Closed You're New

[Santiago Torres]

Santiago was glad to be out of school for the holidays. Even with his new outlook on Hogwarts he still didn't like school and was happy to be far away from lessons and professors. At least he didn't have to go home to his mom or his dad. This year his family would be coming to New Zealand to meet his new cousin. His cousin he had the honor of meeting first, if you could call making awkward conversation with a moody eight year old an honor. Dominic and Zeke were out running last minute errands so it was just the two of them sitting at the kitchen table with sheets of paper and crayons spilled between them. He wasn't much of a babysitter but he could handle this. The kitchen was quiet and Ramona had her head ducked down low over her paper keeping her drawing hidden. Santiago's own drawing of his uncles' dog was coming along and he wondered if he finished it in time if would make a decent present. "So, what are you working on?" he asked tentatively. So far she hadn't been very chatty but he figured he should try to get something out of her.

 

[Ramona Crane]

Ramona had been living in this house for a few months now and it still felt as strange as it had when she arrived. She still tip toed around every corner, scared to take up space no matter how many times Dominic and Zeke warmly greeted her when she caught their attention. The house was too quiet too clean. She wondered if she touched something too long she might stain it. She also wondered if there had ever been a mess here before, that was until she met her cousin. She had been standing on the stairs waiting for his arrival and nearly jumped as he came in loudly, letting the door swing open and slam into the wall. They had given each other similar appraising looks but she had caved first and ran to her room. For the most part he ignored her, which she liked. Drawing was something Dominic had encouraged which she at first thought was dumb but she liked it more than she would ever admit. When Santiago asked what she was working on she froze, it had just been a random face but quickly she added messy black hair and scribbled an ugly face before holding it up to him. "It's you." she said in calm voice.

 

[Santiago Torres]

Santiago fought to keep a smile from his lips as she showed her drawing to him. "Wow." he said sarcastically. "You should get that framed." he added before snagging the paper out of her hands and held it next to his face. "How's the resemblance?" he asked before scrunching up his face in an impossible attempt to mimic the art. He could have sworn he saw her start to smile but it was gone before he could tease her about it. "I think if you gave this to Uncle Dom and Zeke they might cry." he laughed to himself.

 

[Ramona Crane]

Ramona was a little surprised when Santiago didn't get mad at her. It wasn't the first time she had ever mockingly drew someone but it was the first time she hadn't gotten scolded for it. She gasped when he grabbed the paper from her but she was too slow and her arms too short to grab it back in time. She wanted to protest but she couldn't find the words fast enough. She sighed heavily and dramatically as he teased her but when he scrunched up his face she had to try really hard not to smile. He was pretty funny. But when he mentioned Dominic and Zeke and them crying at her drawing she felt something twist uncomfortably deep in her guts. Without thinking she practically crawled on the table to grab back her drawing. In her haste she ended up tearing off the corner. Ramona frowned and wasn't sure what to do with the torrent of feelings she was suddenly drowning in. Without a word she continued with the destruction and continued to rip the paper until it was just a pile of scraps and she was breathing heavily.

 

[Santiago Torres]

"Woah!" Santiago exclaimed as Ramona lunged at him to grab the paper back. "Oh sorry-" he began to say as he realized his grip had torn off the corner of the page, taking some of the scribbled hair with it. But before he could even finish a sentence she was tearing up her drawing like it personally offended her. "Woah woah woah!" he shouted and wasn't sure if he should try and stop her but it was over before he could do anything anyways. Again they were back in silence but this time it was heavier. "I didn't mean cry in a bad way." he said, pushing through the thick silence to make a joke. He didn't know much about Ramona's past but from the vague answers he got from his uncle it wasn't great. He let out a breath and drummed his fingers on the table trying to salvage the mood. He only had an hour or so left of babysitting duty and the last thing he wanted his uncles to come back to is their new kid moments away from some kind of tantrum. "So....are you excited for Christmas?" he asked desperately.

 

[Ramona Crane]

Ramona was deeply embarrassed. She kept her head down with her hair falling so it hid most of her face. Part of her wanted to cry even though she knew the tears wouldn't come even if she wanted them to. Tentatively she picked at the torn paper and pushed them around as if she could put it back together if she only put them in the right order. She sniffed as Santiago tried to joke. She had known what he meant but it had just made her feel guilty. She knew she was difficult. She knew she hadn't made any of this easy on them, and yet it was easier to push them away than it was to get comfortable. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe she had always been this way and her mom had been the only person she could love. Now that she was gone she was just destine to feel like this forever. She finally looked up when Santiago asked about Christmas and stared at him like he had grown an extra head.

 

[Santiago Torres]

Santiago started to sweat as Ramona stayed silent and it had nothing to do with the summer sun coming through the window. He had been warned about his cousin's temper and her moods but he hadn't expected to walk into a trap quite so quickly. But he felt a sense of relief when she looked up at him sharply. She gave him a look like he was some kind of freak and he shrugged, getting playfully defensive. "What?! It's a reasonable question." he said quickly. "Everyone loves Christmas." he insisted, but stopped before he could put his foot in his mouth again. Did everyone love Christmas? Did she have some kind of traumatic memories around Christmas? Santiago sighed and ran a hand over his face. He was completely in over his head.

 

[Ramona Crane]

Ramona could tell Santiago was trying to cheer her up or at least distract her. She didn't smile but she could feel herself calming down. If she was being honest she didn't love Christmas, it reminded her of the absence of her mom and at the foster home it had been a stark reminder. They had never had much but they had their own traditions, traditions she was scared to lose. But she didn't tell him any of that. Instead she shrugged. "I guess." she said softly, defiantly answering his question, but barely. Instead she had questions of her own. She knew Dominic's family was coming to visit soon and she was more nervous than she could properly express. She didn't know anything about them and she had been to shy to ask Dominic or Zeke about them. But for some reason Santiago seemed less scary. Maybe because he was younger, or maybe because he hadn't tried to win her over. "So...what is your family like?" she asked with her eyes firmly fixed on the grain of the table between them.

