“Really? And her…” Rocco waved his hand by his crotch. “That didn’t keep you interested either?”
“She never took ‘em out.”
“I did too!” Isa shouted and then clamped her hand over her mouth.
“I know you did, baby,” June soothed, patting her arm. “I know.”
“Never?” the obnoxious DJ asked Carlos on screen.
“Nope,” Carlos answered.
Outrage rumbled through Isa. What a pathetic, scum-dwelling, fat-assed mama’s boy who—
“What’s her number?” the DJ asked.
June and Lissi gasped. Isa felt cold fingers of dread tickling the backs of her legs. She lowered herself onto the cot and wished she could stick a preggie-pop in her mouth.
“Say what?” Carlos asked, surprise evident in his voice.
“I need to see if this is for real, man.”
“You can’t call her.”
“Yes I can. I want to be certain you’re for real.”
The three women leaned forward, trying to see what Carlos was doing and then he pulled out his cell phone. “Well, here’s her number.”
June grabbed Isa’s shoulders, dragging her back from the laptop. “We need to get out of here.”
“I need to find my—”
The dial tone kicked up on the laptop as the DJ reached for a phone from a roadie and then dialed each number from Carlos’s cell phone.
“Turn it off, turn it off!” June cried.
Running on absolute irrationality, Isa dug through her backpack as all the crap she forgot to clean out sloshed around.
“Are you ready?” the DJ asked and the crowd roared.
“Honey, where is it?” Lissi pleaded.
“It’s in here—” Isa held the backpack against her thigh, reaching down with one hand. “I can’t—”
“Oh hell.” June yanked it out of her hands, flipped it upside down, and all of Isa’s stuff rained down on the floor.
The phone ring burred over the laptop and Isa’s phone rang the “1812 Overture.” Isa lunged down and made a grab for it, sending it across the floor. June made a grab and it slid under the desk.
They froze when they heard Isa’s greeting play over the air.
“Looks like we missed her,” the DJ said, ending the call.
The three of them heaved a sigh of relief. Isa pulled out her phone. If Isa threw up on Lissi’s shoes, no one would suspect she was pregnant.
When the thing with the ex-wife didn’t work out, Rocco got the cat fight started. And it had been a frickin’ blood bath.
The two women got in the pool, each wearing bikinis with “Rock Hard” emblazoned on their asses. Becky lunged for the kill, catching Stacy by the knees, flipping her up and into the K-Y. The crowd went nuts and so did Becky.
When Stacy stood up, Becky clothes-lined her WWF-style, then yanked down her bikini top and nearly throttled her with it. The crowd booed as Stacy and her bare boobs fell into the pool. Two roadies ran over and tried to fish her out, but Becky wanted more.
Rocco motioned for the roadies to step in but Becky slammed Stacy face first into the K-Y. A roar rolled up and onto the stage when Becky stood up thrusting her fists in the air. With the assistance of the roadies, Stacy pulled herself up, sputtering K-Y and hair out of her mouth.
“Oh, my God,” Carlos whispered fearfully beside Rocco. “She’s insane.”
Rocco admitted he was impressed but he kinda felt sorry for the dumb ass standing next to him. One wrong move and Becky would send Carlos to the hospital with his dick on ice.
“And she’s going to Vegas with ya, man,” he reminded Carlos, thumbing the mic back on. “Good luck.”
30
Isa’s students drew her out into the parking lot of the district headquarters, which resembled more of a tailgate than a meeting of the school board. Pressed well beyond capacity, a fire crew waited outside with the truck, just in case.
“This isn’t going very well, Ms. Avellan,” Khadija said, winding the ends of her head scarf around her fingers.
“I know, but we can’t give up,” Isa challenged, not entirely sure that they would win the board.
“But they won’t believe us,” Phuc insisted.
“They haven’t listened to no one so far,” Myrna added softly.
Isa had never lied to her students and she wasn’t going to start now. The board reduced health education to an elective even after a surgeon, a rape crisis counselor, and an eating disorder patient requested that it not be cut back. And then the board cut the physical education staff to Stan and two part-time instructors, even after one of the board members read a letter of support from an alumnus who had been drafted by the San Francisco 49ers.
Isa knew these kids feared that as new English speakers and immigrants, they didn’t stand a chance if the board wasn’t swayed by an all-American football player.
“You can only do your best,” she said with half an ear trained on the president of the board droning on about the pet construction project, for which he wanted to use money that had been set aside for ESL. “If you do your best, then you will walk away knowing that you stood up for yourself. Understand?”
Still nervous but with a little more courage, they nodded their heads. “We’re almost up, so let’s go inside.”
She gently pushed the heavy door open. Wedged in the back row, June waved her agenda and then raised her eye brows in a question. Isa grinned and nodded that the kids were ready, but June knew her better than to be fooled.
The junior board member leapt at her chance to speak while the president paused to drink from his glass. “We have a lot of people here who need to speak tonight, so may we move on to the next agenda item?”
