“Hello?” He says in an incredibly fake Mexican accent. “No comprehend-o…no English…no English, bye.”
I am laughing so hard my sides are bursting. Clearly Cody can't speak Spanish one bit!
Before I realize how much time has passed by, Ramon arrives. He sits down at the table with Shane, Cody, and me. I say, “Tyler keeps calling me, but I won't answer.”
“Why not?”
“I don't want to talk to him. I'm letting Cody answer. It's really funny,” I reply.
My cell phone rings once again.
“Hello, excuse me for a moment, I have just finished relieving my bowels,” Cody answers, heading over to the bathroom. He flushes the toilet. “Sorry about that, but I am really busy and have to go.” Cody finishes, hanging up on Tyler before he can say a word. I am laughing even harder this time.
“Have you been doing this all day?” Ramon asks.
“Yeah, Tyler won't get the picture and stop calling me. I think he deserves it,” I say, regaining my composure again from laughing.
“Let me answer it next time,” Ramon says to Cody.
“Okay.”
Right after this exchange, my phone goes haywire again. Ramon puts on a really raspy voice, “Meet me at Mayfair Park at 8:00…Mayfair Park…8:00…meet me at Mayfair Park at 8:00.”
It sounds like Ramon wants to fight Tyler, but there is nothing I can do about it while Tyler is on the phone; there is no way I am going to interfere in case Tyler hears me, and I certainly don't want him to know I'm actually present. Besides, Ramon is probably just teasing Tyler like we all are. By this point everyone is holding back snickers, and I can feel tears squeezing out of my eyes. Tyler just can't seem to understand what Ramon is saying, even though he is being really explicit.
Once Ramon finally gets off of the phone with Tyler, I ask Ramon if he is planning to fight Tyler, just in case. “No,” he answers, “I am not going to go to Mayfair Park at all. I just think it will be funny if he does.”
The next time my cell rings, it is Kira calling.
I answer it, “Hello…no, nobody wants to fight Tyler…oh yeah, I have his CDs…that's why I want him to meet me at Mayfair Park…don't worry, I don't want to hurt Tyler…yeah, you can come over here, bye.”
“We need to give his CDs back,” I say to Ramon.
“You should meet him, Mackenzie,” Shane remarks.
“I do not want to,” I say defiantly.
“I will give them back,” Ramon offers.
“Okay, you can, but just promise me you won't fight Tyler. I don't want you to,” I tell him earnestly.
“I won't, don't worry about it,” he tells me. “I am going to go since Kira is coming over.”
I am sad to see him leave, but I do want to see Kira also.
Almost a minute after Ramon leaves, Kira is knocking on my door. “Mackenzie I made Tyler drive me over here; he was beginning to scare me.”
“Why were you even hanging out with Tyler after last night?” I ask her.
“I don't know, but I won't anymore,” she says, rubbing her head.
We all start getting comfortable again, and I make dinner for everybody, ravioli with tomato sauce, one of my favorites. As it draws closer to 8:00 pm, I get nervous. Ramon didn't take Tyler's CDs when he left, and he hasn't tried to come by to get them. Just when I start to think about possibly calling him, my doorbell rings. I answer it to find Ramon and Scott on my front porch.
“Kira's here,” I say in an undertone, keeping the door just cracked, hoping Kira won't see or hear anything.
“Fuck. She is?!? I'll just go, then.”
“Don't you need the CDs?” I ask.
“No, don't worry about it; I am just going to meet Tyler,” he rushes.
“Ramon, don't fight Tyler. Promise me?” I plead.
“Okay, okay, I promise,” he says, heading back into Scott's car.
I turn back into the house, and Kira asks me, “Mackenzie, was that Ramon?”
Shit. She figured out who it was. At this point, I figure it's best to just be honest. “Yes.”
She gets a withdrawn look on her face, and I notice that she starts playing with her cell. I know that she is texting Tyler. Whose side is she on?
As I think this, Ramon calls me again.
“Mackenzie, could you go outside so that Kira can't hear you?” he says.
“Sure, just a second,” I reply.
I head out my door, and right as I open it, I see Tyler and Dimitri walking up to my front porch.
