Trusting My Brothers

Chapter 7

I walk up to the lady at the front desk. 

"Hi. My name is Liliana. I'm a Freshman and am here to get my schedule." I say in a friendly voice. I may not be social, but I know how to suck up to people, unless they are my brothers. 

The lady gives me a genuine smile and says, "I'm Ms. Rose. What is your last name?" So this might be really bad of me, but I have no idea what my brothers last name is. I turn to them and ask. 

"Morelli." answered Matteo like I was stupid. I mentally roll my eyes and turn back to Ms. Rose.

 "My last name is Morelli." She quickly prints out my schedule and I look through it. I have Sophomore English and History, Junior Math and Science, Creative Writing 1, Music 1, and Beginning Art. None of my academic classes are Freshman leveled and I completely forgot that my brothers didn't know I could play the piano. Oh and I forgot to mention I also love writing, whether its poems or story? Well, I do. This was another way of helping me cope with the abuse. I tell the front desk lady thank you and walk to my first class. My brothers decided that they would walk me there, but I had a feeling there was more to it.

Once I open the door to my English class, everyone who was talking silenced immediately. The teacher calls me over to stand next to her. 

"Class, we have a new student today. I'm Mrs. Wells and why don't you introduce yourself?" Great. 

"Umm...well my name is Liliana and I umm... moved here from California." 

"Well it is nice to meet you. Go take a seat anywhere you like." I nod and walk to the back of the classroom and sit down in the back row. My brothers were still there and decided to embarrass me. 

"Have a great day lil sis! Remember you have to sit with us at lunch. Bye!" said Luca with fake cheeriness. I sink into my chair when I see everyone staring at me. Just pretend that I am not here.

The first half of the day goes by fine, excluding the scene this morning. No one tries to talk to me, which I am grateful for. I am walking through the lunch line and grab a slice of cheese pizza with a bowl of fruit. Once I spot my brothers I go sit down next to them. They start talking with their friends while I nibble on my pizza. I hear the cafeteria go silent and the doors close. These people are so dramatic, I mean someone probably just walked in. Nothing interesting about that. I lean back a little and turn to look at the person who walked in. I couldn't believe my eyes right now. I would recognize that black hair and grey eyes from anywhere. It is my best friend. It's Liam. 

He meets my eyes and I see his face morph into awe and happiness. I stand up so fast, my ribs start throbbing but I didn't care. I ran and wrapped my arms around his neck. His arms instantly go around my waist as we both relaxed into each others hold. 

"I can't believe it's you. I have missed you so much Lily." He said, sounding like he is on the brink of tears. 

"Its me, Lee. I finally have you back." I have tears filling my eyes as well, but none have fell yet. We loosen our hold a little and he grabs my face. 

"I am never letting you go again. I will always protect you, no matter what. I couldn't keep my promise before, but I will now." He wraps his arms around me once more, but I then realize that we have an audience. Everyones mouths are wide open and my brothers looked pissed. 

I finally release him and take a small step back, just enough so that it may lessen the punishment I will probably receive because I broke a rule. 

"Are you okay, Lily?" 

"I'm fine. Don't worry. Have you been here this whole time?" I ask. 

"Yeah, my parents never told me where we were moving but I guess it was Italy." I let out a small smile before turning serious again. 

"If you talk to me about certain things, can you speak it in Russian? I don't want anyone else to hear." I say in a whisper. 

He nods his head. "You know, I am shocked that I still remember the language." 

"Same, Lee. I guess it is all about memory. I have to go but let's talk after school." We agree to meet each other out front and I go back to my table.

I sit back down, only to see that everyone at the table is still staring at me in confusion and my brother with anger. 

"What?" I say like I didn't do anything wrong. Well, I technically didn't but they think I did. 

"What?! You just fucking threw yourself at a guy when we specifically told you no boys!" yelled Matteo. 

"Okay, can we talk about this later? I don't want these people knowing my business." I gesture to all of their friends. 

"Fine, but the second our older brothers get home, we are gonna have a big discussion about this." Luca said in a stern voice. 

"Thats fine, but I need to talk to Liam after school. You have soccer practice, right?" 

"If you think we are going to leave you with him alone, then you are very mistaken. One of us will be present during this talk." They are being so unreasonable. I can take care of myself and it's not like Liam is going to do anything. 

"Whatever, that fine." I say and go back to eating my pizza.

After lunch, I have music and I don't expect to be allowed to play right away since it is a beginners class, but maybe I can convince the teacher. My anxiety is getting a little worse right now due to the talk after school with Liam and the discussion with my brothers. Maybe playing the piano will help calm me down. 

While the teacher get ready for her lesson, I go up and ask her. "Ms. Vera. I already know how to play the piano, so can I play for a little bit?" 

She looks at me with a small smile. "Well, I would love to hear you. Do you mind playing for the whole class?" I was a little nervous but nonetheless agreed. I sit down on the bench and get into position. My fingers naturally start playing the music sheet on the stand, which was Fur Elise, one of the first songs I learned.

Once I finished, the teacher and students applauded. "Dear, you should be in a more advanced class. You played beautifully." I tell her that I will see if I can get it switched and then she start her lesson. It has been a while since someone has complimented and encouraged me, and it felt nice knowing that they believed in me.