The Green (9 page)

I grabbed the addresses, my car keys and my
backpack and shoved both phones in my pocket. My phone rang,
letting me know I had a text message as I got into the car.

What are you doing?
The text message
said. It was from James, of course.

Working. I’ll text you later.

After a long drive through Slate Park and
Cambridge I found myself in a similar neighborhood in Lavender
Grove as the other night. I still looked over my shoulder, paranoid
that a SWAT team was going to bust out of the bushes and force me
to the ground with guns pointed at my head, but there was nothing.
I might as well have been delivering pizza. Steve was a chubby
middle-aged guy with a ponytail and Lori appeared to be a frazzled
mom with a kid attached to her hip. Neither said much, just took
the package and handed me my envelope, which I counted quickly in
the car.

I made it home by eight and took the money
in, carefully recording it in a spare notebook I had and putting
Javier’s money in my jewelry box, next to the junk jewelry I’d kept
since grade school. A quick and easy two hundred bucks for me. That
made a total of three hundred dollars. I took two of the green
bills and wrote Mom a quick note.

Here’s for the bills. Love, Ariceli

I folded the cash in it and put it on her
pillow. I was sure she’d complain about it later in the week, but I
knew she wouldn’t ask too many questions. Just like Nando. She
needed the money so bad, she really didn’t want to know where it
came from. It was easier that way.

After a pile of math homework, a bit of
French and some history, I remembered I was supposed to text James
back, but I looked at the clock and realized it was midnight. I was
sure he’d give me hell for it tomorrow. I stared at the dark
ceiling for a while before I could fall asleep. Instead of visions
of sugarplums, I had visions of James and big leafy pot plants
dancing in my head.

“What happened to you last night?” James slid
into his desk.

“Huh?” I raised my head from the desk, sleepy
and confused. I could have totally gone to sleep then and
there.

“You said you’d text me back after work. What
happened?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry! I was up until midnight
working on homework and then passed out. I am SO sorry!” I patted
him on his big strong arm. It was hard to resist the urge to
squeeze his big bicep. I didn’t want to look like a total
creeper.

“That’s okay. So what’s this I hear about a
new car?” he asked playfully.

“Who told you?” Like I had to guess. Either
Gina or one of the hundred people Gina had told.

“Who else? Ms. Mouth herself. I think she
told the whole school. You’d think she’d never seen a car before!”
He laughed.

I rolled my eyes. Typical.

“Man, I didn’t see Naomi yet today. We kinda
had a fight last night.” I groaned, nearly forgetting about her
little tantrum.

“What about?” he asked.

“She was giving me a hard time about having a
job.”

“That’s because Naomi will never work a day
in her life. She’ll coast through college on looks just to land a
man that can pay for her manicures until she dies.” He
chuckled.

“You sound like you speak from experience,” I
said.

“Oh, Naomi never changes. She’s a sweet kid.”
He smiled.

Uh oh, what kind of smile was that?

“So, uh, do you see you guys getting back
together ever?” I pried, curious about what he would say a couple
weeks after the break up. Naomi seemed to be moving on without
looking back.

He thought for a minute.

“You know, a few weeks ago I know I said I’d
never say never, but you know what, I don’t really miss her. And I
don’t mean that in a bad, mean way. But it’s not like I have this
empty Naomi-hole that needs to be filled. It’s fine. It’s
comfortable. It’s nice to just be me and not James and Naomi.” He
smiled warmly, his green eyes looking deeply into mine and I swear
I melted into a puddle.

“I really think we just weren’t right for
each other. We didn’t have much in common and now that we’re
getting closer to graduation, it matters more than it did two years
ago, you know?”

I nodded in agreement, although I had pretty
much no idea what he was talking about, having such limited dating
experience myself. But that meant points for me because we had a
ton in common.

“Wait, I’m lying. I don’t know. Why does that
matter?” I asked.

“Well, look at it this way. When you’re
fifteen and a dude, your main goal is to go out with a chick
because she’s pretty. So you can look cool to all your friends. And
if you have enough in common to make it longer than a couple weeks,
well, you’re doing pretty well. But the things a guy wants out of a
girl senior year are much different from sophomore year.”

