“Would it kill you to have a little fun? I know you both can dance.”
“We’re letting the kids have their fun. We don’t want to intrude,” said my mom.
“Who says you’re intruding? There are adults out there!”
My Uncle Diego grumbled, then shot a look toward my Aunt Joan. She squinted her eyes knowingly.
“Oh, don’t tell me this is about Teresa!” I yelled, wrinkling my brow. “What, because she’s dancing means that you can’t? Do I have to draw a line down the center of the tent?”
“Mariana ...” my father warned sternly.
“Don’t even think of calling me dramatic,” I interrupted. “Because if there are any drama queens at this party, they’re sitting at this table.”
“Is that how you let your daughter talk to you?” my Uncle Diego barked.
“Don’t talk to me about my parenting.”
“Well, maybe someone should.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that if you hadn’t sent your teenage kids off without a chaperone this summer, none of this would have happened. Like you didn’t know she lived there.”
My father’s dark eyes heated as the vein in his forehead began to thump. My hands immediately slimed with sweat, and I released Bobby’s palm. He took a few steps back, removing himself from the impending altercation. Thankfully, that gave me one less thing to worry about.
“Actually, I wouldn’t know where she lived. You made sure of that,” my father hissed.
“Oh, please. You want me to apologize for protecting you? Yeah, I’m such a horrible brother.”
My Uncle Diego rose to his feet and instantly so did my father.
I looked around the table; everyone was motionless. Even my Uncle Roberto sat mute. Four grown adults refused to step in and stop this. All my mother did was hold her breath, her hands in prayer formation in front her mouth.
“Well, excuse me for not instantly hating this woman like you do,” my father ranted.
“How could you not?”
“Because she’s done nothing wrong!”
“Tell that to her mother!” my uncle shouted.
“Her mother’s not here!”
“No, she sent her dirty bastard daughter here instead!”
Everyone took a collective inhale, his words ringing in our heads. I turned to gauge exactly how low class Bobby thought my dueling family was, but instead I was smacked with the sight of Teresa. She was standing just a few feet behind me, next to Bobby, with tears collecting in her eyes and a present in her hand.
“I, I, wanted to give a gift ... to Mariana. From, uh, Alex,” she said through a smothered sob, her devastated eyes glancing at me, then at my uncles. “I, I should go.”
She spun around and ran toward the tent’s exit. This time, I didn’t follow her.
Chapter 30
“I can’t believe I missed all that!” Lilly cried, leaning back on my bed’s fluffy pillows. “You know what? Don’t worry about your family right now. Your party was awesome.”
“Yeah, it was,” Madison added as she crossed her legs on my floor, her pink and orange plaid pajamas hiking up her shins. (Only Madison would have pj’s to match my party’s color scheme.) “Who knew salsa would be such a hit?”
“I knew,” Lilly stated with a smug smile.
“The dancing was cool,” I said, then looked at Madison. “And you guys kicked butt. I told you ballet was all the training you’d need.”
“Totally. It was a piece of cake.”
“Hey, don’t forget who taught you your moves,” Lilly said, tauntingly. “Maybe I should take ballet. I could be a natural at this dancing thing.”
“You can’t start ballet at sixteen,” Madison quipped.
“I’m fifteen. And why not? I started tennis.”
“Yeah, and how’s that working out for you?”
“Exactly. I can’t be any worse at ballet than I am at tennis.”
I pulled my knees into my chest as I rubbed Tootsie’s head. He was finally liberated from the basement now that all the guests had left. A poor, barely-out-of-high-school waiter looked exhausted as he handed me the leash. I was guessing that my giant poodle wasn’t easy to keep quiet amidst the hectic festivities. Tootsie was now dozing quietly at the foot of my bed as my mind drifted back to Teresa—tears hugging the corners of her eyes. I couldn’t shake the image from my head. She had looked like she had been punched in the gut, and the vision of her crumbling face still made me wince.
“God, ya know, my uncle, he was awful tonight,” I murmured.
