May 13, 2014
Maria Gonzales wasn’t the easiest person to notice. Now, this is not necessarily referencing her personality. Sure, she was reserved and didn’t like to speak out in class very often, but she didn't physically stand out either. The majority of her junior class weren’t giants or anything, but they were all at least half a foot taller than her.
It was the last day of finals for junior year and her only hope was that everything would go smoothly. If things went as planned, she'd go have lunch in the park with her friends afterwards. There were dozens of parks located in her neighborhood, but she planned to go to the bigger park even if it was a farther walk. Now, don’t get her wrong, the smaller parks were great places to sit and think when you needed a breather, but the Huning Ranch Park was much bigger and overall a better place to hang out with friends.
Maria took a quick look in the mirror. She didn’t care too much for appearances, so she threw her hair up in a ponytail and headed over to the kitchen where her mom was making french toast.
“Wearing your dad’s old shirt again?” Her mother laughed, “French toast?”
“Yeah, it’s my favorite, you know that.” She replied. “The shirt, that is. But-um, French toast is great too. Thanks.” She took a plate from her mom.
“Any plans for today?”
“Yeah, I think Amanda, Tara and I are going to the big park after exams. Zach and KP might be there too.”
“Well, if Tara’s there, I’m not surprised her boyfriend would be coming as well.” Her mom added.
“Hey, KP might be dating Tara, but his real ho is and will always be Zach. I swear those two are inseparable.” Maria joked.
“All of you are.” Her mother laughed, “Even Amanda, and she just transferred, like what, a couple months ago?”
“Yeah, she’s living with her grandparents. She's pretty cool. She can be a bit weird, but aren’t we all?” Maria stood up and headed for the sink, “Anyway, I better get going. I’ll text you when I’m on my way home later.”
“Alright. Good luck on your exams!” Her mother shouted as Maria was on her way out of the door.
I just have to get through today. One more day of junior year. The SATs and ACTs are over and done with. I mean, I got pretty decent scores. Enough to get accepted into UNM with at least. I just have to make it through today. I got this. Don’t freak out. Breathe. Wait, does this count as talking to myself? Shut up, just breathe. Breathe, Breathe-
“Hey, Maria!” Maria heard someone blurt from behind her.
She turned around and saw her friend, Amanda. She was wearing her favorite assortment of colors; a lacey green top with baby pink capris. She also had her hair pulled up in a ponytail. The New Mexican heat was a killer.
“Amanda, you scared me!”
“Lost in thought?” Amanda asked.
“Always.” Maria laughed. “I was just thinking about how we’re finally out of our junior year. You know what they say? Junior year is your hardest year, and then senior year is a breeze. I can’t wait.”
“Yep, that’s what everyone in Indy says too. Ready for your exams today?”
“Ha! Ready as I’ll ever be. As long as I get a B I’ll be satisfied.” Maria responded as the bus pulled up and opened its doors.
“That’s the spirit!” Amanda cheered as they boarded the bus.
They took seats near the front of the bus. It was where Amanda preferred to sit due to her motion sickness. Maria wasn’t going to argue with that. The front of the bus was always quieter than the back of the bus.
“I just realized you were later than usual this morning. You okay? It’s very out of character for you.” Maria teased.
“It’s the last day. I'm allowed to oversleep!” Amanda jokingly punched Maria’s shoulder.
“Mhm, are you sure you weren’t taken to Roswell in the middle of the night?”
“Yeah, you know, I am feeling a bit strange and I did have dreams of green aliens trying to probe me.”
The two of them continued making jokes back and forth to each other the whole way to Los Lunas High. Maria wasn’t necessarily someone who got along well with others, but it was nice how quickly she became close to Amanda. She felt like the two of them really understood each other. Who knew you could get so close to a person after only a couple of months?
They pulled up to the school and the bus piled out. The testing rooms were separated by last name which played both in and out of Maria’s favor. The alphabetized testing rooms meant that Amanda and Maria would be in a room together, but it also meant that they would be in a room with their least favorite person: Carmen Goodwin.
They entered Mrs. Jaramillo’s room and took their seats. The whiteboard was completely clear except for a quick note on the board that said, “Happy summer break! :)”. It was obvious Mrs. Jaramillo had already cleaned for the summer as the rest of room was lacking in decorations. The late bell rang throughout the classroom as the last couple of students took their seats.
“Who’s ready for this english exam?” Mrs. Jaramillo tried to speak in a positive way, “As long as you guys read the books assigned this semester, you should all do great!” She said, passing out the tests. “It’s four short answers, one essay.”
