Maria by Sylvia Aguilar-Zeleny

Author:Sylvia Aguilar-Zeleny
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: EPIC Press
Published: 2015-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

LOVE. AMOR. AMOUR.

* * *

After practice I go directly to my room. I don’t say hi to my parents, to Aunt Angela, or even to Grandma. “Is everything okay, Mari?” Dad asks me. “No, of course not,” I say. Mom asks what’s wrong with me.

“I hate living in this barrio. I don’t like school and I don’t like the people at school.” I go into my room and slam the fucking door.

“Give it some time, sweetie,” Mom yells.

“It’s only been two months,” Tía Angela yells too.

“Two months is a LIFETIME!” I yell back.

“Let her be,” I hear Dad saying.

There are way too many things around here that I hate. First, I don’t have friends like the twins or like Aimée. Let me rephrase that: I have Rita, period. Rita’s the super-nerdy girl I met before classes actually started. On my first day she sort of showed me around, and I was grateful, but she gets on my nerves. She reminds me of the sweet, well-behaved girls at Immaculate who are always stressed out about grades, homework, practices, exams, grades, etc.

Second, the Spanish. Fucking Spanish. I can’t handle it. I understand a little more, but I feel stupid all the time. “How come your last name is Herrera and you don’t know Spanish at all?” my classmates ask. Fuck them and fuck Spanish.

Third, the soccer team. I really like being on it, but the girls, they don’t seem to like me. It’s like they don’t trust me. You can’t be on a team if you’re not trusted, you only end up running and running without getting a chance to get near the ball. The only thing I’ve got so far is bruises and my coach’s evil looks.

And last, but not least, Natalia. Natalia’s driving me crazy. I know she likes me. If she didn’t, why would she text me all the time, or wait for her friends to leave so that she can walk me home? If we run into each other at school I don’t exist: she walks around me and I’m invisible. But when it’s only her and me, you can almost feel the tension between us. She cares about me. I know she does.

Yesterday, for example, I took her skateboard and I fucking tripped. She was like, “Oh my god, are you okay?” She had the sweetest caring voice ever. I fucking scraped my knees and the palms of my hands. Natalia sat down on the sidewalk with me, held my hands, and cleaned them off. “Does it hurt?” She asked me. Her eyes fixed on mine. She wanted to kiss me, I could feel it.

Then she sorta snapped out of it and said, “Come on, stand up, Lloroncita. It’s nothing. Let’s get you washed up.” I couldn’t believe it.

“You are an asshole,” I told her and went straight home. She texted me all afternoon but I didn’t reply. I didn’t even glance her way during soccer practice today and I went straight home after we were done.

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