To the Real You

Dos

Hola,

 This is chapter two and thanks for those who read ,voted and liked the book so far...

I'm dedicating this Chapter to my Panda...

Happy Birthday dear...

I stared at him...

He stared at me back...

I scratched my neck...

He stared at me back...

¿Qué demonios estaba pasando aquí?

"Um... excuse me?"

He seemed to blink out of his daze because he stepped in, "Tate... Tate Rodriguez."

I looked at his features... red hair, grey eyes, thin, tall but not taller than me... had I seen him somewhere?

No... I didn't know a guy who looked like that. 

He seemed in awe of the room and if I hadn't been in this school for two years before this one, I would've been like that. The walls were slate grey, freshly painted and encompassed a simple space with four beds quite a distance from each other.  I had taken the one by the wall like I did every year and already had my stuff jammed into my locker. It was tradition, I always arrived early because my aunt traveled for work when I was not at home.

It was kind of a good arrangement for both of us... Aunt Patricia was a social butterfly and needed to travel and be around people a lot... so it was quite a sacrifice when my mom dumped me on her lap, flying back to Korea to stay with my other siblings.

But I can't complain... Aunt Patricia behaves like she's my twin and gives the best advice...

Wish she came home for summer though...

By the time I looked at my roommate again, he was settled on the bed farthest from mine. His choice... and dumping his stuff on his bed. He seemed to be glancing at me awkwardly.

Hey did I have a wart the size of china on my face or what?

"So where are you from?" I asked trying to kick out the awkwardness.

His shoulders relaxed, "California."

"But you speak Spanish fluently?"

He looked up at me, "My dad's Spanish... my mom's American."

I wondered how they got past the language and culture barriers but chose to keep that question to myself. I didn't know Tate Rodriguez well enough to ask, I wouldn't answer if I were him so...

"Well, my dad's Spanish and my mom's Italian." I said, trying to share with him. He gave a nod and went back to unpacking his stuff. Watching him would be a different shade of weird so I snatched the book I'd been reading, Los enfermos erróneos by Sonia Hernandez and began to dig in.

Actually, I hardly focused on the lines... everything sort of blurred together. Nothing had been particularly straight for me since June this year when my world of normal crashed on my head.

So without further ado...

Welcome to the disastrous life of me...

My name is Dante Montana. I was born on December 20th and I'm 17 years old. I come from a family of six which includes my twin older siblings Esther and Esteban and my younger sister Matilda, with my mom Veronica and my dad Caesar...

He's kinda dead now. 

So I came to this school on his wish since it was his alma matter or something... and then wham got into the basketball team. I was good... or so everybody said. I played point guard and my team had been undefeated in Spain for three years.

But before the tournament last June... I...

I backed down.

I don't know why I did it... or maybe I did know... maybe it was because I couldn't stand feeling sick all the time when I stood on that court, feeling the eyes on me. It never helped that I was captain... any failure would be on my head. Annette Pierre, our Principal, made it so. I hate losing because I hate letting people down.

But I let them down more by quitting and now a lot of them won't talk to me...

Talk about friendship... we're only friends as long as I fall in line with their expectations... but I deserved it...

I basically betrayed them.

But I feel the worst part about the whole situation was...

The door burst open and a mop of blonde hair and green eyes stomped into the room, wearing Gucci everywhere. My roommate looked up in shock...

"Dante, I've been trying to reach you since July!" My best friend walked up to my bed and snatched the book out of my hand, "What's this I hear about you and Blanca breaking up?"

Sorry if this Chapter is a bit too short but I'm trying to ease everyone into the story and most of the plot is Tati's business for now right?

Please vote and comment (nicely),

Adios,

Cadi.