To Be a Hero | MLB

7: The Lecture

We leave the bakery together, and I overhear the couple running the place saying they hope Marinette is okay out there. I briefly wonder if they're talking about my classmate, then shrug it off and follow the boy out onto the sidewalk.

The sun has started to set, and I can't ignore how beautiful the Eiffel Tower in the distance looks with a soft pink sky behind it. Then I turn and see the boy watching me, and all thoughts of sunsets fly from my mind.

"Well, this has been fun, but I am sure my parents are waiting for me at home," he says, and I feel my heart sink.

But why? I don't even know this boy. I shouldn't feel any sort of attachment to him. Yet, at least.

But I do.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" he offers, and I pause for a moment before shaking my head slightly.

I do want him to, of course, but he's still technically a stranger, and I don't think showing a stranger my address is a good idea. No matter how cute the stranger in question may be.

So, we say our goodbyes and start on our way, then immediately turn back around to face each other.

"I just realized I do not know your name," he says, and I grin. "You do not have to tell me, but—"

"Tori. It's Tori."

He matches my smile. "Antoine. I hope you begin to feel better, and... maybe I will see you around?"

I nod, and we turn again to start on our separate ways home. My heart feels like it's soaring as I walk back to my apartment building, and I'm convinced nothing can bring my mood down—

But as I push open the door to my apartment, I find six sets of eyes glaring back at me, and the events of the day come rushing back. The broken vase, the crying, all of it.

"Victoria, you left your brothers?" my mom asks, and I flinch at the use of my full name.

Jakob casts his eyes down, and I know he's the one who snitched on me. Of course. "Yeah, Mom, I just needed some time—"

"This isn't about you. And I called your phone a dozen times; why didn't you answer? I heard there was some sort of villain out there, and I had no clue if you were safe."

I check my phone and see the ten missed calls from my mom and Jakob lighting up my screen. "I... it was on silent."

"That's not an excuse," my mom says, and Jakob and Jaxon start ushering the triplets into the family room, away from us—which can only mean one thing.

My mom is really mad, and they don't want our younger brothers to witness her anger.

"I expected so much more of you tonight, Victoria."

I hang my head and squeezed my eyes shut, ashamed. "I know, Mom, I just—"

"You just nothing." My mother's tone darkens, and I feel tears prick my eyes. "You were extremely irresponsible tonight, and... I honestly don't know if I can trust you to be out on your own anymore."

My head snaps back up, and I take in her calm expression. But I don't let it fool me—I know her well enough to know she's not truly calm, and her fury is radiating just below the surface of her brown skin. "Mom, please—"

"No. From now on, if you want to go out, one of your older brothers will go with you. And if I ask you to go out with any of your brothers, you will stay with them the whole time." When I only stare at her, my mouth open, she frowns and adds, "I'm only doing this for your own protection, you know. I can't let you run around a new city by yourself, especially now that you've shown me you don't know how to keep in contact." Then she motions toward my closed bedroom door, so I storm past my nosy brothers and into my room.

I step through the maze of unpacked boxes on the floor and slump onto my bed, then groan into my pillow. If I can't go anywhere alone anymore, how can I explore Paris?

How can I see Antoine again?

I'm so lost in my feelings of desperation and anger that I nearly miss the sound of flapping butterfly wings.