“Oh fuck!” I slam the door closed. “Shit! Ramon, get over here right now!” I crash to the floor and start bracing the door, much like Cody and Shane had last night. In a sudden rush, all of my fear and anxiety from last night take over me. It's like I have been stung by a ginormous bee, and I can feel its venom coursing through my body. I am completely unaware of my surroundings; all I can focus on is blocking the door and that fear, that venom, spreading throughout my body, paralyzing me. Finally, I gasp to Ramon, “Tyler and Dimitri are here! Get over here as fast as you can!!!”
“OPEN THE DOOR, DIMITRI IS MY BROTHER!!!!” Kira shouts, running from the kitchen into my living room where Tyler's CDs are still sitting, grabs them, and then storms up to my front door. I am still paralyzed on the ground, talking to Ramon and blocking the door. Kira pushes me aside, surprising me with her ferocity, and runs outside with Tyler's CDs. I listen to her give the CDs to Tyler, and say, “Goodbye,” to her brother and Tyler as they leave. I find myself wishing she had left with them because she clearly isn't happy here. But instead, she comes back inside and sits herself down at my dinner table with Cody and Shane. I somehow manage to untangle myself and join them at the table.
There is a tense silence. I am still shaking from the encounter. Finally I break the silence, “Kira, you told Tyler that Ramon was going to fight him, didn't you?” I say, trying, but failing, to not sound accusatory.
“Well what do you expect of me, Mackenzie? I can't let anything happen to Tyler,” she says sharply, almost like she's accusing me. Clearly she thinks I had intended for Tyler to get jumped.
I see Cody and Shane share a glance and start hurrying to finish their dinners. They definitely don't want to get in between us, and certainly don't want to be here as our fight starts mounting.
“Ramon wasn't going to fight Tyler!!!” I say forcefully, totally overblown now. Kira likes to believe what she wants to, not the actual truth. She is trying to make my simple arrangement to return the CDs to Tyler a lot more dramatic than it really is. But she always over-dramatizes everything. She obviously is not thinking logically about what she knows about me. She knows I don't approve of fighting. If she would just stop to think about me and my integrity, she would know it is stupid to think that I would ever set someone up for a fight.
“Okay, whatever,” Kira says, crossing her arms and legs, screwing her lips, and intentionally looking away from me. I know that this fight is going to continue, and I want it to. There's a lot of unsaid business between us.
Cody and Shane clear away their plates. “Thank you. We're going now,” Cody declares as the two boys quickly head for the door. I can't blame them for wanting to escape.
“Okay, bye,” I say with an edge to my voice. “Do you want me to take you home?” I ask Kira. It's the least I can do, she is my friend.
“Will you?” She sounds surprised.
“Yes,” I say, telling myself that driving her home is the right thing to do.
“Thanks.”
We head out to my car and sit in an angry silence while I back out of my driveway.
“Why did you come over today?” I ask. I feel like Kira had been out to ruin our plans to get the CDs back to Tyler as soon as she stepped into my house.
“I wanted to find some comfort. But I found less,” she replies with an edge to her voice.
I need her to understand what was really going on, what she was actually witnessing. “Kira, you have no idea how scared I was last�
��”
She cuts me off. “Mackenzie, you are acting like such a baby, seriously.”
She has been hanging out with Tyler all day, so obviously she has been brainwashed by his version of what happened. She needs to hear my side. “You won't even listen to me! You have no idea how scared I am of Tyler! He's like…”
She cuts me off again. “Mackenzie, you are a traitor! You set Tyler up today!”
“I am not a traitor! I can't believe that you would even hang out with Tyler! You know what he did last night! Why are you listening to him instead of me!?!” I can't believe she is taking someone else's word over mine, her best friend. She's not even giving me a chance to explain myself. I had nothing to do with “setting Tyler up,” as she calls it. I didn't tell Ramon to say what he did on the phone. We were just messing around.
“Why did you call Ramon last night? You wanted Ramon to fight Tyler!” She answers her own question immediately, not giving me a moment to stick up for myself.
“No I didn't! I wanted Ramon to get rid of Tyler!” My fury is now white hot, and I know I am losing concentration on my driving.