Maria had read the books assigned this semester: A Tale of Two Cities, Macbeth, Scarlet Letter. The problem was she had such a hard time focusing during tests. She heard every little noise around her including the clicking of a pen, the ticking of the clock, an eraser rubbing against paper, and the heavy breathing of the people around her. She was looking at the questions and seeing words, but her brain just wasn’t putting it together. It was as if she was taking the test in a foreign language. She kept reading over it again and again trying to make sense of it until she finally just had to close her eyes.
Okay, okay, focus. Breathe in, breathe out. She opened her eyes. Read it slowly. Okay, what does this say?
As soon as she got the question, she was writing. Twenty-five minutes left. As the time limit pushed closer, her handwriting started to get messier. She hoped Mrs. Jaramillo was going to be able to read her conclusion on the essay portion of the test. It was getting so bad she couldn’t even read her own writing. It was going to have to do though, because as she was finishing up the last sentence the bell rang.
Maria scribbled out her final sentence before getting up and passing in her test. She grabbed her backpack and met with Amanda outside.
“That wasn’t too bad.” Amanda said.
“It went pretty okay. I’m still hoping for a B, but I won’t be surprised if I get lower, you know?”
“Do you think you have it in you for three more tests?”
“Definitely not.” Maria sighed. “I’m exhausted and it’s only nine.”
“Hey, Maria. Looked like you were having some trouble in there. I hope you didn’t fail.” A fake beach blonde pouted coming up to the pair.
“Carmen. Hi.” Maria put on the best “I hate you” smile she had.
“Careful there, you look like you’re going to burst a blood vessel and we all know you wouldn’t be able to afford the hospital bill.”
“Is there a particular reason you came up to us?” Amanda interjected.
“Yeah, I know that your dumb friend here isn’t very good at English, so I was just wishing her well. Especially since I heard that she and her mom almost got deported last night.”
“Being bilingual doesn't make us any less American.” Maria snarled. "But it does make me smarter than you."
“You could’ve fooled me. You certainly don't look American.”
“You racist little bit-” Maria threw a punch at Carmen, but overshot and almost ended up on the floor.
“You’re like three feet tall, did you really think that was going to work out for you?” Carmen snickered. “Do the school a favor and join your dad in the grave.”
Carmen wasn't standing for very long after she made that remark. Maria might not have thrown the punch, but Amanda wasn’t going to just stand by and let all of this happen.
“New girl thinks she has balls, huh?” Carmen stood back up holding onto her jaw. She seemed about ready to throw a punch back, before she heard someone clear their throat from behind her. She turned around before crying, “Oh! Mr. Baca! Thank goodness you’re here. I was just making nice conversation and these two attacked me.” She cried crocodile tears.
“Miss. Goodwin, I saw you try to retaliate. Since it is the last day and your next class starts in,” he took a look at his watch, “two minutes. I’m letting you all off with a warning. Get to class. All of you, and don’t let me see this again today.”
Mr. Baca started walking back towards his class through the crowds of people while Carmen scoffed and pushed Maria back as she walked past her.
“Just a couple more hours?” Amanda tried to lighten the mood, but even she wasn’t feeling it.
“Yeah. Then it’s just the entirety of senior year. Come on, let’s go take the next test.”
After her last test of the day Maria was finally free to leave. She waited at the bus stop as the rest of her friends came to meet her.
“Hey!” KP said as they approached, “I have my parent’s car today. We can use that so you don’t have to worry about the bus. It’s a Navigator, so we don’t have to worry about space. She’s got seven seats and is a smooth ride. Kind of. She’s a 2005.”
“You know what KP? That sounds great.” Maria sighed in relief.
“Okay, cool. It’s right this way.” He replied as he led them into the sea of cars.
He led the five of them to a beige Lincoln. It was huge compared to the tiny Chevy Maria's mom had.
“I call shotgun!” Tara shouted.
“Hey! Not fair! KP drives you around everyday. Shouldn’t I get that privilege for today?” Zach argued.
“Nope, I don’t think so.” Tara teased as she slipped into the passenger seat.
“Alright, but Maria you’re sitting in the back.” Zach told her.
“What? Why do I have to sit in the back?”
“You’re the shortest. Do you really expect Amanda to fit back there comfortably, she’s like five
seven.” He answered.
“Okay, fine.” She crawled in over the console and sat down in the back seat. She put her arm
down only to be repulsed by some sticky substance. “Ugh, KP! What is back here near the cupholder?”
