by Paul Langan
My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t believe she wanted to spend time with me. “Now?” I said.
“Or we could stay here and wait for Steve,” she replied.
“Let’s do that,” I said, pretending to be serious.
“C’mon. ” She gave me a playful punch in the stomach as we started walking.
I don’t know how it happened, but Vicky and I spent the whole afternoon together. It was like beauty and the beast or something. Here was Vicky, this smart girl, an A student, with great olive skin, the whitest smile, black spiraled hair stretching down her back, and eyes that seem to peer right into your soul. And then there’s me, Martin Luna. You know my deal.
For a while, we just talked about Bluford. She asked me a lot of questions about school and told me things about some of the people in our English class. At one point I mentioned Mr. Mitchell, and she turned to me.
“Mr. Mitchell is the best, Martin,” she said. “He can be tough, but he’s fair, and he cares about what happens to people around here. He even grew up in the neighborhood. ”
I started to tell her that I thought he was too nosy, and she stopped me.
“He asks a lot of questions because he cares. I heard that last year, he showed up at some kid’s house to warn the parents that their son was using drugs. He’s like that. Always trying to help. ” I wasn’t about to tell her that I nearly lost it during detention and almost hit him.
“His ties are bad,” I said, trying to change the subject.
“Yeah, he needs help with his clothes. My mom says he needs a woman in his life. My dad just laughs about it. ” Of course, she had both her parents at home.
We left the park and went to Niko’s for pizza. The place was crowded with people from Bluford. Two tables away, Cooper and that girl Tarah were sitting with a few other students. One of them was Darcy from my English class.
“All Steve has to do is start talking and everyone else runs away,” I heard Cooper say out loud between fits of laughter. “That’s why no one tackles him. I’m serious. ”
“Yeah, but you’re lucky he’s on your team, Coop,” Tarah said.
I nodded to him as I got a slice of my favorite pizza, extra cheese and pepperoni, and a plain slice for Vicky. As we ate, she told me that Teresa used to like a guy who delivered pizza for Niko’s.
“That girl hates me,” I said.
“No. She doesn’t hate you. She just doesn’t trust you,” Vicky said, raising her eyebrows.
I still couldn’t figure her out. I had no idea why she looked at me so seriously. “What about you?” I just had to ask.
“I’m not sure yet,” she said.
It was like she took a spoon, shoved it into my chest, and started stirring me like I was a pitcher of iced tea. I was so confused. I wanted to be the kind of guy she could trust, someone that deserved her, but I didn’t know what that was.
Everything I knew about girls I learned from Frankie. Back home, he always had girls chasing him. They were pretty, but they always seemed like they were trying to get away from something. One had a kid already. Might even have been Frankie’s, though he would never say. Vicky was totally different from all that. I knew she wouldn’t like Frankie, so I couldn’t understand why she was talking to me.
“Vicky, you and me, we’re different from each other,” I said, not knowing where I was going but unable to stop. “Really different. ”
“So,” she said. “What’s that mean?”
“I don’t know. It just seems like . . . you shouldn’t be here with me. ” It might have been the most honest thing I said since Huero died. I couldn’t even look at her. It hurt.
She touched my hand then just for a second before taking it back. “Martin, when I first saw you I was like, ‘Oh no, who is this boy acting so hard?’ But when you wrote about your brother, you seemed so sad. That’s when I decided I wanted to talk to you. ”
“Oh, so you feel sorry for me?” That explained it. I was a charity project for her.
“No, it’s not like that,” she said, staring me down. “It’s just . . . I don’t know. It’s like you’re more real than the guys around here. ”
“What?”
“Look at Steve. He seems like he has it all together. He’s popular. He’s got a great body, and he plays football. But then when you talk to him, he’s a complete jerk. You’re the opposite. From the outside, you seem like you’d be mean, but you’re not. Not at all. ”
I didn’t know what to say. I mean, I know she was trying to be nice, and I was happy she was talking to me. But I just had to flag what she said.
“What’s wrong with my body?”
“Nothing,” she said and then blushed. “No. That’s not the point. ” She shook her head and pulled her hair back behind her ear. “Steve and I went out for three months, and he never said anything nice to me about my grandmother even when I told him about her. You knew me for two minutes, and you said something that was so nice. ”
There was this little crease in her forehead as she spoke, a perfect fold that was there because she was concentrating to get the right words out. I wanted to touch her face, to thank her somehow, but I couldn’t move. I could barely speak. What was happening to me?
Frankie would have slapped me if he’d seen me.
You’re losin’ it, homes, he’d say. No girl is as important as us, your family.
But for the first time, I almost didn’t care.
On Sunday, I went to church with my mother. Don’t ask me why.
My mother looked at me like I had a fever when she saw me in my dress shirt waiting for her in the living room.
“You’re coming to Mass with me?” she asked. She didn’t even blink once as she spoke to me.
“Yeah, why?” I said. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it.
“Nothing, mijo,” she said, smiling slightly and leading me to the car.
“Good to see you again, Martin,” one older woman said, patting my back as soon as I walked into the church.
“You look so handsome,” said another.
Their wide eyes and long stares told me they were some of the people my mom called when she needed to talk about me.
