Lilly brought Mia to the matinee showing. I thought she would be too tired to make it, but then I realized how long it had probably been since she had seen a picture. I read somewhere that the people of Genovia lived very secluded lives in the shadows of the Grand Palais on the Hill. I highly doubted she'd been to a movie before.

I started doodling in a notebook. I had decided months ago that I would be the next Johnny Mercer. He was a great American song writer and sang his songs as well. And if I do say so myself, I had a half decent voice. I could certainly carry a tune at least.

I heard my door crack open an hour or two later, "Michael, we are having dinner now," Lilly said.

"Ever hear of knocking?" I snapped, closing my notebook.

"What, it's not like you were playing with your wanker-"

"Lilly, such vulgar language!" Mom said coming in behind her. I saw her coming but I didn't say a word to my sister. If she was going to be rude to me then she deserved to be punished. But my parents don't believe in punishment. She would be told to write in her journal how she felt when Mom yelled at her.

"Mom, please," Lilly whined, knowing a night full of journal writing awaited.

"Lilly, we have a guest here. I do not want this poor girl to think we are a vulgar household. Understood?" she asked, looking at both of us. "You are both to welcome her with open arms. Treat her like another sister. The fifth member of the family."

"What about Freud?" I asked, looking at our Jack Russell.

She rolled her eyes and tossed her hands in the air, "But do NOT discuss the war, understood? She is too close to it to have it mentioned. It will only upset her."

"Wouldn't want the Little Princess upset, would we?" I said sarcastically.

My mother gave me a weird look, "I give up with you two. Wash up for dinner."
We raced to the bathroom only to see that Mia was looking in the mirror, brushing her stick straight hair and counting. "Sorry to mess you up, but we have to wash up for dinner," I said making her lose count.

She looked at me slowly, then at Lilly. Seemingly surprised that we were in the same room as her. "You can wash up first," Lilly offered to Mia. I looked at her with surprise. She never offered to let anyone go first for anything.

Mia smiled and washed her hands. Lilly and I looked at each other oddly. She washed like an art form. It took her ten minutes to finish one hand. "Um, no offense, but I think that one is pretty clean," I said when she started scrubbing the tops of her finger nails.

She looked at me kind of embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. My Grandmama- Grandma is very strict about cleanliness. Nothing is ever good enough," she explained, almost embarrassed.

She quickly cleaned the other hand and left us alone, open mouthed in the bathroom.

"That was one of the strangest things I have ever seen," Lilly said softly, frozen in her spot.

"It must be a European thing," I said turning on the water.

We went to the kitchen to find Mia sitting up straight in her chair with her hands on her lap, waiting to be served. "Michael, would you get the milk from the ice box?" Mom asked hustling around. "Lilly, go turn off the radio."

I love how Mom orders us around but ignores the fact that Mia is sitting on her butt waiting to be served. Mia never offered to help out. "Mia, it'd be nice if you at least offered to do something," I said taking a seat next to her.

"Michael!" Mom scolded. "What did I tell you?"

She looked at me like I was an alien, "Oh. It's fine," she said looking at my mother, "I wouldn't be much of a help. I don't know how to do any…kitchen things."

We started eating our dinners. "Mia, we are going to the beach tomorrow. It's the children's last day before school. Would you like to go as well?" Dad asked.

Great. She was infiltrating our ONE family tradition.

"Oh....I don't know. May I think about it and then answer you?" she replied.

Lilly and I looked at one another. "It's just the beach. Not that big of a deal," I said with a laugh. "It's a yes or a no." I emphasized the no.

She looked sharply at me, "Then I would love to Dr. Moscovitz. It would be a great pleasure."

Lilly nearly choked on her milk at the language Mia used.

She had to wear the bathing suit that Lilly refused to ever wear. It was one of those new two piece things that the fashion designers made to conserve fabric for the troops. But she was taking forever to get changed. "Go get her," Dad said, sending me back up to our apartment. They were sitting in our infrequently used car.

I sighed and hurried upstairs to get her. "Come on Mia. Traffic!"

"I changed my mind! Go without me!" she called back.

I know if I went back downstairs sans the little princess that my parents would kill me. "No. Get out here or I will break down the door." I wouldn't have to though….the door didn't lock. Lilly had broken it months ago and we never got back to fixing it.

"Michael I need my privacy!" she screamed.

Geez. Take my head off why don't you? "Mia come on. We won't get a good spot if you don't come with us now."

She poked her head out. "I look ridiculous in this thing. I can't wear it."

I pushed the door open a bit and realized why she said she looked ridiculous. She had a big burn mark on her stomach. "What happened?" I asked, forgetting about my family impatiently waiting downstairs for us. Forgetting that I did not like this girl very much.

"I…I was playing, as a child, in a field with my cousin, Rene. He found a grenade. We had thought it was inactive, being so long since the war…but it…. Rene didn't make it..." she said softly, I could see tears forming in her eyes.

I decided to be nice and make her feel good about herself, "It's not that bad," I promised. "Kind of looks like you were lying on your belly on something weird and it left marks. Know what I mean?"

She looked at me quizzically. "What?"

"You know when you are laying down and there's a magazine or something you aer lying on...there is a mark left..."

She gave me a cynical look. " Oh? Really? It looks like that?" she said looking at her stomach.

"Truly," I replied."May I?" I asked, pointing to her marks.

"May you what?"

"Take a closer look?"

She surprisingly nodded. Hell, I was surprised I had even thought to ask.

