Summary

At her new school, the narrator invents a story about why she is no longer living with her adoptive parents. She claims that they had to move and she had not wanted to leave the city, so she is staying with relatives. Signora Bice is happy to pretend to be her aunt when a classmate stops by. On the weekends, the narrator returns to her biological family in their town where Adriana has forgiven her for leaving. After missing a visit home due to illness, the narrator arrives back at Christmas to find Adriana "at war with everyone" (Loc 1572). She is sullen and reclusive, refusing to eat. She feels lost without her sister and wants to go with her to the city. The narrator explains that there is no one to pay for her room and board. Adriana wants her to ask Adalgisa...