Quince Clash

by Malín Alegría

  Fabi and Santiago continued their walk into the school together. Just inside the doors, Fabi turned to her cousin, who had stopped abruptly. He looked a bit overwhelmed by the crowd of loud, unruly students in the hall. She was not used to seeing him like this. Santiago was normally a smooth, borderline cocky, charismatic trendsetter.

  “You okay?”

  Santiago gave her one of his disarming smiles. “’Course I am. It’s just been a while, you know, since I’ve been here so early. I think I forgot where my first period is.” He laughed at himself.

  “Santi!” a chorus of girls called out at once. The cousins turned to see three girls rush up toward them. It was Violet, Mona, and Noelia. The petite trio was dressed in matching preppy outfits and flower barrettes like some girl band. In a flash, their hands were all over Santiago, playing with his curly locks and touching his arms, back, and chest. The three girls had been friends since elementary school. Even then, the three were boy crazy.

  “Did I hear you say you’re lost?” Violet said, touching his arm.

  “Don’t you remember that we have home-room together?” Mona cut in, elbowing her friend.

  “I’ll take you,” Noelia piped up as she slipped her arm into the crook of Santiago’s arm.

  “I’ll take you, too,” added Violet, taking his other arm. Noelia and Violet led him down the busy corridor as the bell rang.

  “Hey,” Mona called after them. She turned to Fabi and inquired softly, “I heard that Maria Elena was sent to a convent in Monterrey. Is it true?”

  Fabi shrugged, smiling to herself. Everything was definitely back to normal.

  At lunch, Fabi caught up to her friend Milo in the lunch line. Students were skipping ahead of him, but he didn’t seem to mind or notice. Milo was not from South Texas, and it was obvious by the way he dressed in his oversize coat, Adidas sneakers, and retro red glasses. He was nodding to himself, lost in his own world, totally absorbed in some new song he’d found, and bouncing softly to the beat. Fabi grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

  Milo smiled, pulling out his earphones. “Hey, you have to listen to this song I just discovered by this French DJ. Check it out.”

  Fabi held the headphones to her ear. The music was fast and good for dancing, with electronic beats. But it also sounded like every other song Milo raved about. Her stomach started to growl. “Hey, let’s get lunch before they run out of the fruit plate.”

  They grabbed their trays and headed to the food counter. Fabi turned away from most of the cuisine: chili cheese nachos, chocolate chip cookies, mac and cheese — Milo’s favorites. But Milo was a short skinny kid who never gained a pound. Fabi was into eating healthy. She wished they had a salad bar like at her best friend’s high school. But Georgia Rae was in McAllen, a real city. Dos Rios was a decade behind the rest of the country. They were surrounded by farms and had a large population of migrant workers who worked the fields up and down the country, but there was no place to buy organic produce in the neighborhood. Being a vegetarian was a constant struggle at school and at home — especially since her family ran Garza’s, a traditional Mexican restaurant.

  “Daddy said I can have a quinceañera if I really want to,” an annoying voice said behind her. “We already booked the McAllen Convention Center. And my dress is so cute. You’re so going to love it. I designed it myself. It’s a black-and-white strapless dress. My mom got the best fashion designer in Austin to make it. He was real expensive. But my mom says you only turn fifteen once.”

  Fabi didn’t have to turn around to know who was behind her. Melodee Stanton, head of the Dos Rios dance squad, was the most annoying girl at school. Her horde of worshipers swore her tweets were gospel. Fabi had hoped that their relationship would improve after Melodee (secretly) helped her prove Santiago’s innocence earlier that fall. But Melodee was on no one’s side. She only cared about herself. The best thing for Fabi was just to stay away from her. Besides, Melodee enjoyed making other girls’ lives miserable.

  Fabi leaned over the counter. “Excuse me,” she said to the lunch server. “Is there any more of the cottage cheese and fresh fruit platter?”

  “Fresh fruit?” Melodee echoed mockingly behind her. “Some people just don’t know when to give up.”

  Fabi jerked back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Melodee continued talking loudly to her friends, ignoring Fabi’s comment. “If I looked like that, I’d just stop eating, period.”