“I’m sorry,” Lilly whispered.
“At least no one saw,” Madison offered optimistically.
“Bobby saw.”
After Teresa stormed out, the night felt over for me. Guests stayed for another hour, but I didn’t go back onto the dance floor. I was no longer in a salsa mood. My aunts and uncles grabbed their coats and took off moments after the confrontation. My Uncle Diego snarled like someone owed him an apology. Never mind that he had tried his hardest to ruin his sixteen-year-old niece’s birthday party (such a picture of adulthood). My mother busied herself with cleanup instructions for the caterer, with the help of Madison and Emily’s moms, who politely pretended not to have heard the screaming fit that spread across the tent. My dad conveniently joined the men at the bar and drowned himself in bourbon without a single word of explanation.
If my friends and I attacked each other like that at one of my parents’ parties, you could bet that my father would never let me hear the end of it. He would lecture until there wasn’t a breath in his lungs. I’d watched him do it numerous times with Vince. But no, because they were adults, they seemed to have a free pass to scream and curse no matter what humiliation they caused. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Given their age, shouldn’t they be even more mortified by their actions?
“Hey, Bobby couldn’t have been any cooler,” Lilly counseled. “When I got over to you guys, he really looked concerned. He didn’t seem weirded out at all.”
“How would you know what Bobby looks like weirded out?” Madison asked.
I turned toward Emily, who was quietly seated on the floor, her back resting on my closet door. She had spent most of the night dancing with guys she barely knew, and didn’t like, the day before. I thought she was having a good time, despite her tiff with her mother, but now she seemed back to the sullen state she’d exhibited since I’d come back from Puerto Rico.
“I don’t need to know Bobby, I know guys,” Lilly said, wagging her head.
“Yeah, you sure proved that all right.” Madison smiled condescendingly. “Exactly how many guys did you know back in Puerto Rico?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you sure got popular here pretty darn quick.”
“Maybe that’s because I’m not a stuck-up snob,” Lilly muttered.
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what the guys are attracted to.” Madison glared at my cousin’s chest, which was bulging from her tank top. Lilly instantly pulled at her neckline.
I swiftly sat up and flung my hands toward both of them. “Stop it! I really don’t need any more crap tonight.”
Lilly and Madison nodded begrudgingly.
“Sorry,” Lilly grumbled.
“Me too,” said Madison.
“So, what the heck am I supposed to do now? Just pretend like my family’s not falling to pieces?”
“Do you have a choice?” Emily piped up, her voice faint.
We all turned to her, so surprised she had joined the conversation that we expected her to continue with something deep and meaningful. She simply stared back.
“Well, yeah,” I said. “I could confront my father. I could reach out to Teresa. I could make my parents talk some sense into my uncles... .”
“Mariana, it’s not your place to fix your parents’ problems,” Emily reasoned.
“Gee thanks, Dr. Phil.”
She rolled her
eyes and slumped back onto the wall.
“Hey, so what did Alex get you anyway?” Lilly asked, changing the subject.
I chuckled. “A stuffed coqui frog and an ‘Everyone Loves Puerto Rican Girls’ T-shirt.”
“Classy,” Madison mocked.
“Very Alex,” Lilly stated.
And truthfully, I loved the gifts. I’d never had a boy buy me a present before, and just the fact that he’d remembered and planned far enough in advance to get the gift to me on time, made me feel special.
Just then my cell phone rang. It was hooked into its charger on top of my desk. I wasn’t expecting any calls after midnight.
“Who the heck?” I said, strolling over. “Vince.”
I flipped open the phone and walked into my bathroom for privacy.
“Hey,” I said.
“Happy birthday, Birthday Girl!” Vince cheered.
“You’re a little late. It’s after midnight.”
“Well, it’s the thought that counts. Plus I didn’t want to disrupt your party. How’d it go?”
“Fine until Mom and Dad started a royal rumble.”
“Oh, God. What now? Teresa?”