“Mackenzie, if you think Ramon is your friend after all that he did, then you are crazy! You can either have Ramon, or me!” she rages.
What she doesn't know is that I have already made a decision regarding an ultimatum like the one she just gave me. I will always choose the other person, meaning in this case, I will choose Ramon. By giving me an ultimatum, Kira is showing me that she is only self-serving and controlling. “Ramon is a good friend to me!”
“You just say that because you like Ramon!!! You are crazy, Mackenzie! Get over him! Ramon doesn't like you! You are CRAZY!!!!” She is screaming at me by this point, and I am gripping the steering wheel with all my might.
“I DON'T LIKE RAMON! I just think he is a good person.”
“Mackenzie, you are a traitor, and you are crazy!!! Ramon will never be a good friend to you! He hit your car! A friend doesn't do that!!!”
I know I need to tell her what I learned from Ramon. “What if it wasn't Ramon who did it??? What if he was framed?!?” I am crossing my fingers in spirit, hoping that she will understand this, hoping that she will want me to explain more.
“Mackenzie, you are letting Ramon brainwash you!” My hope vanishes instantly. Clearly Kira is never going to be able to accept the truth. “Everybody thinks you are easy because you STILL like him!!! I used to stick up for you all of the time, Mackenzie, but now I agree with them! I think you are EASY!!! I can't believe you. You are crazy, Mackenzie!!!”
This is the last straw for me. It is not alright for anyone to call me easy. We are about a quarter mile away from Kira's house, so I figure I've brought her close enough as I pull over to the side of the road.
“Get out of my car!”
She opens the door a crack, and her eyes get so narrow they look like a cat's eyes, “I hate you, Mackenzie!!!”
“Get OUT of MY CAR!!!!!” I scream, giving her a little shove.
Kira claws back at me, “I NEVER WANT TO SEE OR TALK TO YOU AGAIN!!!!!”
“GET OUT OF MY CAR!!!!!” We give each other a final shove, and Kira gets out of the car, slamming the door so hard the whole car shakes.
I speed away so fast that I make my tires shriek. I make a sloppy U-turn to head back to my house. But as I finish the turn, I realize I am scared to go home because nobody is there, and a lot of people are really mad at me right now. It is getting dark, and I really don't want to face the night by myself. I pull over onto a side street and call Ramon.
“Could you come over to my house? I'm so upset. Kira and I just got into a huge fight.” I can feel my voice shaking.
“Is this a real fight?” he asks me.
“Yes, really. It was the worst fight ever. I don't think we are going to ever talk again. Please come to my house.” I start to feel desperate, but I can understand why Ramon would question me after what Kira and I did to him.
“Okay, I'll be right over,” he tells me and hangs up.
I start driving again and notice that Kira isn't where I left her anymore. Soon I am home again. I receive a text message from Kira, “My parents are going to call the cops on you. You gave me a bruise on my arm.” I know that Kira is just trying to scare me because I KNOW I didn't push her hard enough to give a bruise, and the cops won't give a shit about a little cat fight between two girls anyway. Regardless, I am uneasy and start feeling really jumpy at the smallest sound.
Right after reading her text, my phone rings. I jump about a foot in the air, and the caller ID tells me it is Tyler. I don't answer it, and he leaves a new voice message:
“Mackenzie, I can't believe what you just did to Kira. You are supposed to be her Best Friend, and you know what, you aren't. Right now, Mackenzie, you have no friends. You just have those homos Ramon and Cody. It looks like it is about time for you to start making new friends.”
The message is still ringing in my ears when Ramon and Scott show up. Tyler is just trying to make me feel shitty. He doesn't understand that he and Kira weren't my only friends. Regardless, I feel a new weight inside of me as I let Ramon and Scott in.
“Ramon, you have to listen to this message.” I hand him the phone as soon as they get in the door.
Ramon listens to the message. “If Tyler wants to talk shit, then he's going to get shit,” he proclaims, clearly incensed, as he pulls out his cell phone.
I let Scott hear the message. Afterwards, he just shakes his head as he hands my phone back to me. Now, Ramon starts talking to Tyler. “I don't know what the fuck you are doing talking to Mackenzie like that, you fucking piece of shit. You are going to fucking pay for that. You shouldn't fucking play with other people's shit, you ass mother fucker.” I love the fact that Ramon is so intent on sticking up for me. Finally, someone is on my side, unlike Kira.