 

[Santiago Torres]

Santiago let out a breath he hasn't realized he had been holding when she finally answered him and seemed less likely to cry or tear up anything else. Her answer was exactly what he expected when he considered what he knew about her. "Fair enough." he replied simply not willing to argue when he felt like it was a miracle she was speaking at all. Then it was his turn to falter when she asked about his family. "Well...." he began and wasn't really sure where he was supposed to start. "Uh, not sure what Uncle Dom has told you but you have four uncles, or actually five if you count Uncle Julien's husband Luke. My dad, Victor, is the oldest then it's Daniel, Marco, Julien, and Dominic who's the youngest." he explained. "Then there's your two aunts, Elena and Rose, and your three cousins." Santiago continued and raised his fingers as he counted off more family members. His family had changed a lot over the years and while he was the oldest cousin he had also been away at school for most of it. "Aunt Elena and Uncle Daniel have Carmen, and Aunt Rose and Marco have the twins, Wyatt and Noah." It ws odd to think that Ramona was now the second oldest considering Carmen was three and the twins were barely a year old. "And then there's our grandparents, Ines and Miguel...but I don't think I've ever used their first names before." he admitted.

 

[Ramona Crane]

Ramona listened as Santiago spoke. She was tempted to start writing down the names he listed as if there would be a test on it later. She knew no one would likely expect her to know their names but her fear of insulting them went deep. He listed more names and tried to piece together a picture of his family. The way he said 'your' and 'our' made her stomach turn but not in an entirely unpleasant way. But they weren't her family, not really. When he was done she looked up and gave him a nod before realizing there was a gap in the family tree he tried to explain to her. "Wait." she said, eyebrows furrowed. "What about your mom?" she asked curiously, her expression the most open and genuine it had been since coming here.

 

[Santiago Torres]

Santiago had expected some questions, like where did their uncle's live or how their grandparents met. The last thing he expected was a question about his mom. "Oh." he said, almost sounding surprised at his own voice. "Uhh, well my parents aren't together so she won't be coming." he began awkwardly. It had been a while since he had to explain his parents and their situation to anybody. There had been times growing up when they had embarrassed him, when he had to explain how they lived in different states to his friends who all had both parents at home. "They never really were." he said with a sigh and wasn't sure what else there was to say. "Her name is Antonia but you'll probably never meet her." He was a bit sad at the thought. He had a feeling his mom might actually like Ramona. But it had been a long long time since he had wished his parents would get back together.

 

[Ramona Crane]

Ramona watched closely this time as Santiago spoke. He seemed upset or maybe bothered by what he was talking about but she couldn't figure out why. She was alive at least. She nodded at him to show she heard but didn't have anything else to say. Sure she had plenty of questions but she didn't know where to start and knew she'd get overwhelmed almost immediately. She tried to go through the names in her head. Victor, Daniel....Marcos? No that wasn't right. She sighed and clenched her hands together in her lap. "Do you.....like them?" she asked quietly. It might be an odd question but it was an honest one.

 

[Santiago Torres]

Santiago fought the urge to squirm under the weight of Ramona's stare. She was an odd one for sure. Again she was able to catch him off guard with her questions but this time he let out a laugh. "Do I like them?" he repeated and leaned back in his seat. It was a ridiculous question but one he struggled to articulate. "I don't know if I've ever though about them like that. They're just...my family you know." he said with a shrug but frozen when he quickly remember she might not actually know. He sighed and quickly continued before they could dwell on the thoughtlessness of his comment. "I do." he said firmly. "Well most of the time. It's hard to explain." Santiago ran a hand over his face as he tried to find the right words. "I do love them and they love me. But liking them? That gets a little more complicated. Sometimes we fight or annoy each other and we don't like each other. But we always love each other." he finished, trying to emphasize the last point. He gave Ramona a weak smile and wasn't sure if he answered her question or if he was even making any sense. Against his better judgement he found the courage to ask a question of his own. He was dying to know anything about her past so he could at least avoid falling into traps in the future. "What about your family?" he asked gently as if his question wasn't likely to open up an ugly can of worms.

 

[Ramona Crane]

Ramona listened and kept her eyes down this time. She picked up the pieces of her torn drawing and tried fold them into different shapes, just trying to keep her hands busy. She wasn't entirely sure what Santiago meant but she nodded anyways. She had loved her mother more than anything. She couldn't imagine not liking her even if she also loved her. It sounded complicated. But it probably was when there were so many people involved. She could hardly keep track of them. Maybe if you had more than one person to love there was more room for other feelings. She thought about Zeke and Dominic, and wondered if she would ever love them. She liked them alright for now and they were her family now, at least legally. It was all still so hard to wrap her head around. How your family could just change. It was better than being alone, or at least better than the orphanage, she could admit that. There was a silence that feel over them that she didn't really notice until Santiago asked about her own family. It was like a loud snap and she blinked. She considered if she wanted to answer or if she wanted to run away. But he had answered her question so she figured she should answer his. "It was just my mom." she said simply and hesitated. Was there really anything else to add? No. Not right now. A moment later Ramona could hear familiar voices and foot steps coming up the path to the front door. Suddenly she felt like she was doing wrong and she saw her torn up drawing. Without another word she scooped all the paper and crayons into her arms and rushed out the door to the stairs up to her room. She heard Santiago shout after her but she just kept going.