Kindling (6 page)

“Ugh, Allie, please stop thinking about penises for one minute!” I said. I tossed my makeup bag at her. “We’re having dinner with a bunch of old people in, like, two hours. You have to make me decent.”

It took about an hour to make me look acceptable by Allie’s standards. By then, three of my other Latina Goddess friends had arrived. Jennie was the head cheerleader at the school. Her boobs were as perky as she was, which gave her an undeserved sense of entitlement and she sort of ruled the roost of hens around our school. I didn’t take any of her crap but, surprisingly, we were pretty good friends. Eloisa was Jennie’s shadow, second top cheerleader and even more perky than Jennie. She was annoying, but she followed Jennie everywhere so I had to take her when Jennie came around.

Finally, there was Mercedes. She was my best forever friend and I loved her more than anything. As Allie and I began drifting farther apart, Mercedes and I had grown closer and she was truly my best friend. Though she was the most beautiful one of them all, the one that every guy drooled over, the one that had the perfect body and perfect hair, she never let it get to her head. Sadie loved me despite my many great and terrible faults.

As Allie made me look more acceptable, the girls sat on my bed discussing the amazingly hot guy downstairs and thought I was so rude for keeping him a secret “all this time.” I couldn’t tell them I had only kept him a secret all the four hours that I knew him as that would increase the questioning and questioning would lead me to spill my guts. Not that it would matter. The more I went over the day’s events in my head the more surreal it seemed. Weird, yes, but were we in danger? I wasn’t sure.

Allie finished my makeup and redid my hair because she kept saying “it looks like an old lady did it” and I finally relinquished my tresses to her. Then I finally put on my blue, tulle gown and, holy bananas, it was bigger and bluer and tullier than I had remembered. It was way worse than I had anticipated, especially after the gloves and crystal tiara.

“How do I look?” I asked when I was finished dressing. I knew how I looked: like a big, blue puff ball - but the girls grinned their approvals.

“Ella está buena,” Mercedes giggled.

“No, I
know
I do not look sexy,” I grumbled.

Sadie sighed. “Estás hermosa.” I knew I wasn’t beautiful, either, so I just rolled my eyes. There was no use arguing with Sadie. “Dance with me tonight, my darling?”

I smiled. “Of course.” I turned and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked horrible. I hated that dress and I hated feeling like that. It seemed to highlight every one of my faults - my giant shoulders and biceps that made me look like a Quarterback, my neck that looked like it should be on an ostrich, my shoulder blades that stuck out like wings, and my barely there boobage. My friends wore sexy, short skirts that showed their golden thighs and clung to their womanly curves, stilettos that elongated their legs, tops that highlighted their waists and boobs, makeup that turned them into gorgeous women. And me? I was a giant in a tulle poof.

It was difficult for me to see how much they had all changed and how much I had not. Two years ago we all went through our Quinceañera celebrations. Big ball gown, gloves, horrible shoes, the whole sha-bang. It was once for them, but it’s every year for me. The Quinceañera was supposed to welcome us into womanhood. They have embraced it, but I’m stuck as a perpetual yoga-pant and oversized shirt wearing slob that is occasionally forced to wear ball gowns. A pig in lipstick is still a pig.

I felt really awkward and awful and wrapped a shawl around my shoulders. “What’s wrong?” Mercedes asked. She got up and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “Oh my god, Kit, look at your guns!” She squeezed my biceps and then felt my stomach. “Holy shit, Cat, where did this muscle come from?”

“You haven’t felt me up in awhile,” I laughed. “Sadie?” She smiled at me in the mirror. “Do I look okay?”

“You’re gorgeous,” she said and kissed my cheek.

“No I’m not. I look like a thirteen-year-old boy and you, like ...” I trailed off. I was angry at myself for being so jealous of my friends. Sadie had the perfect body, great confidence, and fantastic boobs. I freely admitted it: I had tremendous boob envy. I waited so long for my boobs to make an appearance, but they just sort of stopped growing and now they look like aspirins on a washboard.

“I’ll trade you boobage for your six-pack,” she laughed. Then, she went around to the other side of the bed. She brought out a present and handed it to me. “After dinner, you’re going to change and wear this. Don’t protest. You’re wearing it.”

She grinned as I opened the present. I pulled out a bright purple and pink tiered dress. Even without trying it on I knew it was short – shorter than anything I had ever worn – and part of the body and skirt were sheer. I knew my papá would hate it.

“Oh my gawd,” Jennie said. “That’s so hot. You’re going to look fabulous in that color, Cat. I couldn’t pull that off. It wouldn’t look right with my darker skin.” She beamed. Sometimes Jennie could be a bitch but she knew how self-conscious I was and could be really supportive when the mood struck. “Maybe even get a little attention from that guy.” She gestured downstairs by nodding her head to my door.

God, all they thought about was boys. And Braith was way too old for us. We’re 17 and he was probably in his mid-20s or something. They can drool but, come on, he was too old.

“Not interested,” I said and rolled my eyes. “You think it will look ok?” I asked Sadie.

“Definitely,” she grinned. “Just don’t tell your papá.”

We went downstairs, me wearing my gigantic ball gown, my friends wearing their garments of fabric sex. I could tell they were all looking forward to showing themselves off to Braith but he and Heike were gone, probably at the hall with my grandparents. Or maybe they weren’t coming at all, I didn’t really know. All that were left in the house were my parents and Gabriela. Gaby looked annoyed at having to wait for me, but smiled when she saw me. My parents were beautiful and stood glowing at the bottom of the stairs.  

