Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Another thing about her, though?
People quickly realized she wasn’t like them. Or rather, kids their age did. She didn’t want to dress like them or play the same way they did. At the large family dinners and parties, they often had, she would be found sitting on her mother or father’s lap, listening to every word around her, instead of running through the house with the rest of the kids.
She didn’t find fun in the same things they found enjoyable, and she would much rather hang around with the adults who watched them than the kids closer to their age group. Which was fine for Juan, because whatever.
Some people found that weird.
He just didn’t care.
He liked Cece the way she was.
Juan was four when he first mentioned to his father that his other friends didn’t seem to like to play or hang out with Cece the same way he did. Oh, they liked her, sure ... but they couldn’t or wouldn’t, sit with her for an hour just to do whatever she wanted. They only wanted her to do what they wanted. And when she wouldn’t, well, she was left on her own.
What his dad said?
Cece is special, Juan, and you just have to like her the way she is. She doesn’t care what the other kids think about her; she’s fine either way.
He learned something, then.
And from watching Cece, too.
She would be fine alone.
Sure, she would.
He just didn’t want her to be.
Why should she be alone when she had him?
“I’m okay to play alone,” she said quieter.
Juan moved from the Indian-style position he had been sitting in to his back on the blanket. Like this, he could stare up at the sky and watch the fluffy white clouds pass by the blue landscape overhead. His second favorite pastime, next to being with Cece.
Because that was the thing.
He’d learned it shortly after meeting her.
As long as he was with Cece, whether they were following his father and her mother around, sitting in front of a television to watch the one cartoon she actually liked, or sitting on a blanket in the park instead of playing on all the equipment, none of it mattered. They didn’t need to talk, and they certainly didn’t need to play the same way all the other kids did.
Just being together was fun.
And he’d do this forever, he thought.
With her, he’d do it forever.
Because it was her.
Juan just didn’t know why.
Not yet.
Chapter 4 - The Best
Cece POV
Six years old ...
“Well?” Juan asked.
Cece looked over at him, her peripheral vision taking in everything else in her surroundings at the same time. The intricately designed carpet her grandmother had imported from Japan, and the table that rested upon it, acting as their current shelter and hiding spot from the rest of the dinner party.
Well ...
It wasn’t like Cece didn’t enjoy being out with the rest of her family when they had these things. She did, and she certainly enjoyed being the center of attention when it was all the adults in her family giving it to her. And then other times, the parties went on for hours. They talked and talked and talked more. About things she didn’t understand, or stuff that just didn’t interest her. And since this was when she was allowed to stay up later than her normal bedtime, she tried to use that to her advantage as much as she could.
By doing something she liked.
Like hiding under the table and listening.
And tonight, she was extra lucky because Juan had come to New York with his father. Since it was summer break, he didn’t have to be at school, neither did she, and he was going to be there for another week before he had to go back to Cali. As far as she knew, because she asked her mother every single day just to make sure plans hadn’t changed, she and her ma would be following them to Cali within a couple of days.
Which was good.
Because Cece hated when Juan was gone.
She liked it better when he was near.
“I’ll go get it for you,” he told her.
Cece smiled because yeah, she knew. “But someone might see, and then we’ll have to go to bed.”
She was pretty sure, despite being allowed to stay up late on their dinner party nights with her family that it was way past the time when she was allowed to stay up. It was almost guaranteed that if she came out from underneath the table, or even Juan because everyone would know wherever Juan was hiding, so was Cece, that they would put her to bed.
She didn’t want to go to bed yet.
So, hiding it was.
“It’s okay,” she said, “there’ll be some tomorrow.”
Juan scoffed, rolling his dark eyes her way. Despite being seven, and only one year older than her, she sometimes thought they were both—somehow—older than their years. It could be just a passing thing one of them said, or like this, with him and his attitude. Thing was, she liked his attitude too, and he always put up with hers.