I knelt down and looked at the girls stomach. There wasn't a big mark, it was more on the top half of her stomach, near her ribs. It must have been painful. "How old were you?"

"Ten."

I looked up and noticed she was staring at me, "Um, if you want, you can wear one of my old t-shirts when we go swimming and on the beach."

"Y-You would do that for me?"

"It's not that big of a deal," I said standing up.

"No," she agreed. "But my grandmother always made me face my fears."

"Fears?" I asked, leading her to my room to get a shirt.

"My family is supposed to be strong and an example of how women should be. We are supposed to accept our deformities and move on."

I rolled my eyes, "You aren't deformed." Definately NOT.

The bathing suit was a halter top, you know, went around her neck. Even though you couldn't see it through the shirt I still liked the style. Plus, I had seen her stomach earlier. I'm a teenage boy, those kinds of things interest me. As long as the belly isn't of my sisters. No, it's just the girl living with us so I can fully appreciate that burned belly. "You look nice Thermopolis," I said in the car.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, shocked at my new found nickname. I could tell she didn't like it so it would stick.

"You look nice, THERMOPOLIS."

"Oh, no, my name is Mia," she said looking out the window at the passing skyline.

I rolled my eyes. This girl was dim.

We went to the Jersey shore for our last day of vacation, and let's face it. The water isn't exactly the cleanest in the world. "We are to go into that?" she asked Lilly in complete shock.

Lilly threw down her towel. "Yeah, come on Michael! I'll beat ya in!"

We raced to the water and jumped in. It was a rule, who ever lost was the one to take out the garbage for the next month. Once in the water (I won), I started waving Mia in. "Why won't she come in?" I asked Lilly.

"I dunno. Go get her."

Great. I just got used to the cold water now I have to get out and bring in this girl? I ran back up to the blanket site. "Come on Thermopolis. It's nice."

She shook her head. "The water is disgusting. Look at all the seaweed on you!"

I looked at my leg and wiped a piece off me. I threw another piece onto her and made her squeal. "Thanks for letting me know. Come on," I said scooping her up and running back to the water. I could hear my parents laughing. Appreciative that I was actually asking Mia to join my sister and I in the water...making her feel like a member of the family. Too bad I am definately not looking at her like a member of my family....not with those great legs she has.

"No! Put me down! Put me down this instant!" she screamed.

"Fine," I said once in the water, dropping her.

She stood up in the water and scowled, "How dare you!"

Lilly laughed, "It's not a big deal, Mia. Come on, I'll race you guys to the jetty."

Mia settled down after that in the water. We met a boy from school that Lilly knew and we had chicken fights. "A chicken fight?" Mia asked tentatively. "There are no chickens though…"

Lilly rolled her eyes and jumped onto Fred's shoulders. Then they went to deeper waters so she wouldn't break her neck.

I lowered myself and motioned for her to come over. "Get on my shoulders."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it's childish."
"You are how old?" I asked.

She looked at me in a way she hadn't before. Like I had finally broken through. "I am sixteen and a three months old," she replied with a vixenish smile.

"Good to know when your birthday is," I replied. "I'll be sure to send you a gift. Come on."

She climbed on my shoulders. This was a big change. Usually we only did chicken fights with people we knew. I only had girls I'd grown up with on my shoulders. But now…Now I had this strange European girl there. This strange, yet pretty European girl that was going to be living with my family.

"Now what do I do?" she asked, breaking my thoughts.

"Oh, you and Lilly try to push one another over," I replied.

"I do what?" she asked, looking down at me.

"Trust me. If you beat her I'll give you a quarter. She is pretty unbeatable."

But Mia beat her once out of the four times we played. In honor of this feat I took her up to the boardwalk for some ice cream while Lilly played Frisbee with Fred and some other kids.

"I've never had ice cream before," she said taking a tentative lick.

"How is that possible?" I asked.

"I've had gelato, Italian ice cream, but not this stuff. Grandma never let me have American things."

"Grandma sounds like a real dish," I said licking my vanilla cone.

"Can we get this some other time too?" she asked, shivering.

I wrapped my towel around her. I could freeze, but Mom would kill me if she did.

She blushed, "Thank you Michael." I liked how she said my name.

"Don't mention it. Wanna go for a walk or something? It'll warm you up."

She nodded enthusiastically. She had never showed much excitement for anything I suggested, so I took this as a good sign. "Come on then," I said taking her hand tentatively. I didn't want her to think I was holding it for any reason other than not wanting to lose her in the crowded boardwalk.

"People do artwork here?" she said staring at some penny artists.

"Yeah. Mostly some veterans who can't do anything else," I said motioning to the fact that the one she was looking at had no legs.

She jumped back in surprise. "I had no idea…"

"Yes."
"My father was in the Great War, you know," she bragged.

"That's nice. My father has a bum knee so they wouldn't let him."

"Was he very upset?"

"If he was he never let me know," I replied. "He's a pretty quiet man. But he doesn't want Lilly and I to know about this war."

"Why not?" she asked , finishing off her cone.

"Because of the psychological effects-"

"Didn't you say you were signing up for the Navy?" she asked.

I nodded, "He doesn't know that yet though."

"Michael, I think he'll figure it out when you leave," she teased.

I looked at her, "Was that…Was that a full smile I just saw escape those lips? "

She laughed, "I suppose so. Don't get used to it though."

We returned home late that night and took showers. I forgot my bathrobe in my room so I wrapped a towel around my waist and tried to make a run for my room, but I literally ran into Mia.