  Fabi could feel tears welling, but she held them back. That’s exactly what Melodee wanted. She enjoyed pushing people’s buttons. It gave her power. So Fabi bit back her hurt and left the lunch line.

  She rushed over to her sister’s table. Alexis was eating her lunch with a couple of her friends.

  “Are you okay?” Alexis asked, sensing something was up.

  Fabi tried to smile. “Yeah, it’s cool.”

  “Aren’t you going to eat?” Alexis motioned at the french fries, chili cheese dog, bag of cookies, and soda on her tray. Fabi had left her lunch tray at the counter.

  “I lost my appetite.”

  “Hey.” Milo joined them, holding two lunch trays. “You left this,” he said, offering her the tray with green peas and milk. Milo was so considerate, she thought, looking at the food he got for her.

  “What happened?” Alexis demanded. She glanced back at the line and noticed Melodee with her gang.

  “It was nothing.” Fabi just wanted to end the conversation.

  “Don’t let her get under your skin,” Alexis said, trying to sound braver than she actually was. “Melodee is a psycho loser who is just jealous because she has zero personality. The only reason she has friends is because they’re all scared of her.” Alexis had experienced Melodee’s wrath firsthand when she dated Dex — who was Melodee’s ex-boyfriend.

  Fabi sighed heavily. “You’re right. She’s not even that pretty up close, you know? With that little beak nose of hers that she always has in the air like she smells caca or something, and those beady eyes all smudged over with charcoal eye shadow like a raccoon!”

  “Totally!” Alexis laughed.

  Trash-talking about Melodee felt good. Melodee thought she was so tough, but she was just a bully. “You should have heard her in the lunch line,” Fabi said, nodding to Milo for confirmation. “She was all talking about her quinceañera, how big it’s going to be, how much of her parents’ money she’s going to spend. The girl is a serious poseur. She’s not even Mexican!”

  A coughing sound made Fabi look over her shoulder. Her breath caught and she swallowed. Melodee Stanton was standing right behind her. Melodee’s pulled-back blonde hair and smoky eye shadow made her piercing gray eyes look especially evil. Fabi wanted to curl into a ball and roll away. Melodee was making a big foul face. Her lunch tray was pressed against her hip. The chatter in the lunchroom died down to an eerie silence. Everyone stopped to listen.

  “So, Fatty apparently does have a spine after all,” Melodee said.

  Fabi looked around, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks.

  “What? Don’t look away. You were talking smack behind my back. Now what? You’ve lost your tongue? You got something to tell me? Tell it to my face.”

  “Ah, I’m sorry,” Fabi began, getting up to explain that it was all just a joke.

  “You’re sorry? I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m sorry for saving your sorry-ass cousin. This is the thanks I get. Forget you’re sorry.” Melodee pushed the tray into Fabi, trying to rile her up.

  Alexis scurried around the table. “Get your stinky hands off my sister,” she cried.

  Melodee laughed. “Oh, how cute,” she said to her crew. “Little sister has to stick up for poor Fatty.”

  One of Melodee’s crew cheered, “Yeah, Melodee, you tell her.”

  “Oh, shut up!” Alexis snapped.

  “Alexis, stop,” Fabi said, trying to keep her sister out of it. “Milo, help me,” she said as she pulled her sister away. But she also knew Alexis had
just as much right to be mad at Melodee.

  Melodee sneered. “Yeah, Milo, hold back your loser girlfriend’s sister before she gets hurt.” She turned back to Fabi. “So when did you become Ms. Quinceañera Expert, huh?” Her friends chuckled at Melodee’s joke. “Oh, wait, I forgot. You’re already fifteen and didn’t have a quinceañera. Couldn’t afford it, could you? It must suck to be poor.”

  “That’s not true!” cried Alexis.

  “Oh, no,” Melodee said, pressing her pinky fingertip to her mouth in a fake surprised expression.

  “Alexis —” Fabi had to try to defuse the situation that Alexis was making worse. She couldn’t care less about quinceañeras. She just had to get out of there.

