new stuff; it’s fun.”
    “That’s interesting,” Mrs. Seymour said. “How do you say, you kids are walking back home because I need to go to the grocery store?”
    “We can go with you.”
    “No, I take forever at the grocer, Victor knows that. Just take a short stroll home, it isn’t far. Good exercise, too.”
    “Okay,” Paige agreed without argument.
    And again, another belated enlightenment. No wonder Mrs. Seymour insisted on taking Mr. Seymour’s