by Nia Arthurs
Cece & David
Belizean Creole Glossary
A chips – Belizean reference to a bag of chips
Anime – Japanese animation
Carib – A group indigenous to the Caribbean
Chetumal or “Chet” – a city in Mexico that Belizeans often travel to for the variety of shops and cheaper wares
Cut her eye - Glaring or looking at someone with the eyes narrowed and looking to the side instead of looking straight ahead at the intended person. Often done to show displeasure
Dalla chips, biscuit – an item that costs a little more than a dollar, seen as very expensive to seven year olds with a limited allowance
Garifuna - mixed-race descendants of West African, Central African, Island Carib, and Arawak people. One of the cultures in Belize.
Junior college – Belizean high school students normally graduate secondary school between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. Junior college allows them to mature and gain their Associates degree so that they can find jobs or pursue further education
Pibil – roasted pig marinated in seasonings and cooked underground shredded and garnished with diced onion sauce, eaten with avocado and fresh tortillas
Salbutes – fried corn dough disc slapped with shredded stewed chicken meat in gravy and topped with finely cut cabbage, pepper, and jalapenos
PROLOGUE
The dust rose like a wave, covering each of the children racing about in a coat of fine sand. The shouts and giggles of little girls playing “running race” rang across the green buildings standing sentinel over the burgeoning generation of future teachers, lawyers, and prime ministers.
The voices of little boys stooping in the dirt and shooting tiny balls that glittered in the sunlight carried over to the classrooms a few feet away.
Far from the noise and the activity outside, seven-year-old David Kim remained indoors with a book open before him.
Every few minutes, he turned the pages of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald, murmuring at the revelations each chapter revealed. His angular eyes were hidden behind the thick volume and only the top of his thick black hair could be seen by passersby.
“David? David?” His teacher, Mrs. Foster, stooped to David’s level and put a hand on his shoulder.
The boy looked up with a startled grunt.
Mrs. Foster’s kind brown eyes peered into his. “Wouldn’t you like to go outside and play with the other children?”
David glanced toward the open doorway, where the sun sliced the green and brown scenery outside. He shook his head emphatically, hoping that his teacher would leave him alone so he could continue with the story. David was shy and the other kids teased him mercilessly, calling him all manner of things. He preferred being by himself.
Mrs. Foster stood and straightened her teal blue work pants and matching shirt. She knew that David was having a hard time of it with the other students. His best friend, another Chinese boy named Harry, had gone to the States to live earlier that year. David had withdrawn into himself and refused to interact with the other children beyond their forced conversations and group projects in class. She worried for his social development, knowing instinctively that compromise needed to be met by both parties.
Mrs. Foster tugged the book from David’s grasp. “Why don’t you go outside for a minute? The novel’s not going anywhere.”
David pouted, but his parents had taught him to respect his elders. Despite how badly he wanted to stomp his foot and demand the book back, he ducked his head and obediently walked outside.
The young boy squinted against the sharp difference in light and slunk to the edge of the school yard, hoping to blend in. The sun’s rays battered his body and sweat immediately began to form on his forehead. David wiped the tiny drops and checked his watch. It had a bright green band with his favorite hero on it.
Great…
Only five minutes until the bell rang and they had to return to class.
“Hey, chini!” someone said. He heard the call, but chose to ignore it.
David’s great-great-grandparents had moved from China to Belize, a small country in the Caribbean, to meet the rising need for indentured servants in the late 1800’s. David, with his pale skin and slanted eyes, looked different from most of his peers.
His parents always told him to be proud of who he was and to ignore ignorant people. Unfortunately, that was hard to do when the kids at school kept calling him stupid names.
“Chini!”
David whirled around to face the bane of his existence. Shawn Anthony sauntered up to him, swaggering with a sneer on his face. Shawn bullied everyone, even girls, and David had no respect for him. Still, David was small for his age and Shawn was huge. He tried his best to keep out of Shawn’s way.
“Chini!” Shawn drew abreast of the younger boy and shoved his chest. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?” Shawn’s friends, Harold and West, snickered when David stumbled backward.
“Leave me alone, Shawn!” David squeaked.
The boys laughed.
“Leave me alone, Shawn,” the bully mimicked in a high-pitched voice. David tried to walk away but Shawn followed him. “When I go to your shop will you give me a free chips?”
David folded his arms and wished for the time to fly faster so that the bell would ring. Once they headed into class, Shawn would leave him alone.
“Make sure you give me a good chips too,” Shawn laughed, sensing that David was getting upset.
David’s family owned a small grocery store a couple blocks away from the school. Last year, his father had trusted him to tend to the store alone a couple times a month and he was very proud of that.
Shawn lived around his house too and when he came to the store, he would talk down to David. David hated how Shawn thought he was better than him just because he had to serve him in the shop.
“I’ll tell Mrs. Foster on you.” David threatened when Shawn followed him into the middle of the school yard.
“Ha! Sissy! You’re such a girl.”
“I am not!” David insisted, his eyes blazing with fire.