  “For your information, Fabi is having a quinceañera,” Milo stated. Fabi felt like she was going to choke.

  “Yeah!” Alexis agreed. “And it’s going to be the biggest pachanga ever.”

  Melodee looked Fabi up and down and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

  “It is,” Milo exclaimed. “We got the hottest band.”

  “Yeah, who?” Melodee snapped. She shook her head. “No, my quinceañera is going to be the biggest party in the Valley.”

  “Oh, really?” Alexis said. “Well, we’re just going to have to see about that. All I know is, we turned down the convention center because it was too small.”

  “Guys,” Fabi hissed between clenched teeth.

  “Too small?” Melodee began to laugh, but then stopped. She stared Fabi in the eyes, as if trying to drill a hole to the truth. “All right,” she said with a nod. “You think your quince will be better than mine? It’s on. You and me.” She pointed to Fabi. “We’ll have a quinceañera competition. And everyone here will vote.”

  Melodee turned to talk to the crowd. “You got that, everyone? You’re all invited and you will vote for the best quinceañera. The loser has to —”

  Fabi gulped.

  “Shave her head,” Milo suggested. Fabi elbowed him to shut up.

  “Be the winner’s servant for a week,” Alexis said.

  “Hey,” Santiago called out from behind them. When did he get here? Fabi wondered. “Why not do both? Bald chicks are hot.” He gave Fabi a wink.

  “Guys.” Fabi rolled her eyes and slapped her sister on the arm. “You’re not helping.”

  Melodee smiled wickedly. It made Fabi cringe like there were hundreds of spiders crawling up her body. “The loser,” Melodee stated loud enough for everyone to hear, “must be a bald slave for a whole week and do whatever the winner says.” Melodee turned her devilish grin right at Fabi and declared, “This is going to be the best quinceañera battle in history. I hope you’re ready.”

  Fabi felt the blood drain from her face. She never wanted a quinceañera in the first place. Now she had to have one — and not just any quinceañera. Fabi had to have the biggest, best quince the Valley had ever seen.

  Looking around the cafeteria at the sea of bobbing faces, Fabi started to feel queasy. She wasn’t sure if she was going to faint or barf.

  The mood was upbeat and festive when Fabi pushed open the doors of her family’s restaurant. The music of Little Rafa, Fabi’s late grandfather and a Tex-Mex icon, was playing on the jukebox. Her mother, Magda, was yelling an order for carne asada over the music and the noisy chatter of customers filling the tables. Fabi closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

  The familiar scent of rice and beans enveloped her like a warm embrace from an old friend. Garza’s was her first childhood memory. She remembered running into the kitchen and latching on to her father’s leg as he tried to cook. He would pretend not to notice and then say, “And where did this little monkey come from?” That’s how she got her nickname “changuita,” little monkey. But it had been years since anyone called her that. Now, as a young woman of fifteen years, everyone called her Fabi, short for Fabiola.

  For a split second, Fabi actually felt like everything would be all right. But then reality came crashing in behind her. Alexis burst through the front door with Milo at her heels.

  “Okay,” Alexis stated, throwing her arms in the air like a traffic guard. “I don’t want you to worry about a thing. I already have it all figured out.”

  “No,” Fabi protested, “you two have done enough.” She tucked her books under the counter and grabbed an apron. “Maybe I can reason with Melodee — if you guys just stop helping.” Fabi hurried over to her mother, who was busy clearing a table of plates, cups, utensils, and used napkins. Her parents worked really hard every day and it tugged at her heart to see them so stressed all the time. “Sorry, Mom. We got here as fast as we could. Milo’s car broke down a block away and we had to push it.”

  Magda made a forget-about-it gesture with her hand. Her mom was old-school and always wore dresses, stockings, and small black pumps. Fabi’s dad, Leonardo, was a towering figure with thick wavy hair. He paused on his way to the refrigerated room to cough, before pulling the heavy door. Her parents were very different from her, and sometimes they didn’t all understand one another.

  “No worries,” her mother said. “I had a surprise assistant.”

