Stars Collide

Chapter 7

I was in my Advanced Algebra class when a girl came in and handed a slip to the teacher. She glanced at it for a moment before calling out a name. "Chiara Faber?" We all looked around. No one got up.

"Chiara Faber?" she tried again. Oh shoot, that was me. I quickly got up, nearly tripping over someone's backpack as I made my way to the front of the class. She handed me the slip and pointed at where it told me to go to the counselor's office. I nodded in appreciation before leaving.

The first thing I saw in the counselor's office was my father. "Papa?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"We have some news for you," he replied vaguely. "I talked to your school about giving you and Julien the rest of the day off.

"Hold up," I told him. "Who's Julien?"

"Remember when I said that your Cousin Lila had to pick a boy up from France? Well, she couldn't pick him up but that's beside the point. The thing is, we just discovered that he is your half-brother."

"How old is he?" I asked calmly as we made our way out to the parking lot. The gears were turning in my head. If he was younger than me, one of my parents had an affair.

"Twelve," he replied, equally as calm.

"Which parent do I share with him?"

"Your mother, Chiara."

"Mama had an affair?" I asked in disgust. "How could she? Aren't you angry?"

"No," he replied simply. "She did not have an affair. We wanted to have another child after you but we were having trouble so we used a sperm donor. Aurélia was a miracle baby, remember?"

"Then why hasn't he lived with us all these years?" I asked, still doubting him.

"Sometime when you were around four, his biological father wanted custody of him. He brought the case to court and won. Since then, Julien has lived in France with his father. Now that he's here in Luxembourg, we got a call from his father today telling us to keep an eye out for him."

"Isn't twelve a little young to be coming from somewhere besides America? I bet he doesn't even know English," I said, changing the subject.

"He doesn't," Papa confirmed. "He came here to learn."

"Papa, for the last time, if you want me to tutor Aurélia... or him, you'll have to pay me."

"That's not it, Chiara," he told me. "I want you to keep an eye out for him. Take care of him. You're the one who's the closest physically to him."

I made a face. "He's in the middle school area. Besides, I don't even know the kid. Why should I go out of my way to help him out?"

"Because he's your brother," Papa replied. That was enough to shut me up.

"When can I meet him?" I asked.

"He's already at home. Your mama is showering him in kisses."

I smiled at the thought. Mama always talked about how she wanted a boy and now that she had one... let's just say I felt bad for Julien.

I wondered how Julien was. A lot of the kids from France were snobs. I hoped that no brother of mine was a snob.

I wondered if he had any other siblings from other parents. I wondered of he knew about me before. I wondered why I didn't know about this before.

Before I knew it, we were pulling into our driveway. I hopped out as fast as I could and opened the door to see Aurélia and a boy that looked slightly older than her chatting on the floor of our living room. They had a box of Aurélia's Legos between them.

Why hadn't I thought of that? Of course Julien and Aurélia would hit it off. They both were pretty close in age.

Papa cleared his throat. "Hello, Julien."

Julien looked up. "Hello, Monsieur Faber."

"I'm your father," Papa told me. "Please call me papa."

Julien looked uncomfortable. "Can I call you "father" instead?"

Papa looked confused. "Of course, but why?"

"Papa sounds very... informal. My father has me call him father."

"He sounds like Hitler," Aurélia giggled, earning her a slap on the back from me. She shot me a glare.

Julien still looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry for disturbing you all."

Julien wasn't a snob. He was raised in a strict atmosphere. He was the most polite you would find out there. He seemed smart too. He knew who not to mess with. I was beginning to like this kid.

"Aurélia," Papa said. "Can you go upstairs? I have to talk to Julien and Chiara."

"But-" she started to say before giving in with a sigh and thumping up the stairs to her room where she proceeded to slam the door as loud as she could.

Papa turned to us. "The reason I sent Aurélia upstairs is because I needed to talk to both of you about something important. Julien, I understand that you have an abusive father."

I had no idea how he managed to say that so calmly. Julien came from an abusive family? Why was I always left out of important information like this?

Julien nodded and took a shaky breath. "Father hits me when I do the slightest thing wrong."

I found myself tearing up for two reasons. One, my long lost brother had to live through abuse. Two, I was suddenly very appreciative of my life. Sure, I didn't know as much English as the rest of my school. I still had a loving family and who I loved just as much. I had great friends. I didn't think Julien had any of these.

"We are trying to adopt you," Papa told him. "It's going to be hard but we're going to try as hard as we can. We're going to try until the day we die." Papa wasn't as calm anymore.

Julien started tearing up and I reached over to him and gave him a hug. He deserved at least that, after all he'd been through.