I hadn’t been to church since Huero’s funeral, but the sweet, smoky scent of incense brought me right back to the moment Huero was in his coffin in front of the altar. I was so angry then. The memory is as sharp as a switchblade. While the priest spoke against gang violence, I was planning it.
But now the whole thing was muddy and confusing. Just thinking about it made my head pound and my heart race, and I could barely follow the priest’s talk on forgiveness.
Afterwards we stopped at Huero’s grave. The rose I had left was still there, the petals already beginning to wilt and dry.
“I miss him, mijo,” said my mom as we stood there together, her tears falling silently to the ground in front of the headstone.
“Me too, Ma,” I said, putting my arm on her shoulder. She leaned into me and began to sob, and I held her weight. It felt like she would collapse without me.
See me after class.
That’s the only comment Mr. Mitchell wrote on my English assignment. It was Monday morning, and after everything, I was trying my best to take Bluford seriously. I got to school on time, and even though I wanted to skip English, I dragged myself into Mr. Mitchell’s class and tried to pretend that the Saturday detention incident never happened.
Vicky was acting strange all of a sudden, and that was bothering me too. When she came to class, she was almost yelling at Teresa.
“I had to tell her,” Vicky said, her voice louder than usual.
“You should have stayed out of it, Vic,” Teresa answered and then spotted me. Her mouth snapped shut like the mousetraps we used to use in our kitchen.
Before I could say anything, Mr. Mitchell walked in, and Vicky gave me this weak smile which told me something was wrong. The only good thing was that Steve was absent for the first half of class, so I didn’t have to
hear him brag about Saturday. That would have set me off.
When he finally came in, he had this scowl on his face like he was ready to hit somebody. I didn’t care. Everyone watched him, including Mr. Mitchell, but no one said anything.
I wanted to talk to Vicky at the end of class, but Mr. Mitchell’s note meant I had to see him instead. I knew he was going to tell me all the things I did wrong on the assignment. At least at Zamora, I could get a C for not even trying. Here I tried my best, and I was going to fail.
“You said I had to see you,” I said as soon as the bell rang, bracing myself for bad news.
“Yes, Martin. First, I want to say I am sorry about Saturday. I really put you in a corner, and I didn’t mean to do that. Sometimes the best thing we can do is to walk away from a situation that isn’t good, and I am glad you did that and not something else. ”
The man was crazy. I am convinced of it. Teachers don’t apologize! Not any that I know.
“Second, your essay was outstanding and powerful. It took a lot of courage to write it, and I am giving it an A. Good job. You may want to consider writing for the school paper, the Bluford Bugler. Let me know if this interests you. ”
I was speechless. Me? An A? Only Huero could make that happen.
“Finally, I am just going to repeat what I said on Saturday. Martin, you are talented, and you could have a bright future ahead of you. Don’t throw it away. When you feel things getting out of hand, when you know you’re getting over your head, talk to me. I’m here for you. I mean that. ”
I don’t know what planet Mr. Mitchell came from, but maybe it wasn’t such a bad place. I feel a little embarrassed admitting this, but I was like a little kid on Christmas Day. It was the first time I can remember a teacher saying something good about me—Martin Luna!
For the rest of the day, nothing could touch me, not the C I got on a biology quiz, not Mr. Dooling’s watching my every move in the gym, not Steve staring at me in the locker room. Only Vicky kept it from being a perfect day. I had to find her.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, catching her as she walked out.
“I don’t know, Martin,” she said tensely. “You should go home. ” We descended the stairs together and headed down the street.
“Why? You sick of me already?”
“No. It’s just that I told Ms. Spencer what happened with you. Someone else did too. Now Steve and some other guys on the football team are in trouble. Teresa said you might be too. ”
“Why? What’s Ms. Spencer gonna do to me?”
“It’s not Ms. Spencer I’m worried about. It’s you. Steve and his friends are up to something. ”
I almost laughed. “Please! I ain’t scared of them. They ain’t gonna touch me. ”
“I don’t know, Martin,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “Oh no. ”
A small black sedan passed us slowly on the other side of the street. There were three guys in the back seat, two in the front. I could see them turning their heads and saying something. One of them pointed at me. I had this sinking feeling, like the concrete beneath my feet had just gotten soft and sticky. Like the time just before Huero got shot.
The car did a U-turn in the middle of the street and looped back toward us. Steve was in the front seat.
Chapter 10
“Let’s just keep walking,” Vicky said. A slight tremor shook her voice.
The car moved closer, but I didn’t budge. We couldn’t run even if we wanted to. Bluford was almost two blocks behind us, and the only thing nearby was a grocery store across a wide parking lot. There was no way we could reach the store in time.
“C’mon, Martin,” she insisted. She grabbed my arm, and pulled me into the lot toward the store. I could feel her nails digging into my skin.
It was like I was reliving the nightmare of the summer all over again. Another person was in the wrong place at the wrong time because of me. I’d lost my brother when he tried to warn me. I wasn’t going to lose the girl who defended me to the principal.
“Vicky, there’s no time. You gotta get away from me now,” I said as the car squeaked to a stop. “Go! ”
I started to shake. The air seemed to grow quiet. It was like I was talking to Huero.