“And what might that be?” I raised an
eyebrow.

“See, that’s how it changes. As a senior,
you’re looking forward to the future. It’s great to find someone
pretty, but you also need something more than that. You have to
like some of the same things, maybe even have similar career
interests. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to have some differences
or things might get boring. Things just work out better if you have
someone that understands you.”

“Oh, I get it. So now you need beauty and
brains.” I nodded.

“Something like that. You asked and I let you
in on the Guy Secrets. What about you Ari, what do you need in a
guy?” His gaze rested on me.

“Well, I would say pretty much the same thing
you just said—someone who understands me, and someone that’s fun.
If I don’t laugh it won’t work.” I looked right at him, a smile
spread across my face.

“Damn, there goes my chance,” he said in fake
sorrow, burying his face in his hands.

“Yeah, whatever.” I didn’t know what to
think. I really wanted this to move forward. He seemed into me. But
then he also said he liked just being him for once. I guess it was
best not to push it. I still needed to work up the nerve to tell
Naomi I liked him. Or maybe I should just wait to see if he made a
move at the movies on Saturday night.

But then would she be mad that I didn’t tell
her I was going to the movies with him. What the hell, she was mad
at me anyway, for something that was her fault. And who gets mad at
someone for being poor and needing a job?

Maybe friends were the same as James had
described as significant others. Maybe I needed to reevaluate my
friendship with Naomi.

We had been friends for a really long time.
Even though she drove me crazy a lot of the time, I loved her like
an annoying sister that I sometimes wanted to smash in the face
because her attitude sucked. But on the other hand, she made me
laugh like crazy. She balanced out my seriousness and made me
remember I was still a high school girl.

I would have to go find her later and see if
she was still mad at me, although I was NOT going to apologize,
because I did nothing wrong. Maybe I’d even tell her that James
asked me to the movies. I’d put it on him. He asked me. Because
honestly I didn’t know he was going to ask me. It definitely wasn’t
my idea. Not that I didn’t LOVE the idea, or him for that matter.
But it wasn’t the point. I didn’t pursue him. So maybe she’d see it
my way. Wishful thinking.

I didn’t end up seeing her all day, so I had
to wait until practice after school. I kept wiping my palms on my
shorts because they were so sweaty. I hated feeling like this. I
second-guessed the idea of telling her what was going on about
thirty times during practice, but I figured it was best to be
honest. I usually was, well, except regarding my unexpected current
employment.

Practice ended and the girls walked out.

“Hey Naomi.” I tried to get a feel for her
mood.

“Hey girl. What’s up?” As usual, Naomi acted
like nothing was wrong. She didn’t like to apologize when she made
a mistake. It was easier to pretend like it never happened.

“So have you talked to Dean any more?” I
asked, knowing it was always good to get her to talk about herself
first.

“You wouldn’t believe it! He’s been so sweet!
He’s walked me to class every chance he can and he calls me every
night. He is the best!” She clasped her hands together.

“It sounds like that’s going well.” I urged
her on.

“Yeah, I really like Dean. And you know
what’s funny, I haven’t even really thought about James much. Is
Mandi Johansen still stalking him? She may just wear him down one
of these days.”

“Ugh, she is so gross. He hasn’t mentioned
her, so I’m guessing not.” I giggled.

“She is totally gross. She’s always lurking
outside the boys’ locker room after school. I think she tries to
get a peek through the door when the guys are coming in and out,
hoping to get a view of their junk!” She cackled.

I snorted. “That is SO nasty, but I could
totally see it! Ew! Who’d want to see sweaty guys’ junk
anyway?”

She raised her hand and said, “ Yes,
please!”

“You’re disgusting! I’m telling Dean you want
to see his sweaty junk,” I howled as we got near the boys’ locker
room door. “Look, I’m sure he’s in there, why don’t you go look.” I
shoved her towards the door and she squealed and grabbed my arm as
some giant wrestler and Dean came strolling out.