  “Really?” Fabi looked around the restaurant with an inquisitive expression. Lydia and Lorena, the waitress staff, were busy at their stations — which was a surprise. Those two were always calling in late or sick.

  But everything else looked normal. Grandma Trini was feeding Fabi’s two-year-old baby brother mashed-up beans. Grandfather Frank was in his usual seat. A circle of old retired war vets was standing around him, swapping stories. On the other side of the restaurant sat her other grandmother, Abuela Alpha Omega, as always.

  Just then a guy came out from the kitchen with a tray. She didn’t recognize him at first in his hairnet and long white apron. Then it hit her like a sack of beans. It was Santiago — and he was bussing tables! Fabi rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing correctly. Something was definitely not right. First Santiago went to school on time, and then he came to the restaurant to help? It had to be a sign of the end of days.

  “When did Santiago get here?” Fabi asked.

  Magda smiled. “I know. I can barely believe it myself. I had to take a picture with my phone and send it to his mom. He got here about an hour ago and just started doing whatever needed to get done.” She put her hand on Fabi’s. “Why don’t you just start on your homework? I think we’ve got enough help.”

  “Really?” Fabi didn’t know how to feel. She always worked after school.

  “I don’t know how long this is going to last, so you might as well take advantage.”

  Fabi smiled and balled up her apron. She turned, not quite sure what to do with all this time she’d been granted.

  Then she spotted Alexis. Her sister was supposed to be practicing her violin scales, but Alexis and Milo had gathered Grandma Trini and Abuelita Alpha to a table by the jukebox. Fabi did not like the excitement on her sister’s face. Was her sister already making this quinceañera business even worse?

  Walking up to their table, Fabi’s suspicions were confirmed.

  “Oh, you should have seen that Melodee,” Alexis was telling their grandmothers. “I thought she was going to faint when I told her the convention center was too small for Fabi’s quince.”

  “But it is,” exclaimed Grandma Trini. “Much too small for my guapa.” She turned to Fabi and pinched her cheek excitedly, pulling her closer to the table.

  .Abuelita Alpha motioned for Fabi to sit next to her. Her tight white hair bun, black clothes, and pale face contrasted with Grandma Trini, who was always fighting age spots and wrinkles with beauty creams, makeup, and chemical peels.

  “Now, Fabi,” Alpha began, looking at her sideways. “I’m glad to hear that you’ve finally come to your senses and are ready to affirm your dedication to the church. You know, it’s really short notice, but I think that if you promise to fast for fourteen days, Father Benavides may overlook your lack of enthusiasm for Bible camp and squeeze you in for the next open qu
inceañera service.”

  “What? No.” Fabi shook her head. “I am not having a quinceañera. I’m going to New York City.”

  “Oh, no you’re not,” Alexis cut in. “Remember, Dad said you weren’t responsible enough to go away by yourself.”

  “Yeah, well, he could change his mind, you know? And I only got in trouble because you snuck out of the house to go to that party.”

  “No, it was God’s will,” Abuelita Alpha interrupted.

  “Everyone just stop,” Fabi stated. “Milo, tell them. Tell them this whole quinceañera business is all a mistake. You spoke out of turn. You didn’t really mean it.”

  They all turned to Milo, who had up until then been as quiet as a stone. But instead of explaining what happened in the cafeteria, he said, “Why don’t you want a quinceañera? It’ll be so much fun. I went to a couple in Phoenix and all the girls seem to love it. The big dresses, the cake, the dancing. I can be your chambelán—”

  “I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation! Do I look like all the girls to you?” Fabi blushed. “Wait. Don’t answer that. I mean I’m not like other girls. I don’t want a party. I want to go to New York. I want to get out of this town!”

  Her grandmothers flinched.

  “I mean,” Fabi tried to backpedal. “Look, we don’t even have the money for a quinceañera. I have five hundred saved in the bank that I got from my birthday, but that’s not enough. Melodee is renting the McAllen Convention Center. Do you even know how much that place costs? She’s having her dress made by some fancy designer in Austin. And she’s probably going to hire some famous singer to be there. I can’t compete with that. I don’t want to.”