The other board members shifted away from her as if afraid to be contaminated by her rebellious spirit. Rudolfo Acuna ruled the roost unquestioned and uninterrupted as president for nearly sixteen years.
He struck his gavel and proceeded to read the agenda item to discuss moving ESL students from the eleventh and twelfth grades to mainstream classes. After the board members discussed their way around the issue, Dr. Acuna opened the floor.
Phuc Lee took two steps forward and looked back at Isa for assurance. When she gave it, Phuc took to the podium, laying her paper on the ledge and adjusting the mic.
Isa turned to June, who had her eyes closed in prayer.
“Good evening, board members,” she enunciated carefully and Isa caught herself mouthing the girl’s speech from memory. In a weak voice, Phuc told of her journey from Vietnam with her two brothers to join their parents after having been raised by her grandmother.
Dr. Acuna’s eyebrow lifted at her slight blunders. But when Phuc ended, the board applauded her speech. Isa’s students took to the podium, one right after the other, painfully eloquent in their fear. Finally, it was Khadija’s turn, but she froze.
Isa put a hand at her back while Phuc and Myrna whispered for her to go. With her pulse pounding in her ears, Isa wondered if Khadija would do it.
“Are there more speakers on this agenda item?” Dr. Acuna called.
Carrie Barcus’s father raised his hand and strode to the podium. Unlike the girls before him, his speech was strident and brimming with confidence. He used those tired old arguments that “in the old days” students integrated faster and became Americans.
Isa fought the urge to roll her eyes and furiously fanned her face with an agenda. How many immigrant students left school because they felt stupid and humiliated by a system that refused to transition them into a strange and sometimes aggressive culture?
He ended his speech and then turned a directed glance at Isa before he sat down.
“Will there be anyone else before we close public discussion?”
The audience ruffled and whispered. Isa felt people watching her, waiting for her to stand up. Dr. Quilley craned his neck, looking pointedly at Khadija.
Khadija took a step forward, whispering “Excuse me” as she pushed her way t
o the podium.
Isa’s hand flew to her neck as she watched her most gentle student unfold her speech with shivering hands.
“I was afraid of America when I came here last year,” she said clearly, her accent softening her English. “I was afraid of the students because I know they made fun of me when I read out loud or asked questions, even though I didn’t understand them. My parents asked our neighbor to speak for us so that I could be trans—” She struggled for a moment. “Transferred here to this school.”
She took a deep breath. “In Ms. Avellan’s class, I learned more about my new country and see it as a great place where you can become whatever you want, and where someone will help you achieve your dreams if you work hard, study, and be a good citizen. If you take our money away from us, some of us will be okay. But those of us who still learn English, we will not understand and we will not learn. Thank you.”
June leapt out of her chair, the first to applaud. “Sorry,” she apologized when every eye turned to her. “Bad back.”
Isa held back proud tears when her girls hugged each other and then held hands, emotions quivering as they waited their fate. About to quietly suggest to her students that they listen to the board’s discussion, she happened to see Alex crammed against the wall.
He held up his hand in greeting and smiled. Heat crept up her chest, all the way to the top of her head. They’d communicated through voicemails for the last three days. He’d said in the last one that he had something important to tell her. But she’d shoved it away to be dealt with after she got her students through this challenge.
Now he stood there, a head above the crowd, and Isa realized how much she’d missed him. She hadn’t asked for him to come, and love for him swelled in her heart until it occurred to her that June probably mentioned it to him.
She turned to June, who winked and gave her thumbs up. It shouldn’t have mattered that he hadn’t come on his own. Isa was being petty and no matter how much she scolded herself for it, the feeling wouldn’t go away.
“You okay? You haven’t spoken in nearly thirty minutes,” Alex asked, escorting Isa across the parking lot.
She opened her mouth and then shut it. Giving up, she shook her head to tell him she wasn’t ready to speak.
He’d give anything to get out of this jacket. Who thought that jackets could shrink across the shoulders? Then again, he’d probably owned this thing since high school. Even worse, he realized his mother bought it for him. As soon as he could, he was getting a new coat.
“Do you need me to drive you home?” he asked when they got to her car.
“No. I don’t think so.”
“Oh good, you can talk.”
She aimed a dirty look at him.
“You’re the only person I know who can’t talk when there’s good news,” he said.
“I don’t know what to say. My gir—my students, they—” She hiccupped on a sob and pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, tears swelling in her eyes.
“Hey there.” He gathered her close and held her under a musky pine tree. “You did good.”
“No, they did,” she insisted. “Based on what they said, they didn’t cut the program. I’m so proud I want to hit something.”
“Try not to hit me.”
She laughed. “I won’t. What are you doing here anyway?”
“I came to see you.”
“How did you—”
“I asked June what you meant by that message you left me and she told me about this. So I left Laguna early, showered, changed, and even put on cologne in case you’d let me talk you into a piece of pie at Russell’s.”
“You did?” she asked as if he were her hero. She sniffed his neck and his hands tightened their hold on her back.
Embarrassed but pleased with himself, he shuffled his feet. “Sure.”