“Hey!” A girl entered the fight, cutting through the tension with her voice. “Shawn, you’re standing right on our finish line.”
The girl tilted her head to the side and placed her hand on her hips. Her light brown skin and big brown eyes identified her as a part of the Creole population, one of the biggest ethnic groups in Belize.
She was very pretty. Her hair was braided in six thick plaits that fell to the small of her back. Her nose flared when she stared Shawn down. Even though she was about his height, she held herself like an adult.
“I’m sorry, Cecilia,” Shawn grinned, but his bluster was fading beneath the pretty girl’s disapproval.
“I told you don’t call me that, Shawn. Now, leave David alone,” she brushed a fat twist behind her ear and the gold bracelet on her hand sparkled in the light, “or I’m never sharing my fruit pops with you again.”
Shawn slapped David on the back and stepped a little away from them. “I was just playing with him.”
“Well, now you’re done. I have a race to win.” She waved her hand dismissively, shooing the big bully. He ran away.
Cece huffed and then turned her attention to David. “He’s so annoying. Don’t be afraid to tell Mrs. Foster when he gets like that. He’s a jerk.”
“I-I will,” David replied, staring at her with new eyes.
Cece blinked at him and a half-smile lit her face. “You need to move so I can do my race.”
“Oh, right.” David nervously slapped his hands against the pockets of his khaki trousers and backed up until he was out of Cece’s way.
She nodded her little chin once and returned to the starting line. David watched in awe as Cece kicked up her feet and, along with five other girls, flew toward the middle of the yard where a line had been toed into the sand.
Her white uniform kicked up around her legs as she raced. True to her word,
Cece won. She celebrated to the ringing of the bell which called them to line up in front of the school buildings.
David kept his eyes on Cece for the rest of the day. The next morning, he brought her a lollipop from his parent’s shop.
“Thanks,” she said and then promptly ignored him.
The next day, he brought her a juice pouch.
“Wow,” she grinned as he handed her the gift. “Thanks.”
Once again, Cece walked away and went to join her own friends, leaving him alone in the classroom with his book.
The next day, David handed her a dalla biscuit.
Cece’s eyes went wide as she grasped the package. She appraised him with her intelligent brown eyes. “You want to be best friends, noh?”
David nodded slowly, waiting for her reply.
The pretty little girl placed a finger to her chin in thought. Nodding slowly, she agreed. “Okay. We’re best friends now. I’ll bring you a chips tomorrow.”
She did.
And so began the long and fruitful friendship of David Kim and Cece Walker.
CHAPTER ONE
I finished washing my hands and glanced at my reflection in the mirror. My thick black hair was messy and I combed it to the side to keep the strands down. My brown eyes and long nose were as familiar to me as the inside of my palm. I ran a hand down my chin. After seventeen years, not a hint of facial hair sprouted along my jaw. I shrugged and stepped out of the bathroom.
“What are we watching?” Cece yelled.
“I told you. It’s a surprise,” I reminded my impatient best friend as I headed to my bedroom. Cece lounged on my bed. Her thick black hair teetered in a bun on top of her head. Her tall, lithe body was dressed in a pair of her favorite cut off jeans and a black tank top.
“You know we have two completely different tastes in movies,” she pointed out.
“And music, and clothes, and TV shows and…”
“I get the picture. Now come on. I’m bored. You promised you’d entertain me today.”
It was the last week of summer and there was so much to do to prepare for school. Only Cece would claim to be bored when junior college was right around the corner.
I walked toward the television on the dresser and turned it on. I then logged onto my favorite site that streamed movies online. “I thought your mom and dad went to Chetumal today? Why didn’t you go with them?”
“Are you kicking me out?”
“What if I am?” I teased, my eyes disappearing with the force of my smile.
“It doesn’t matter if you are. I wouldn’t leave anyway.”
“That’s what I thought.” I returned my attention to setting up the movie. When I finally succeeded, I flopped unto the bed, waiting for the film to load.
Cece rolled her body next to mine and watched me with her stunning almond shaped eyes. “When are you going to update this place?”
For a minute, I grew distracted by just how gorgeous she was. The pretty little girl in the school yard all those years ago only blossomed as Cece matured. Whenever we hung out and people assumed that we were dating, I’d receive incredulous looks. I already knew Cece was out of my league and I had come to grips with being just friends. At least I got to be with her way more than any of her many, many crushes.
“Yo!” she slapped me on the shoulder. I rubbed the spot. “Let’s get some paint this weekend and take your bedroom to the next level.”
I rolled on my back and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars my dad and I had put on the ceiling when I was nine. “I like it.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“That’s nice… I think you should upgrade.” She closed one eye and held her fingers in the formation of a square. “I think we could keep the blue walls but make it a darker shade with some brown carpets or better yet, no carpets at all!”
“You are not touching my room.” I put her hands down and checked the progress of the movie. The bar hadn’t moved more than an inch in the minute that we had been talking. I groaned. “Adam is probably downloading his anime again.”
