Thorns

26 - Rai

Rai

Phone bill paid. Good, finally. Water too. Rent was the next one. If only I could skip another day, but the principal would call my dad, and then I'd be dead. Literally. The man takes school as seriously as Jesus Cristo. I couldn't skip another day. Maybe I could do it again in a couple more days, and work on the auto-wash two shifts. Santiago forbade the guys to skip school... What da fuck was that, anyway?! We're a gang! Why did he need to save his community? Whatever. I still had car wash, for now.

I saw her in the parkin' lot when I was gettin' out of my car with mi cuadrilla. It was this weird moment. Never lived somethin' like this, I only saw it in really stupid, teen drama movies.

In a minute I was listenin' to my friends brag about their chicas, we were all laughin', and the other, I was standin' outside my car, lookin' at Whitney, standing on the green and yellow lawn. She had her car back, and Portia was gettin' out of it as well. The black girl looked from her friend to me, like she was watchin' a tennis match. Whitney was standin' still as well. It looked like a game of blinkin': the one who turned around first bein' the loser. In this case, I think if she turned around first, I would feel like a total loser.

My friends' voices receded, the first ring of the mornin' class was silent to me. The birds were all quiet, and the light wind around my body was like a sunbathe. All I could see, hear, and think about was the beautiful girl with long hair and a really cute aubergine beret. Damn, she was just so... so soft and... sweet and funny and cute!

What the fuck is happening?! I must have a brain tumor...

"Hey! Cabrón!" I heard Tito call, and the guys laughin', so I blinked and stared at him "Are you in there?"

"What?" I grunted, hatin' my friend for breakin' the stare Whitney and I were sharin'.

"We're late. Didn't you say you had to have pristine behavior for the next couple of days?" He grinned and palmed my shoulder hard "C'mon, vato. Let's get educated."

My original plan to have an exemplary behavior was thrown out the window by the meetin' with Whitney. All I could think about was if she was gonna talk to me or not, and if so, what would she say. What about the kiss? Ok, so I bet she didn't even remember she had drunk-kissed me; still, damn it! That kiss made me feel more than any real kiss any girl has ever given me. That wasn't a good sign – and I didn't give a shit.

Time to be real at least to me: I wanted her. Badly. And not just one time. I wanted her over and over and over again. Every day. And it could be only just to sit next to her and talk. I would be happy with just that, honestly!

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I winced when I saw her gorgeous smiling face on my screen. She messaged me again.

Mierda!

Oh man! What did it say?! Was she gonna... tell me to fuck off and don't ruin her flawless reputation? Shit... I don't know if I could deal with that. Fuck it! I was Rai Vega, a Cuervo, damn it! I wasn't some fucked up jock with identity issues.

"Wht happened ystrd? U skipped school. R u ok?"

Oh man, she was worried about me! This must be a dream. I'm gonna wake up real soon and get really angry at my own head for picturin' this shit.

"Perfecto, mamacita. U worried about m?"

"Cut the mamacita, it looks like a bad porno. Dont call m that"

"Do u even know what it means? It's a hot girl. Take it as a compliment."

"It just sounds dirty. Can't u find another word for m? & like hell I was worried! Just asking 'cause my car got back from d auto-shop & I need t know if its ok."