I started laughing so hard I couldn’t control
it anymore and when Naomi saw Dean, she fell into me and we landed
in a giant laughing heap on the floor.

“What the hell are you two doing?” Dean
asked, looking slightly bewildered.

“I, she, Dean I have something I have to tell
you!” I shouted between gasps of air.

“NO! Shut up Ari!” She clamped a hand over my
mouth. “Sorry Dean, she’s a little crazy. Here, help me up.”

Dean grabbed her hand and pulled her up off
the floor.

“So, I’ll call you later?” he asked. As if he
didn’t know.

“Uh, don’t mind me, I’ll just help myself
up,” I said to no one in particular as I picked myself up off the
floor.

“Don’t mind her.” Naomi waved me off. “Sounds
good, talk to you later!”

She gave Dean a big hug and looked all
dreamy.

Here was my chance. I had to catch her in a
really good mood, and how could she be in a better mood after being
wrapped in Dean’s big strong arms. Ew. Gag.

After they finally separated and he wandered
off towards the parking lot, Naomi and I headed for the locker room
to grab our stuff.

“Hey, I gotta tell you something,” I
said.

“What’s up?” she asked. “Is something
wrong?”

“Um, well it might be nothing, but I wanted
to let you know that James asked me to check out a movie with him
on Saturday.”

“Who James? My James? I mean James
James?”

“Yeah James James. James Bartlett.”

She didn’t say anything for a minute as she
pulled her stuff out of her locker. I could see her biting her
lip.

“What do you mean? Is it like a date or
what?”

“I, uh, I don’t know. He just asked if I
wanted to check out this horror movie. I said okay, but I wanted to
talk to you about it. I don’t want to do anything if you still like
him and see yourself going back with him. I mean you guys were
together for a long time.”

Her eyes narrowed. “We were together. Past
tense. Anyway, it’s not my business who he chooses to date.” She
slammed her locker.

“If you don’t want me to go, I won’t go,” I
offered, knowing I felt completely otherwise.

She sat down on the bench and looked at the
floor.

“Do you like him?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t find the
words.

“You do like him, don’t you?”

“I do.” Why did I say that? Why did it come
out of my mouth? Oh god, Naomi was going to kill me, right here in
the locker room.

She didn’t look as angry when I finally had
the nerve to look at her face. I was shocked. Was she really taking
this so easily? I couldn’t believe it.

“Does he like you?” she asked.

“Other than asking me to the movies, I would
say I don’t know. Right now I think it’s just a friend thing. I
want you to know Naomi, I didn’t think of him that way until you
broke up. I’ve always liked him as a friend, but nothing more. I’m
sure it’s nothing anyways. He’s probably just asked me as a
friend.”

“Well, whatever. This weekend I’ll be tonsil
deep in my brand new hot-hot-hottie, so you can do whatever you
want with my leftovers. So are we going to go grab something to eat
or do you have to work tonight?” she asked.

I decided I wouldn’t even go look at the
phone until after we ate. I had a little something to
celebrate!

After we ate I checked Nando’s phone, which
showed only a message from Javier, who was planning to stop by the
next night. Hopefully he would be pleased how things were going so
far. It really seemed way too easy.

I texted James a quick ‘hi’ when I got home
and got to work on my essay. Tonight was the night to get this
thing done. I had to try and send it out this weekend and I
couldn’t put it off anymore. Mom was actually home for once and we
sat down for dinner together.

“How’s school, mija?” she asked over a big
plate of carnitas and tortillas.

“It’s fine Mom. How’s work?”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you could get a job,
because I am really needing this extra money right now. You are not
working tonight, no? Where is it again?”

“Nope, off tonight. It’s at the store near
school. I have my college essays to write tonight,” I said, between
mouthfuls of food.

“Oh, that’s too bad. I thought we could watch
TV together later.” She actually sounded really sad about this. But
I suppose she never saw me and since Nando left, I was her only
family left, except for our relatives in the city, and we never
spent any time together.