She grinned against the damp heat of him. “I’d love to get some pie with you.”
“Did you sleep okay?” he asked when the waitress took their orders and menus.
She looked at him dubiously.
“Me neither.”
“So what important thing do you have to tell me?”
“I got a job.”
“Alex, that’s great.”
“It’s just to tide us over for awhile. Till I can find something better.”
“Us?”
“You, me, Andrew and the baby.”
Her spoon splashed into her tea cup.
“I can’t just sit around and wait for something to fall out of the sky,” he explained. “I’ve got you guys, June, my dad, and my sister’s tuition.”
“You pay Christine’s tuition?”
“Not all of it. Just what her loans and stuff can’t cover.”
She blinked and then her eyes dropped to the table, looking as if he’d admitted something embarrassing. “I didn’t know.”
“She’s got another year and then she’ll start paying me back,” he said, leaning forward and hoping to say this next thing the right way. “But I want to talk about what we’re going to do next. I’d like us to get married.”
She pulled her hand back and dropped it under the table in her lap. “Because you feel like you have to?”
“I want the baby to have a name. And I’d be a good father to Andrew.”
He made it sound like they were planning a trip.
“You knew we were getting married, right?” When Isa didn’t answer, he seemed to get angry. “What kind of man do you think I am?”
“It’s not that.” She pressed her lips together, fighting the urge to curl under the temper simmering in her eyes. “Just a few days ago you and I decided to have a…an…to be together and now you want to get married and be a father to Andrew.”
“But—”
“No, let me finish. I let everyone hustle me into marrying Carlos because it was the right thing to do. And the person who suffered the most wasn’t me but my son. I won’t do that again.”
“Why do you keep comparing me to him?”
“I’m not. But when I get married again I’m marrying because I love that person and he loves me back. Not out of obligation.”
The waitress returned with his banana cream and her Boston cream.
“Well I guess that answers that question,” she said, picking up her fork.
“What does that mean?”
She sliced into her cake, shaking her head. “Nothing.”
31
EMAIL FROM TED TO ALEX
Hey man, just checking in with you about everyone. June said you’ve got a girlfriend and how come you didn’t say anything? Jerk. Watch out for that wife of mine. She’s something.
Isa had just finished opening the second bottle of sparkling cider with her students when Lissi frantically waved through the window. Isa forced herself to be cheerful for them. If it wasn’t for the festering guilt she felt, she would’ve been. But all she could think about was that she’d messed up again, just like the last time.
With Carlos, he’d had dreams of going to law school, mostly because his idea of a lawyer was someone with a sleaze-job hairdo and an Armani wardrobe. So when she announced she was pregnant, he left college to work. And now Alex…it was like history was repeating itself.
“Ms. Avellan, we need you in the office!”
Isa hadn’t seen Lissi walk in. Andrew. The adrenaline rush stung and stole her breath.
“It’s Ju—I mean, Mrs. Lujon,” she clarified, and Isa breathed again. “She got some bad news.”
Thank God it wasn’t her son. And then guilt prickled her relief that she thought that.
“I’ll stay with your class,” Lissi said, hurrying forward. “You go.”
Isa raced through the campus, quiet save for the teachers or students speaking from the open windows of the classrooms. They were in the middle of their last period before school ended. Isa prepared herself to face the worst.
“June?” she said when she walked into the nurse’s office.
Dr. Quilley shook hi
s head and Isa knew it was bad. Keeping herself strong, she slipped onto the cot next to June who sat there with her hands slack in her lap, her face completely devoid of sorrow or even grief.
Just this morning, June had practically performed a back-flip when Isa walked in. Now June had the look of a stranger.
“June, it’s me,” she said, bringing her arm over June’s shoulder. “Honey, what happened?”
“They think Ted died,” June said as if she hadn’t quite digested the information.
Isa closed her eyes as it sank in. What should she do? She should call Susan—no—Susan had a meeting with the superintendent this afternoon. Isa wasn’t a helpless nineteen-year-old girl anymore. But she wasn’t Susan.
“I’m taking you home,” Isa said in her most soothing mom voice. “Do you want me to call your mother?”
June just blinked. The only movement was her chest moving up and down with her shallow, staccato breaths.
Isa had never seen Ted in person. She couldn’t recall his face even though she’d seen the colorful, almost girlish collage of photos at June’s desk. She thought how June wanted his baby before he left and grief pierced her with its poisoned dagger. But the more she thought about him, the less she would be able to help her friend.
“Please call us when you learn more,” Dr. Quilley spoke softly.
“I will.”
A student worker handed over June’s purse and jacket, while Isa and Lissi lifted her up from the cot to stand on her own two feet. She walked to June’s car because it was the closest. Isa got as far as a block shy of Alex’s house when June began to quietly sob.
Tears seared her eyes, but Isa wouldn’t break when her friend needed her. She spoke meaningless words of comfort, pulling up to the address that the assistant principal gave her. For a moment it crossed her mind that this was the first time she’d been to Alex’s house but then she went back to getting June out of the car and up to the front door.
In Between Men Page 19