I asked, "What are you doing here?"

She looked at my dad and smiled. "I thought we could work on our history project."

Mom and Kina stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Maria glanced over at them and waved.

"Hey, Maria," Kina greeted. Of course, she'd be nice to my nemesis.

"Of course, it's okay if you stay. In fact, we're just about to have dinner. Are you hungry?" Dad asked, cheerful, probably thinking we were friends. Ew, as if.

Maria nodded. "Thank you."

I was surprised she had agreed to eat with us. I expected someone like her to say no with her nose up in the air. I could see her snobby-self refusing to eat off our plates, thinking they weren't clean enough.

"What's your history project about?" Dad asked.

"The origins of Valentine's Day," Maria answered.

"Interesting." Dad gave a wide grin. "I can help if you like. I know all about Chaucer and the love birds."

"That'd be awesome. Thank you. We need all the help we can get." Maria walked over to the couch and sat down. She put her tote bag on the coffee table and pulled out a pen and her fancy notebook, ready to take notes. I sat down beside her, followed by Dad. He didn't lie--he told us a lot of information about the gruesome details of St. Valentine's massacre.

Later, we ate dinner. Instead of eating in awkward silence, Maria and Kina talked through most of the meal. I tried not to roll my eyes, counting down the minutes that Maria would leave. How dare she mingle with my family after she dissed me today! The nerve of her. I should tell Dad what Maria had said to me--how it was my fault that I was hurting over Franco's death. The heartless bitch. No wonder she got along with Kina so well.

I caught Maria glancing over at me. I eyed her to show I wasn't intimidated. She said, "I was nervous about coming over. I didn't know if you'd be at ballet practice or not. Illuvy told me about the Cinderella dance recital coming soon."

Mom cleared her throat.

Kina spoke to Maria. "It'd be a good idea for you to keep coming over so you guys can work on your big paper. I'm sure Mom and Dad won't mind you coming over after school." Kina gave me a discreet wink, as if she was up to something.

"Maria, you're welcome anytime." Mom smiled.

Why was no one asking me my opinion?

Before I knew it, dinner was over, and I had to show Maria my room. My parents wanted us to work in there for privacy. I was happy to have my room back. My eyes shifted to the new blue carpet and the new caramel painted wall. It probably cost Mom and Dad a huge chunk of change, but they had found a repairman to fix the wall and the floor to hide any evidence of the fire. We sat in silence at the desk near my dresser while my laptop booted up. Maria bit her nails and spit them on the floor. Gross!

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" I looked straight ahead, too afraid to meet her eye. I couldn't take it if she was going to be snarky or make a wisecrack about Franco again. 

"For being insensitive this morning. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost my sister. You're brave, Loren." She squeezed my shoulder, and then she went back to chewing her nails. I bit my bottom lip, trying to hide the sharp pain of my bruised shoulder. I didn't want to show any more weakness in front of Maria.