“Your cutie little brother? He would never do that to me,” Cece said.
“Adam!” I hollered. “Adam!”
“What!” My little brother yelled back. Hopefully, Mom and Dad didn’t hear us. They hated when we shouted across the hall like that.
“Get off the internet!”
“No!”
“For me?” Cece tried.
“No!” The answer was sharp and immediate. Cece was a part of our family and my thirteen year old brother treated her as such.
“Well, that stinks. Wanna talk in the meanwhile?”
“About what?”
“Um,” she hesitated. “I’ve been talking to Shawn again.”
“C!” I groaned. Shawn Anthony had been after Cece since hormones and puberty kicked into his body. My best friend normally told Shawn where to stick it, but lately she’d been entertaining him.
“He’s not the same guy he was in primary school! He’s changed!”
“People that evil don’t change.”
“He’s not evil,” C defended. “Besides he offered to show us around the sixth form buildings. He said we could all hang out together.”
Shawn was attending his second year of junior college and was undoubtedly looking forward to Cece’s eighteenth birthday this August. Cece’s parents hadn’t allowed her to date until she was of age. Until Shawn came into the picture in full force, Cece hadn’t cared about dating. We had each other and that was all we needed. Stupid Shawn would mess that up. I could feel it.
“That’s never gonna happen,” I said.
“He’s been back there for two years. He can help us…”
“Shawn and I don’t see eye to eye. He can stay in his lane and I’ll stay in mine.”
Though Cece easily moved past the childhood bully, I could not forget all the mean things he’d pulled when we were little. Shawn Anthony had been trying to weasel his way into Cece’s life for years. The bully was biding his time and Cece was too soft-hearted to see it.
“At least attempt to get along.” She slipped closer and blinked her thick black lashes. “For me.” I tried to keep my frown in place, but she darted her hands out and tickled my side. “You know you love me.”
I laughed and captured her hand. “Okay, okay. I’ll try. I promise.”
“Thank you. Now, let’s go beat the living crap out of your brother. I want to see this movie you think I’ll enjoy.”
Cece and I marched to the room next door and banged on the door. “Adam!”
The white door swung open and Adam glared at us. “What’s the big deal?” He checked the time on his watch. “I’m trying to enjoy myself before I have to head to the store and you two keep bothering me.”
I snickered as Cece narrowed her eyes at my brother. She insisted that we looked exactly alike, but that was because Cece couldn’t tell any Asians apart. She’d spent her life with me and she was still clueless.
My little brother was tanner than I was. His eyes were slanted and dark brown and his lips were wider. Adam took after mom, while I took after dad. No matter how often I explained that to the girl beside me, it just didn’t take.
“Please get off the internet. David and I are trying to watch a movie.” Cece folded her arms and tapped her foot on the hardwood floor. She had two little sisters and so the bossiness was ingrained in her.
“Um, let me think about it.” Adam pretended to ponder her request. “How about ‘no’.” My little brother slammed the door in our faces. I laughed at Cece’s expression.
She was about to fist her hands and pummel the door again, when I caught her fingers in mine and led her to the main computer table down the hall. Dad used the space to keep track of the store’s inventory and receipts. Right beside the computer sat the modem that fed wireless internet to each corner of the house.
“We have a choice,” I said quietly so that Adam did not hear. “We can let him w
in or we can all lose.”
Cece grinned wide. “You are diabolical.”
I tilted my head to the side and raised my eyebrows in inquiry.
“Do it,” she encouraged and I pulled the modem from the wall.
Immediately, Adam’s door burst open and he lunged toward us. “David!” he shouted. “Fix the internet!”
“Catch, C!” I tossed the modem at her and we took off toward the backyard and into the sunshine, laughing all the way. None of us got to watch anything else for the rest of the afternoon. And that was perfectly okay with me.
CHAPTER TWO
On Saturday, I lounged on the stool in front of the cash register at my family store. My cousins sat in the other chairs, manning their own machines. The sign above the grand building proudly proclaimed ‘Kim’s Groceries’. My grandparents bought the land for the store when I was eight but sent for my aunts and uncles in China before they decided to build the huge grocery store on the northern highway.
Sitting behind the cash register all day during the weekend was supremely boring. My cousins and I had to stay focused, keep an eye out for thieves, and remember to give people their correct change.
The only reason I didn’t go crazy was because of Cece. Whenever I wasn’t busy with a customer or restocking the shelves, I’d be exchanging text messages with her.
Rider, my older cousin, winked at me from the stall next to mine. He wore a grey T-shirt and comfortable jeans pants. Rider played with the slippers on his feet, slapping it against his heel as he spoke. “That your girlfriend again?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Rider narrowed his eyes. “I know you. You get that stupid grin on your face whenever she rings up your phone. It’s pathetic.”
I put the phone down and clutched my chest. “Man, thanks so much for pointing that out. I seriously—I could not live another day without those words of wisdom.”
Rider laughed. “Somebody’s defensive.”