“Yup. Aunt Joan did her best to mortify the woman... .”
“Let me guess—Teresa sucks and ‘David’s in a new marching band!’ ” he said, mocking my aunt’s tone.
“You guessed it. Anyway, they’re all freakin’ lunatics. Uncle Diego called Teresa a ‘dirty bastard child’ loud enough for the entire party to hear.”
“Dude, he’s losing it,” Vince groaned. “But seriously, let it go.”
“How can I?”
“Because, think about it. If we found out Dad had an affair and some other kid hidden away, I think we’d hold a grudge too.”
“I know, I know. But it sucks. And it’s embarrassing.”
“Please, wearing last year’s shoes is embarrassing in Spring Mills. Why don’t you get out of there? Come visit during initiation.. . .”
“Yeah, I got your e-mails.”
“I’m telling you, this place is awesome,” he said with a burp.
“Are you drinking right now?”
“Dude, it’s Saturday night. I’m wasted. We had this monster kegger at the frat and afterward we all went up to the house’s towers and chucked things off. I seriously launched a desk three stories. It shattered like sawdust.”
“You better not fail out.”
“I won’t.” He sighed, burping even louder. “Anyway, initiation’s next weekend. There’s a party, and you can bring your friends. Tons of people’ll be there: relatives, alumni, the works.”
I paused, considering the offer.
“Mom and Dad probably feel really guilty right now. They’ll go for it,” Vince added. “And you can tell them that you’re coming for a ‘campus visit.’ ”
After a quick minute, I hung up the phone and charged back into my bedroom. My friends were still in the same positions they were when I left. Their eyes flicked toward me as soon as I entered the room.
“Girls, we’re going on a road trip.”
Chapter 31
By Wednesday, the plans were made. Madison would be driving to Ithaca, thanks to a GPS device her parents installed to help her navigate and to help them track us via satellite. We were mandated to have our cell phones charged and turned on at all times, and Vince would be held solely responsible for keeping us alive while there. If anything happened, my father intended to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law (if Madison or Emily’s parents didn’t kill him first).
Vince was right. My dad felt so guilty, he barely argued when I brought up the trip. He simply called Madison and Emily’s parents and worked out the details. He even called Lilly’s parents in Puerto Rico to explain the plans to them; they were thrilled their daughter would be visiting an Ivy League school. They, along with my Uncle Miguel and Aunt Carmen, had sent me a gold necklace with a crucifix for my birthday. It wasn’t exactly my taste, but I knew it must have taken Lilly’s mom weeks to pick out. My cousin Alonzo’s gift probably didn’t require as much thought. He sent me a bottle of piña colada mix to commemorate my one drunken night in Utuado. Of course, he didn’t send the alcohol that went with it, but I understood the gesture.
Emily and Madison took the prize for the best birthday gift. They bought me a video iPod with loads of memory and a coordinating stereo. As expected, my parents offered a generous savings bond and a tasteful ring featuring my birthstone, an opal.
I fiddled with the new white-gold ring as I walked toward my locker. Bobby was already standing there. We had barely spoken since my party, aside from minor chemistry-related conversations. This was actually the first time I had seen him at his locker all week, which led me to believe I was being avoided. My guess was that my family drama fell into the “too much information” category. Not that I blamed him. He wasn’t my boyfriend. It’s not as if he were obligated to stand by me.
“Um, hey,” I muttered as I swung my locker’s black and white dial.
“Hey,” he said, not looking over.
“Look, about my party. I’m sorry you had to see that... .”
“You don’t have to apologize,” he said, looking toward me.
“But, everything that happened. It’s just ...”
“Complicated,” he finished, nodding his head like he understood.
“Yeah, and well, a lot of stuff came out while I was in Puerto Rico... .”
“Mariana, you really do not need to explain anything to me.”
“But you’ve been so quiet lately.” I bit my lip.
“No, God. That has nothing to do with you. I’m not mad at you or anything.”
“Oh, because, I just thought ...”