“I don’t know, probably some soda or something. That's where my siblings usually sit.” He shrugged as he started the car and made a move towards main street.
The rest of the drive was filled with blabber about everyone’s tests of the day. No one seemed to feel as good about them as Amanda, but of course that was expected. There was no way she wasn’t on track to be the class of 2015 valedictorian. The girl was smart. She was just too humble to say that herself.
Once they got to the park they all piled out and headed over to the picnic tables.
“Alright, so what’s the plan?” Zach announced as he sat down.
“HEY!” A kid from across the playground yelled at them.
Maria moaned as she put her head on the table, “Urg, I hate kids. Why are they yelling at us?”
“They’re kids, I’m sure they just think they’re being friendly.” Amanda replied.
“Yeah, I was like that as a child. I was hanging with one of my friends and I shouted 'hi' at some teenagers. Then they started to follow us around and I, like legit, thought I was gonna die. It’s even creepier because it was like one hundred degrees out and all these guys were wearing black clothing.” Zach interjected.
“I’m just gonna say it.” Tara announced, “How are you still alive, Zach? The things you say makes me wonder how many times you’ve truly escaped death.”
“Yeah, you know, one day death is gonna have to collect. You better be careful, dude.” Maria laughed, raising her head back up as she spoke.
From behind Zach and Tara, Maria thought she saw a white wisp floating around.
“What the-” Maria slowly thought out loud. As soon as she blinked, her vision appeared to go back to normal.
“What?” KP asked.
“Oh, no, it’s nothing. I think I had my head down too long. You know how sometimes when you open your eyes you get those black and purple spots floating around your vision?”
“Oh, yeah, happens to everyone. They’re called pressure phosphenes.” Amanda said.
“Yeah, they’re gone now. I think I’m good.” She yawned.
“Are you sure you don’t wanna head home? I mean, you could be dehydrated. It is pretty hot today.” Zach pointed out.
“Yeah, we have all summer to hang out, if you want to go home and rest after exams it’s totally fine.” Tara chimed in.
“Thanks guys. I might have to take you up on that. I'm exhausted.” She admitted.
“Alright, do you want a ride or anything?” KP asked her.
“No, I can walk. I appreciate the offer though.” She got up and immediately felt a sharp pain in her head.
“Wow, are you sure? You look like you’re in pain.” KP was ready to stand up and catch her in case she fainted.
“No, no. It’s totally fine. I’ll take some ibuprofen when I get home.”
“Take it easy, Maria.” Tara put her hand on Maria’s shoulder before Maria tried giving her a reassuring smile and heading out.
She crossed the street and went into the neighborhood that was about two blocks from her house. It wasn’t a far walk at all. She couldn’t help but wonder what she had seen though. Maybe it was just a dodgy spot in her vision. People could get white spots in their vision, right? Just because she hadn’t had one didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. She needed to google this.
She pulled out her 5S and immediately searched what white spots in her vision meant. The most common search result told her it was just floaters. She didn’t want to actually read up on any of it, but seeing that other people had googled it had calmed her down.
When she reached home, she headed straight for her bedroom. She was exhausted and just wanted to pass out on her bed.
“Maria!” Her mother shouted from the living room.
Maria fought back an urge to groan as she responded, “Yes, mamá?”
“Can you come here? I want to talk.”
“Can we talk later? I’m gonna take a nap.”
“Maria!”
“Coming!” She knew she couldn't win in an argument against her mother. “What did you need to talk about?”
“I’m just going to say it, because I know you aren’t going to like it.”
“Oh, no.” Maria grunted as she took a seat in the lounge chair.
“Alright, this may sound a bit weird and I’m afraid it’s very hard to explain, but you’re going to live with your uncle Marcos this summer.”
“That’s a bit abrupt, isn’t it?” Maria pointed out. “We haven’t talked to him since dad died.”
“Exactly! I thought it was time for a visit.”
“Why?” Maria asked, still skeptical at the sudden announcement.
“All I can say is that it’ll make more sense when you get there. He wanted you to visit back in March, but we compromised on the summer instead.”
“The whole summer?” Maria couldn’t believe she made this decision without talking to her.
“It’ll be fun! If you end up wanting to come back sooner, I won’t make you stay. You can come home whenever you want, but at least give the poor man a chance.”
“Fine.” Maria gruffed. “Where does uncle Marcos live again?”
“He’s right off the Floridian coast on an island -- Darkshadow, if I remember correctly.”
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