I watch Scott's reaction to the whole situation; he looks surprised, curious, and knowledgeable all at the same time. It is a strange mixture of reactions, and I try to figure out what they mean.
Ramon gets off the phone, and I tell him and Scott in more detail about what happened when I drove Kira home. The two of them look shocked and just shake their heads. Scott gets up to leave, “I'm going to go now.” Even though I barely know Scott, I feel like I've lost half of my support as he gets ready to leave.
“Please stay with me,” I say to Ramon, begging him with my eyes.
“Oh… I gave him a ride,” Scott says apologetically.
“I can drive him home,” I reply. “Are you okay with that?” I ask, directing my question to Ramon. He nods his consent. Scott grabs his things and heads off.
Once we have time to ourselves, I ask Ramon, “Would you lay down with me?” Again he nods his head in consent. We migrate to my room and head for my bed.
Eventually, I fall asleep, finding myself clasped in Ramon's arms.
Chapter Nineteen
King feels right at home, doing what he does best. His heart is racing in his chest. Finally he is getting the rush he needs. It is almost midnight, and this time he's managed to recruit two minions to join him. This “Misconduct” is about King getting revenge. Revenge is not only his right, but his privilege. He is going to bring down those meddlesome girls.
Giddy with excitement, King can feel the acceleration as the truck gains speed. As he planned, Brent Andrews is driving. Now if anyone sees the license plate, they will be knocking on Brent Andrews' door. They won't be able to prove that King was there. Brent is just too simple-minded to realize it.
As the truck speeds up, King watches as Kurt leans his head out the window, the wind rushing through his hair. When the truck approaches Mackenzie's car, Kurt raises his arm and aims for the back windshield. He lobs the rock with as much power as he can. The rock not only has the acceleration of the throw, but also the acceleration of the truck behind it, just as King planned. Sure enough, the boys hear a deafening CRACK as the rock strikes the car.
“Did you get the win
dow?” Brent Andrews asks, watching the road as he makes a sharp turn around the corner.
“I don't know! I couldn't see. Were you able to record it, Ramon?” Kurt asks, craning his neck to see Mackenzie's car as it disappears behind the corner.
“Bitch, don't call me that! I. Am. The. King.” Ramon responds as he's watching the video camera's monitor.
Kurt rolls his eyes and turns back around in his seat now that Mackenzie's house is out of sight, and Brent is slowing down.
“Did I get the window?” Kurt asks again.
“No. You got the trunk,” Ramon says resolutely.
“Just the trunk!? Did I at least get a tail light?” Kurt implores.
“You just got the trunk,” Ramon says, disappointment dripping from his voice. His minions have failed to perform again. Why can't they just do exactly what he tells them?
“That still won't be cheap to fix,” Brent Andrews chimes in, coming to Kurt's defense.
“No, It Will Not,” Ramon agrees, turning off the video camera as his face twists into a grin.
Chapter Twenty
It has been four days since I have talked to anybody. My mom returned the day after my huge fight with Kira. Very late the following evening, she took me and my sister away on our annual camping trip to Jalama Beach. This camping has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. I think it's the most beautiful beach in the world and one of the most isolated too. Vandenberg Air Force Base is on one side of the beach, and a private ranch is on the other side. And so, the ONLY people on the beach are campers from the campground. The beach stretches as far as the eye can see in either direction, but most of the campers set themselves up in the area right in front of the camp ground. Meaning, if we walk about ten minutes in either direction down the beach, we have it to ourselves. Nothing can put me at peace more than sitting down on the warm sand with a bright blue sky, flying seagulls, and rolling waves all to myself. This is truly my favorite place in the world, my sanctuary.
Jalama Beach has probably been the best place for me to be after the events that transpired between Kira and me. While I have felt rather isolated and depressed, I've also had a chance to relax and reflect as well. For a few days I've been able to live in my own world and remove myself from everything that happened. I left my cell phone behind so that nobody could reach me, but I remember one of my last conversations with Ramon before I left:
The Convenience of Lies Page 17