Page 10 of Saint Céline
Nora turned toward the stove, but I saw her mouth twitch again. Katherine looked annoyed, but not the loud, scary kind of annoyed I was used to. Hers stayed quiet, folded inside herself.
A moment later Mrs. Montgomery appeared behind her. She wore a pale grey dress, hair smooth, small pearls at her ears. Her eyes moved from Katherine to me, then to my mother at the sink.
“Mira, I’m sorry. Katherine is supposed to be having breakfast right now.”
My mother looked like she wanted to apologize for taking up space in a kitchen where she belonged. “It’s no trouble at all, Mrs. Montgomery.”
Mrs. Montgomery touched Katherine’s shoulder lightly. Katherine stiffened under the hand. “Come along, sweetheart.”
Katherine didn’t move. “I don’t want to go.”
“We are not doing this again this morning.” Her mother’s voice stayed gentle, but something underneath it had closed off.
Katherine looked down at the floor. I knew that exact feeling, wanting to push back and knowing it would only make the room colder around you.
Before I could think better of it, I said, “School isn’t that bad.”
Everyone turned to look at me. My mother’s face went pale.
Katherine narrowed her eyes. “You don’t even know my school.”
“No,” I said. “But if it’s bad, at least it ends at three.”
Nora coughed into her hand. Mrs. Montgomery looked almost amused. Katherine stared at me for another long second.
Then she asked, “Are you going to school here?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Why not?”
My mother answered before I could. “We still have to sort a few things out, Miss Montgomery.”
Katherine’s gaze flicked to my mother, then back to me. “You should come to Bellamont Academy.”
I almost laughed out loud. Even I knew girls like me did not go to places like Bellamont Academy.
Mrs. Montgomery’s expression changed, the careful way adults’ faces shift when children say something impossible in front of people who know better. “That’s enough, Katherine. We need to get you to school.”
But Katherine kept looking at me. “If you came, I’d show you where everything is.”
I didn’t know what to say. No one had ever offered me something like that so simply, like a whole world could open up just because you wanted it enough.
My mother gave me a quick warning look, so I lowered my eyes. “Thank you,” I said, careful and polite.
Katherine seemed disappointed by the politeness. Mrs. Montgomery guided her gently toward the hall. “Say goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Selena.”
“Goodbye, Katherine.”
She stopped at the doorway and looked back once, eyes wide and curious again. Then she was gone.
The kitchen felt warmer after she left, louder somehow, even though no one had raised their voice. My mother pulled me aside near the pantry, voice low. “What were you thinking, speaking up like that?”
“I didn’t say anything bad.”
“You can’t speak to them like that.”
