Bella wants to eat her damn lunch. Sigh.
Predictably, Alice is talking to Ms. Finch. He waves at Bella when she enters the gym.
"Well," Bella says. "I still don't have an actual diagnosis - but what I think happened is that I had something knocked loose in one of my ears, and that caused my balance issues. And now they're just... Even on crutches I wasn't falling over. I haven't had a near miss on tumbling down the stairs or slipped walking on ice since the accident. I think getting hit by a car managed to knock my ear how it's supposed to be. And I want to fold into regular gym class."
"You ar a very lucky person," says Ms. Finch. "And, luckily, we're starting something new tomorrow. Do what you want today, and tomorrow you can approach badminton with a hopefully ordinary amount of ignorance."
...Alice giggles.
"Nope," says Alice, and Ms. Finch cracks a smile.
[You liable to tell Ms. Finch about your dad?] Bella reads him, too, because why not.
[Maybe,] says Alice. [If it comes up.] He has, if possible, mixed apathy about the idea. On the one hand, he doesn't really care to keep it from her, and on the other hand, he doesn't really care to let her know.
[What would be the downside to telling her?]
"If somebody around here was gonna have a scorpion pit, it would definitely be you," says Alice.
[Downside to her knowing? Not really any. Downside to telling her? I have to, like, talk about it. She might decide to hug me.] He glances at her as though to assess the risk of hugs. [Okay, probably not,] he concedes, [but it could happen.]
[Second one? And probably not right now anyway, because class is starting.] Indeed, Ms. Finch is turning to greet the influx of students.
[Right. After.] Bella fetches her mat. She'll sit through one more day of stretching and bodyweight exercises and yoga, out of everyone's way, and then she gets to play.
Alice sticks around for class, but departs afterward without stopping for a chat. Hilary is coming to pick him up and take him grocery shopping, and he expects her to be prompt.
Bella hangs back. She waits till the place is clear of non-Ms.-Finches. When this is the case, she says, "Ms. Finch?"
"Hi," says Ms. Finch. "Again."
"Laney" (Ms. Finch would probably understand 'Alice', but that would be a distraction right now) "doesn't want to talk about it himself, but he said I could tell you - the other day his father was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. For child abuse."
And rubs her hands over her face.
"Wish I could say I'm surprised," she remarks. "What kind?"
"The beating him up every day or three kind," Bella says. "I mean, there was verbal mixed in too, but that wasn't the bulk of the charges."
"Yeah," says Ms. Finch. "Again: wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not. It's been pretty obvious since he got here that there is some part of that kid's life that is immensely fucked up."