Keisha.
Silvia thought of her obsessively during her first three classes, which she hadn’t allowed herself to do recently. Not if she could help it. There were still too many messy feelings. She tried not to focus on them, choosing instead to remember the Christmas they had spent together, when she volunteered on the farm owned by Keisha’s family to help provide a happy holiday for struggling families. Silvia had experienced that kindness from the other side when younger. But no matter how generous and sympathetic the Hart family might be, she couldn’t ask them to stick their necks out for her father.
And yet, she felt compelled to try. Especially when she met Mindy for lunch. Silvia saw her from across the cafeteria and imagined having to say goodbye. They would stay in touch, of course, but they wouldn’t share a meal each day, or graduate from high school together, and would probably lose touch when beginning their adult lives in different states.
“How’s the new play going?” Silvia asked casually toward the end of their lunch break.
“Not bad,” Mindy said. “The nice thing about West Side Story is that, unlike Beauty and the Beast, you just buy the costumes you need. Speaking of which, do you want to hit some thrift shops with me this weekend? I need about a million leather jackets.”
Silvia laughed. “Sure. You’ll see Keisha today in theater. Won’t you?”
“Yup! How come?”
“No reason,” Silvia said, right before giving her one that was made-up. “She left something at the record shop last time she was there. Could you let her know?”
“What did she forget? And why don’t you tell her yourself?”
Silvia had a better question: Why did Mindy have to be so smart?
“I keep forgetting,” she said, feeling terrible for lying to her best friend. “It’s a shopping bag, but I haven’t checked inside.”
Mindy scrunched up her face in disbelief. “Really?”
Silvia’s mouth went dry, which turned out to be for the best, because she didn’t try explaining herself unnecessarily.
“I would have taken a look,” Mindy continued. “Actually, I would have carefully gone through everything in the bag and checked the receipt. How could you not peek at the very least?”
Silvia shrugged. “How interesting could it be?”
“Who knows? You’re so honest!”
Ugh. This wasn’t right. Silvia would have to come clean. But not yet, because to truly do so, she would have to explain everything. Including the attraction she still felt toward Keisha.
They moved on to other subjects for the rest of lunch, although Silvia found it hard to think about anything else for the remainder of the school day. She wasn’t sure if Keisha would show up at her work, but she was eager to get there and find out.
“I’m going to ask for an earlier shift,” Omar said as they walked to his locker. “Wouldn’t it be cool if we went to work together each day? Not at the same place, obviously, but it would be like carpooling. Or skateboard-bike-pooling, I guess.”
Silvia laughed at the visual image. “Wouldn’t that get in the way of your yearbook assignments?”
“I guess so,’ Omar said, spinning a combination dial and opening his locker. A piece of paper fluttered to the floor between their feet. Silvia picked up what appeared to be a folded note. The name Omar was written across the front, except in place of the O was a heart. “This better be from Anthony,” she said when handing it to him.
Omar chuckled. “It probably is.” He looked less certain when taking the note from her and noticing the front, and downright uncomfortable when reading the message inside.
“Uhh,” he said before shoving it in his pocket. Then his eyes went wide and he scrambled to pull the note back out again. “This isn’t what it looks like,” he said when handing it to her.
Silvia eyed him a moment before smoothing out the paper to read it.
Hey cutie!
Come film me after class and I’ll show you some of my best moves.
XOXO
-Faith
“I’m not into her,” Omar said the second she raised her head.
“Is this one of the cheerleaders you filmed the other day?”
“Yeah,” Omar said. “I’m pretty sure she’s flirting with me, but it doesn’t matter anyway, because I love you.”
Silvia folded up the note and handed it to him. “Okay.”
Omar blinked. “That’s it? You aren’t upset that some other girl is trying to get her hands all over me?”
Silvia shrugged. “If I didn’t trust you, we never would have made it this far.”
Omar stared a second longer before looking genuinely relieved. “You’re the best, babe! Don’t worry, I would never cheat on you. And I know you would never cheat on me.”
Silvia tasted guilt. She had already broken that trust, despite it being with a girl instead of another guy. Oh sure, she had only been experimenting, but the results were just as damning because she’d felt a deeply emotional response. And then blackmailed Ricky into remaining silent about what he’d seen.
Silvia couldn’t justify her actions, even to herself. The kiss had been a terrible mistake, but she couldn’t do anything about the past. Especially when she was so concerned about the future, and how fleeting her present life might be.
“I love you too,” Silvia said, kissing Omar right there in front of everyone. She knew it would boost his ego. And if she was completely honest, she didn’t mind if other girls—Faith included—happened to see. “Now please walk me to my bike.”
Omar offered his arm. She took it, clinging tighter than she usually did, because losing him would be one of the very worst parts of moving.
CHAPTER 6
February 18th, 1993
Diego tromped up the stairs to the apartment above the auto shop and tensed like he always did when opening the door. He heard the television before he saw the back of his mother’s head. She didn’t say anything as he walked behind her to the open kitchen. Diego rinsed his hands and face in the sink, his stomach growling when he noticed the baking sheet on the stove that was half-covered with pizza rolls. That was about as close to a home-cooked meal as he ever got. Diego loaded up a plate, and grabbed two beers from the fridge. He set one on the coffee table in front of his mom before plonking down in an old recliner.
“Did you get it done?” Marti asked. She was referring to a minivan with a bad alternator and a dead battery that had been sitting on their lot for more than a week, even though the fix wasn’t difficult. They just didn’t have enough labor to get it repaired quickly.
“Yeah,” he said. “You’ve really gotta hire someone.”
She didn’t respond, her eyes still on the television. He took the opportunity to look her over. Marti had dark wavy hair that spilled over her shoulders. Whenever he looked in the mirror, he saw her eyes. Diego had also inherited her strong build and height. And her temper. Sometimes he wondered what he had gotten from his father, if anything. Not the winning personality, or his gift for making friends, that was for sure. His love for cars and his work ethic maybe. Which was going to kill him.
“I’m tired,” Diego said.