"We need to have a talk," Isadora announced. Kassie and Zara looked over at her. "Kass, Luca told me a bit about your mom. It was... pretty concerning."
"She abused my siblings, not me. I was girly enough not to invoke her ire and around my siblings enough that she never developed a weird fixation on me." Kassie shut her book. "She's probably still abusing Tresta, but there's nothing we can do about that until she's eighteen."
"Hm. You're minimizing the effect this had on you," Zara noted. Kassie crossed her arms.
"Look. It's not that deep. Mom loved me, Dad loved me, all of my siblings love me. My childhood wasn't especially fucked up. Everything was normal before Tresta was conceived and I'm eight years older than she is."
"Okaaay, that's still at least eight years of watching your family turn into a shitshow," Isadora retorted. Zara nodded.
"We love you, Kass. Your family is a special kind of messed up. And, I mean, you rebelled in your own way, didn't you? How many boyfriends did you have in high school?"
Kassie turned bright red. "Look, I stopped when I was seventeen. It was so, so immature and I shouldn't have done it."
"Nobody's arguing with you there, babe. The point remains that your mom would've lost her shit if she knew you did it. And, like, you're bi and all but you were getting a kick out of dragging those guys around by their heartstrings." Isadora approached Kassie, leaning against her desk.
"It was fun, being desired. Breaking hearts left and right. It was unethical, which is why I stopped." Kassie's face softened and she reached for Isadora's hand. "But now I have two lovely girlfriends who happily give me all the attention I want."
"Kass, that doesn't change the fact that your mother was shit." Isadora ran a thumb over Kassie's hand. Kassie sighed.
"Yeah, but honestly? The less I think about her, the more I can move on with my life."
"Alright. If you ever want to talk-"
"I'll let you know. Promise," Kassie replied.
