She said it like she was doing me a favor, but I heard what she was really saying. If I got her room, and she took the couch, that meant Marcel would still be sleeping in his own room. He was gonna be here every day after school, able to do what he did to me again. Maybe this was Gracie’s way of letting me know that even though her son hurt me real bad, he was still her son. Maybe Gracie didn’t love me like I thought she did.