“I can’t just leave you here, Martin,” she said.
I turned and put my hands on her shoulders. “Vicky, you have to go now! It’s me they want, not you. Go!”
The car doors opened.
“I’m staying,” she whispered bravely. “Who knows what they’ll do if I leave. ”
If I had more time, I would have carried her to the safety of the grocery store myself, but suddenly there were five guys from the Bluford football team standing before us. Steve was in the front. I stepped in front of Vicky to face him.
“You sure know how to pick your friends, Vicky,” he said, as he stared at me. “Why don’t you go run for the border so me and Taco Boy here can talk. ”
The other guys started laughing. One of them was Clarence. The others I didn’t recognize.
“What’s your problem, Steve?” she snapped. I couldn’t deal with her defending me.
“One shot in the face wasn’t enough for you, Steve?” I taunted. “Now you gotta bring out your boys ’cause you couldn’t handle me yourself. ”
“Don’t do this, Martin,” Vicky said. “Please don’t do this. ”
Steve’s eyes narrowed, and he moved right into my face. My eyes were at the same height as his nostrils. I heard the other guys step in closer, forming a loose circle around us.
“We all got in trouble because of you,” one of the guys said. “We’re out of next week’s game against Lincoln. ”
“Oh, so ganging up on Martin is gonna make things better?” Vicky said. “You probably won’t play for years. ”
“Vicky, you should stay out of this. I heard you were one of the ones that ratted us out,” Steve growled.
I couldn’t let the attention turn toward her. “Yo, are we just gonna sit around here and talk all day, ’cause I got things to do,” I said, giving Steve a tap on his chest to taunt him.
“Martin, don’t!” she yelled.
Suddenly Steve shoved me. I stumbled a few steps and bumped against one of the other guys who pushed me right back toward Steve.
“Let’s do this,” Steve said, raising his fists.
“Go, Vicky!” I said. As long as she was safe, I wouldn’t care what happened.
Steve’s fists were up like a boxer’s. With cat-like speed, he threw a punch at my head. If I hadn’t been in plenty of fights back home, he would have caught me, but I dodged just in time.
Vicky watched in horror. I didn’t want to fight in front of her. She didn’t know that side of me, and I didn’t want her to see it. I liked what she saw in me better. But Steve was giving me no choice.
“Go!” I yelled, avoiding another shot.
Just then a crushing blow hit me in the back. It came from Clarence, sending a hot streak of pain into me. I was okay, but I knew I couldn’t fight on both sides. Still, Clarence’s wide face was a big target, and I tagged him good on his right eye. He grunted and grabbed his face, moving out of the circle. But Steve and two others moved in. I was in trouble.
“Martin!” Vicky yelled.
Just then, I heard the thundery hum and boom of a powerful sound system.
In the space behind Steve’s shoulder, I spotted a car. It was deep blue and sparkling like the ocean under the bright sun. It rolled low to the ground, and its windows were tinted so dark that they appeared black. It was Frankie’s LeMans!
The sound was so loud everybody stopped to look, and I saw Chago in my old spot, the passenger seat. He hollered something, and the Le Mans stopped. The football players turned around.
Frankie stepped out of the car with this sick sneer that twisted up like the scar on his stomach. Chago, Junie, Jesus were there too. And there was some other kid I didn’t know. He seemed young. Maybe thirteen or fourteen. New blood to replace me.
“Hey, homes,” Frankie barked. “You ain’t havin’ a party without us, are ya?” He then spit a nasty white glob on the ground right in front of Clarence’s shoe.
“Who’s that?” one of the football players whispered. They broke their circle around me and stood together nervously, leaving Steve in the front. There were six of us and five of them.
Frankie stood in front of Steve like he was inspecting a beat-up car that was overpriced. I can’t imagine what Steve was thinking, facing this older guy with tattoos, scars, and not a trace of fear in his eyes.
“Know what?” Frankie said, glaring at Steve, who was silent. “I don’t think I like the guest list. What are you looking at?”
Frankie shoved him before he could answer. If not for Steve’s quick feet, he would have gone down right there. Clarence started to move in to defend Steve, but then Junie pulled out a switchblade. Everyone stood frozen in place. It was like I never left home.
I knew exactly what was gonna happen next. I knew it like a rerun that you’ve seen on TV fifteen times. Frankie would tear Steve up, hurt him, make him bleed, and we would watch. It was going to be an ugly scene from my old world thrown into my new one. Maybe it would be worse. Frankie had this hungry glint in his eye. He was always looking for a reason to show how tough he was. Steve gave him an excuse to hurt what he hated most, a cocky kid who didn’t need the street to be successful.
It would be a huge story in school too. Maybe in the papers. “Star Running Back Hurt in Gang Assault. ” I’d be a famous criminal at Bluford.
Steve must have known what was coming. He was sweating, and his eyes darted back and forth. He looked like a scared animal caught in a trap.
“You’re not scared, are you?” Frankie said, circling Steve, who seemed smaller somehow. He turned to his friends for an answer, but they were as frightened as he was. One of them was trembling like he had a chill or something.
