In Need of a Friend - A Joe Mazzello Fanfic (High School)

Meeting Joe's Friends

     I woke up a little late. I barely got any sleep. Since my mom passed out really early, this meant she ended up waking up at about midnight and turned the T.V. on in our room really loud. She was watching some telenovela. I hate those. They're really popular in Argentina and in Latin America in general. I never understood the appeal. 

     It was almost time for us to go and my mom was just lying on the couch. 

"Mamita? We need to go."

"No, from now on you will be riding the bus. I arranged it with the school yesterday. A bus comes down here in about 5 minutes. Be out there to catch it." She told me without making eye contact.

"So, we all three take the bus to school now?" I asked her

"No, just you. This way I only have to drive to the middle school which is closer to home anyway. Your school is so much farther away. We need to save that money that's being eaten away for gas! Oh, I need to get going with the boys. Get outside and wait for your bus."

     Those words kept playing back in my head..."Just you". I feel like some sort of outcast in this family. You know, I can't even remember the last time my mom told me she loved me. I saw my bus pull up. I was apprehensive so I decided to put in my earbuds to block everyone out. 

      I kept to myself during my bus ride and listened to some Queen through my tiny ear buds. I gazed out the window as Another One Bites the Dust played followed by I Want to Break Free. The bus made it's final stop : Jackson High School. I waited until everyone else got off the bus before I scooted out of my seat. I got off and looked at my phone. It was about 15 minutes until homeroom began. I walked through the cafeteria because I figured out that it was the route I needed to take to get from the bus area to where my locker was located. There were kids hanging out, laughing and joking. How I envied them. Then, I spotted Joe. He was with two other people. They were sitting at a table near the door. I didn't want him to notice me because I was afraid he would call me over. I'm not good with groups. Hell, I'm barely good one on one with anyone. If he were alone, I wouldn't mind sitting. I made my way through the lunch room and almost got out through the heavy double doors until I heard my name from a familiar voice.

"Valentina! Come here!" Joe shouted

     Oh gosh, what if his friends make fun of me? Just because Joe was nice didn't mean his friends were. I turned around and walked over.

"This is Rami and Lucy. They're a couple of my buddies." Joe said smiling

"Oh." I said nervously "Hi."

     Rami gave a small wave and a smile

"Are you new here?" Lucy asked me.

"Well, sort of. I've been going here for about a month."

"Where ya from?" Rami asked furrowing his brows.

     Oh here we go, more comments and cracks about my accent.

"Well, I am from Argentina. Buenos Aires actually. I came to the United States about two months ago and well like I said I've been in school here for a month."

"Oh, alright. That's really cool. I've always wanted to visit South America." Rami said.

Wow, someone didn't make fun of the way I spoke.

Joe looked at me and laughed "You know, you can sit down, right?"

   I took a seat beside Lucy. She smiled at me. The three talked about a number of things for the next several minutes, then the bell ringing telling us to get to our homerooms went off. I got up. And Joe started walking beside me.