“I had fun at your party. With you.” He smiled as he tugged at the straw-colored hair on the back of his head. “I should have called you... .”
“No, no. It’s okay.” I turned back to my locker.
“I mean, I wanted to call you. I want to get together. You know, do something.”
“Well, I’m actually not gonna be around this weekend.”
“Neither am I.”
“I’m going to Cornell.”
“So am I.”
My forehead scrunched as I peered at him. “Seriously?”
He nodded, his eyebrows shoved high.
“I’m going to visit Vince ... for this initiation thing.”
Bobby broke into a laugh, his neck tossed back revealing his bulging Adam’s apple. When he lifted his head, his smile was wide.
“I’m going to the same thing! My dad’s an alum at one of the fraternities. He’s trying to get me to apply to Cornell and give up the whole NYU dream.”
I laughed with him, genuinely amused. “Wow, small world.”
“So is it just you?” he asked, as he slammed his locker shut.
“No, me, Lilly, Madison, and Emily. Your whole film festival crew.”
He nodded as his lips drooped down. “That’s cool,” he said, but his eyes drifted elsewhere.
I could tell he was contemplating something I had said, but I couldn’t determine what. He hadn’t seemed to mind being around Emily before, but maybe her mom’s bringing up their date had more of a discomforting effect than I had realized. Or maybe he really did like her. Suddenly, he shook his head as if he had just realized that I was still standing in front of him.
“You know,” he continued, changing topics. “Dean Pruitt picked the date for the festival. It’s the Friday before Thanksgiving week.”
“That’s great. We’ll all help,” I said, cautiously. “We might get busy with ballet. We have a performance right before Christmas. But, we’ll make time.”
“Cool.” Bobby tossed his backpack over his shoulder, looking deep in thought once more. “Uh, see you later.”
For some reason, when he left, things felt as awkward between us as before we talked.
Chapter 32
The next day, as I pulled my sport bag out of my lock
er, my muscles ached. I was headed to our fourth ballet practice of the week. Madame Colbert had accelerated the schedule to make sure she had chosen the right dancer for each part. So far, Emily hadn’t shown any direct animosity toward me or the secondary role she was asked to play. Her practices for Caraboose were challenging and intense, and she really nailed the dark emotions of the character. Probably because they mimicked the moody personality she’d adopted in the past few weeks.
Only today’s practice was set to focus almost entirely on Princess Aurora’s sixteenth birthday scene, which featured my largest and most demanding solo. The last thing I wanted was to dance Emily into another gloomy mood, and these days I didn’t know what was going to trigger the blues.
I smashed my locker shut and started my trek toward Madison’s to catch my usual ride. All the time we spent in the car this week was devoted to discussing our Cornell plans. Madison bought an entirely new wardrobe for the occasion, claiming she needed to “look collegiate.” This included new jeans, tight yet casual sweaters, European leather boots (not sure how they tied in), and a fresh crop of makeup in neutral tones so she wouldn’t look like “a made-up high school girl.” I, on the other hand, hadn’t spent a moment contemplating my soon-to-be-packed attire. I was visiting my brother. The boy had seen me at the breakfast table with greasy hair and an unwashed face. I didn’t need to impress him or any of his friends. Bobby was a different story. But I doubted I would see him. He’d be with his dad, and I was sure they’d have their own schedule.
From down the hall, I spied a group of teens gathered in front of Madison’s locker, chatting and flirting. As they dispersed, I caught a glimpse that stopped me in my tracks. Madison was standing with her hand resting on her locker door gazing up at Evan Casey as he leaned in with an easy grin. Their eyes were locked and their bodies were angled comfortably toward each other. Only it was the way they were smiling, with a mix of shyness and flirtation, that made me pause. A wave of anxiety sped through my bones.
I took a long breath and slowly walked toward them.
“Hey,” I said, loudly. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
Evan immediately straightened his shoulders, and Madison turned away.
Amigas and School Scandals Page 19