Chapter 33: Thirty-Two
It's a beautiful Saturday morning and I have a yearly bus pass through the public bus lines. I wait at the bus which is located at the beginning of my neighborhood. Which means, I have to walk for forty-five minutes to get to it. Luckily, it's seven am and the heat hasn't settled in yet. As I board the bus and check my phone to see if I need to make any bus transfers to get to South Tucson, I can't help but smile.
I didn't tell Kat I was coming to visit her and her mom today. Besides, it's not like Kat told me I had to schedule a time to just drop by and see them. She just texted me her address so I figured Google Maps would help me out with the rest. I'm focused on how to get there so badly I jump at my phone suddenly ringing.
"Hello Rhett?" I answer. "You never get up this early in the morning unless you have to man. What's going on?"
Rhett's radio is blasting music in his room like how I know he likes to do, to the detriment of his parents. "Was wondering if you wanted to hang out. I could go to your place because I'm sick of my parents right now."
"What happened?" I ask Rhett. Although, I already have a feeling I know what it is.
"One word...College." Jackpot, I knew it! His parents have been giving him a hard time about college admissions while my dad has only asked me I think...once, in the whole year?
Rhett sighs as in the background there's banging on his door and a voice that sounds like his dad yelling, "TURN DOWN THE MUSIC!" Instead, I hear the music become so much louder that I move my phone a little bit away from my ear.
"I need out!" I hear Rhett whisper/shout to me on the phone. I roll my eyes at my friends antics. People think Kat and I are crazy for defending our fellow classmates but at least we grew out of the act like a five year old stage. At least, I hope so. Rhett however, never left that world behind.
"Rhett, I'm going to Kat's neighborhood so you'll have to call somebody else," I reply.
"Can I come too!" shouts Rhett. "Unlike you, I have a driver's license remember?" As what he says dawns on me, the bus stops at the bus station.
Still..."No, Rhett. Kat told her mom only I'm visiting. It'd be rude to say one thing and arrive with another." I sigh as I hear banging on Rhett's room door again. "Now Rhett, I suggest you turn down the music and take a walk for a bit. It's still early enough to do so...and don't forget to bring a bottle of water!"
"I'm not five years old!" replies Rhett before he hangs up on me. I can't believe that overgrown kid's got a driver's license while I don't even have a driver's permit. I was going to squeeze that into conversation but between dad's work hours, our family Al-Anon meetings, and my mom acting irritable since she's currently in withdrawal, I didn't want to put more on dad's plate than what he's already got.
In fact, my mom's withdrawals are the reason I've been getting up earlier than usual on the weekends. Mom's been getting angry enough to throw stuff and dad's made the big decision to lock up all the good china. Which is why we've been eating on paper or plastic ware.
Chef Felix has been very understanding about the change. Demi, not so much. Especially since she's not as great as dodging throw pillows or stationary like Chef Felix is. Anyway, I could use a change in scenery as well as practicing my reflexes. South Tucson, here I am!
Stepping off of the bus, I enter 4th Avenue and my nose and eyes are instantly overwhelmed. My nose smells what must be amazing Mexican food cooking in the local establishments. Then my eyes are swimming in a myriad of colors. I gape at the bright colorful murals on walls and the sides of buildings. Most of the murals have colorful graffiti tags at the edges as well. I'm so distracted by the colors and smells that I bump into somebody. "Oops, I'm sorry."
"Do you have anything to be sorry for?" asks the guy I bump into. I'm about to say, 'not really' when I notice something interesting. He has a yellow bandanna wrapped around his arm like Hernando does at school. "Lost your tongue, chico?"
I frown as I shake my head. "No," I reply as the guy I bumped into circles around me like a predator. Which means, he thinks I'm his prey.
"What are you smiling at?" he asks me as he stops right in front of me.
"Just wondering why you think a visitor to your neighborhood is a threat is all. Lovely neighborhood, by the way." Behind him, I see Kat walking with a girl I've never seen. As Kat notices it's me on the sidewalk, her eyes widen, fearing for me.
"Kit?" she mouths at me while I wave at her. As the guy spins around, he looks back and forth at Kat and I.
"Do you know him, Kat?" he asks her. Kat is opening her mouth when the girl next to her laughs.
"No Alejandro, he's with me." She walks up to me and wraps her arms around my waist and pulls me towards her. For someone a head shorter than me, she's surprisingly strong. This girl's light brown eyes shine gold in the approaching morning light. I feel the kiss on my cheek before reacting to it.
The guy named Alejandro takes this as enough proof that I don't know Kat. He looks down at Kat as they speak back and forth in rapid fire Spanish. Kat doesn't look happy they're talking while Alejandro speaks in deathly calm tones.
Instinctively, I take a step forward wanting to back up my friend. However, the girl who still has her arms around my waist whispers, "Kat is saving your ass so don't make her break her concentration, Chico."
Finally, Alejandro leaves. Not before I notice however, his hand letting go of Kat's. What the hell is going on?!
"I'm Mirabella, by the way," says the girl with a smile. "Who are you?"
"Kit," I reply as Kat walks towards us. Kat stands near Mirabella and I till Alejandro goes around the corner. When he does, she gives me a slight nod of hello as I pull Mirabella's arms away from my waist. Mirabella takes a step back as if she didn't just kiss me on the cheek moments before.
"Kit, what the hell," says Kat with a look of distress.
"Today is the day I come see your neighborhood remember? You were supposed to give me a grand tour, I get to see your home for the first time, and meet your ma."
The girl named Mirabella smirks at me before smirking at Kat. "Is this the guy you talk with on the phone every night?"
As I ask, "What?"
I hear Kat say, "No, he isn't."
I gesture where Alejandro turned down another corner. "That guy who was just here. Is he the one who talks with you every night? Because he looks like bad news, Kat!"
"SSSSSSHHHHHHHH!" Kat and Mirabella exclaims at the same time.
Kat shakes her head at me. "Keep it down, Kit. Alejandro isn't the one who I speak with on the phone; it's Sun."
"Sun...you mean, the guy who left you a note at school?" I ask her.
Mirabella's eyes widen in excitement. "You got a love note from one guy, flowers from Alejandro, and now this gringo. Girl, you have boys falling out of the sky for you!"
"It's not like that," Kat and I say at the same time. Well, at least we agree on something.
"Mirabella, go home. I can bring my best friend Kit to my home."
Mirabella speaks in rapid fire Spanish and points where I was pointing earlier in reference to Alejandro. Then after a few more quick words, she raised her eyebrow waiting for Kat's response.
Kat sighs as she says, "Asi asi." Turning to me she replies, "We can't go to my home right away, Kit. All will be explained but for now, it's safer if we go to Mirabella's home for the moment."
Before I have a say in the matter, Mirabella's wraps her arm around mine and tells me giddily about never meeting any friends of Kat's as well as naming off her younger sister's and their ages. Kat walks alongside us with an amused expression on her face. My reply?: Laugh it up while you can, Katrina-Claudia Andersen. I'll get my answers.
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