Estranged Siblings:>Ep5

Cassandra arranged to have her and Andre's surnames changed to Marin, as she no longer wanted them to be associated with Volkov.

As quickly as it exploded, the story faded when Pietro was found dead in his cell. His cellmate had killed him with a shiv. There would be no trial, and the public's bloodlust seemed to be quenched by his ultimate end.

Gloria pleaded guilty and avoided having to endure a lengthy trial of her own.

The bank Cassandra worked for had a branch with an opening in a decent-sized city in a neighboring state, so they offered her a teller position there, and she accepted. She found another inexpensive one-bedroom apartment, as it was all she could afford, and they moved. She enrolled Andre in the local high school to finish his last year. His school transcript showed his grades were excellent, so the school was pleased to get him.

They managed to slip into their new life with relatively few ripples, and they kept their heads down.

Cassandra folded her lunch bag and put it into her carryall with her book as she looked up at the wall clock. It was almost time to go back to her wicket. She'd spent her lunch hour lost in her memories and not happy ones at that.

Then she remembered Andre was going to make her dinner tonight.

That brought a smile back to her face.

************

Andre successfully endured another morning of classes and avoided the drama the other students seemed to thrive on. This avoidance wasn't made any easier by the fact that student seating in the classrooms was arranged alphabetically by surname in rows. The A's to D's got the coveted window row, and the S's to Z's got the row furthest from the daylight. While he would've preferred to sit at the back of the class as he'd managed in his last school, here, he was somewhere near the middle, surrounded by MacGraw and Martine, ahead and behind, and Harrison and Rossini left and right. The worst part about that was these names belonged to a clique of chatty cheerleaders. They weren't too pleased about his proximity, either. He knew that at least two, maybe three, of these ladies had boyfriends in the classroom, as he'd received glares from some of the male students, too.

The morning classes were behind him, so he put it out of his mind. He had an hour until his next class, as he didn't eat lunch. Typically, he'd hang out in the library, but this morning's visit from Ms. Rubio soured the appeal of going there now. He could find a spot outside to read his chemistry notes, as there was a quiz this afternoon, but there wasn't any actual need to go over the material again.

As he stopped next to his locker to drop off his morning's books, he saw Mr. Garlin, the Phys Ed teacher, standing a few feet away next to the open doorway to the new weight room the school set up. Andre peered inside the room at the machines. He felt a familiar itch as he saw the stacked plates.

"Mr. Marin! You think you might sign up for the weight-lifting team if it means you get to work out on the new equipment?" the man said louder than required for their proximity. Rumor was the teacher was partially deaf.

The gym teacher was frustrated that Andre never signed up for any of his organized sports. While Andre took Phys Ed class for the exercise, the teacher noticed he avoided anything involving teams. The keen-eyed teacher knew he was fit.

Andre glanced at Mr. Garlin and shrugged as his eyes immediately returned to the machines. He really wanted to use them.

When Cassandra was forced to leave home, Gloria turned her attention to the scrawny boy in her basement. She chastised him for being weak and skinny. She brought home free weights and books on bodybuilding. She created a program and a schedule for him to follow and forced him to train. After each workout, she'd feel his muscles to see how much they'd grown. This involved a lot of touching, and he hated that part, but she told him his father wanted him to become stronger and put her in charge. She'd demean him about how weak and puny his muscles were after every workout.

When he began showing signs of improvement, Gloria increased the intensity of his workouts. It was painful, and he'd be weak as a kitten after each session. Then she'd begin touching him again, which hurt his strained muscles, but he was helpless to stop her.

Eventually, he outgrew his free weights, and she purchased an actual functional trainer like the school now had. This also meant new exercises and harder workout sessions, more pain, and longer, more thorough muscle inspections afterward. When she felt he wasn't trying hard enough, she'd punish him both verbally and physically. Truthfully, the verbal abuse was a constant as Gloria always found some fault in his effort or body.

So, he worked out harder.

Shortly before the incident where he had to leave their home, Gloria began to touch him... differently. It frightened him, yet he felt powerless to stop her.

"Marin!"

Andre jolted out of his memories as he looked at the teacher who'd been trying to get his attention.

"Geez, boy! You're practically drooling looking at the machines. Did you want to try one out?" the gym teacher asked.

He glanced at the man and nodded.

"Get your gym clothes, change, and meet me in the room," the man said.

Andre stuffed his backpack and hoodie in the locker as he pulled his gym bag out. After locking his locker, he hustled off to the boys' change room entrance and ducked inside. He quickly changed into the gym uniform of a white t-shirt, blue shorts, white sport socks, and sneakers. Everything else went into a locker, which he secured.

Three minutes after the invite, he was standing in the room next to the functional trainers. Mr. Garlin hadn't returned yet.

The school had picked up six units and installed them two to a wall in the spare room. He inspected one and confirmed the installers had done a good job with the assembly.