My papá wore a tux and my mom wore a long, slinky gown. My mom was a beautiful woman and, I hate to tell you, I thought it might make Heike jealous and I was glad, even though I wasn’t positive he was even going to be there.

“You look beautiful,” Gaby told me. I kissed her head.

“So do you, Gaby.” And she did. Her dress wasn’t as big as mine, but it was still puffy. Hers was bright pink with purple, tulle flowers. “You look amazing in that color, Gaby,” I whispered and held her hand. She grinned. As long as she didn’t smother me, we got along pretty well and I did love her to pieces ... most of the time, at least.

When we got to the party there was a ton of people mingling around. The room was packed with distant relatives that I didn’t know very well, friends of my parents and grandparents that I had maybe seen once in my life, and business associates that I had never met – my parents and grandparents were in charge of the guest list and often used birthday parties as a “get together” for some of their best clients. My mom and abuela planned all the details to our parties and adults seemed to really love them, although I didn’t really understand why. They were stuffy and too formal for my tastes, but I suppose most adults didn’t really have a reason to get dressed up on a regular basis and they maybe enjoyed the formalities of our parties. I would just enjoy not having to dress up so many times per year - for my sister, brothers, parents, and grandparent’s birthdays as well as anniversaries.

My abuela grinned when she saw us at the doorway to the reception hall and waved. I just wanted to enter without being noticed, but that’s not how my mom and abuela worked. Abuela motioned to the band leader and he stopped the music.

“Sorry to stop the festivities, but our birthday girl is here!” The band leader announced. Everyone clapped and grinned and turned towards me. “Please give a warm welcome to the birthday girl, Catalina Chavez, and her father, Mercutio, as they dance the first dance of the evening.”

I sighed but managed to put on a smile. My papá led me onto the dance floor and, immediately, I spotted Heike in the back, smiling as I began to slow-dance with my papá. Heike was difficult to miss.

“Papá,” I whisper. “What’s the deal with Heike?”

He stood on his toes to kiss my cheek. I was taller than him even without my heels and, although I only wore kitten heels, I loomed above him. “He’s been trying to save you from his life, mi cielo. Don’t be too upset with him.”

I groaned. “What does that even mean?” I asked. “That means nothing to me.”

He laughed a little and shook his head. But, before he could answer, the song stopped and people began to applaud. I sighed. I would get no answers from my papá that night.

I changed dance partners another eleven times before dinner. God, I hated dancing with people I hardly knew. It was awkward, but everyone wanted to dance with the birthday girl. Warm, sweaty hands gripping my waist, moustached and scruffy faces pinching me, greasy fingers holding my hands. Ugh, it was awful. Finally, I saw the servers come out and the music began to fade. I said as many niceties and thank-you’s as I could and excused myself to my table. I was finished slow dancing with old men!

I looked around but didn’t see many of my friends from school – just Sadie and Allie and the other girls – but I knew more kids would show up later. This year I had finally got my parents and abuelos to agree to a separate party for my friends and I. After a few hours of appeasing the old folks with formal dancing and dinner, my abuela would excuse me to the room next door where a DJ and a dance floor were waiting. I was promised that no adults would bother us and Sadie thought it was going to be a huge, crazy party. My parents even agreed that the drunker kids could stay the night in our basement. That was pretty cool of them.

Even so, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I sounded like a spoiled brat, but all I wanted to do was get into my pajamas and watch a movie. I felt self-conscious and I was still a bit shaken from earlier.

For an hour I made polite conversations and ate delicate, Mexican foods on fine china. I was taught proper dinner etiquette and abuela watched. Abuela always made sure I ate like a young lady. Afterwards, I made a brief speech and thanked everyone for coming. When the desert and dancing hour came, my abuela beckoned me over.

“You can go, now,” she said. I bent down and kissed her. “You party the night away while the old people dance and chat.”

I hugged her and kissed her again. “Thank you, abuela.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay at this party?” She asked. I may not have been entirely looking forward to the other party, but it was probably better than my abuela’s version. I nodded and she smiled. “Oh, Catalina, Braith will go. To watch over, you know.” I was a little surprised as I hadn’t seen Braith all night and wondered if he was even there. I nodded anyway.

I could hear the music pumping even before I left the dining room. I looked around for my friends and couldn't see them, but suddenly Mercedes jumped out.

“AHHHCK!” I screamed, which put her into a fit of giggles. “What the shit, Sadie!”

“I’m so sorry, potty mouth” she laughed. She already sounded a little drunk. “Don’t beat me with those guns of steal. It’s time to change, daaaaaaling,” she laughed some more and pulled me into the bathroom. Allie was waiting for us and began to unzip my gown as soon as the door shut.

“What kind of underwear is that?” Allie asked. I looked down and shrugged. I always wore a little pair of shorts under my dresses. At least, underneath the glitz and tulle I felt more like me and less like a fraud. Allie shook her head and made a show of clicking her tongue at me for wearing the little shorts beneath the skirt.

The dress fit well, although it was short - I’m glad I wore the shorts in case my butt decided to make an appearance. Allie re-did my hair into a messy up-do and fixed my makeup into what she deemed an appropriate sultry look.

When I looked at myself in the mirror, I almost forgot everything that happened that day because I looked pretty awesome. Allie and Mercedes could do magic with make-up and hair spray, even while they were partially inebriated. They could probably even make a chimp look hot.

“Holy avocado,” I said. Mercedes laughed and she and Allie hooked their arms into mine.

“You look like a super model, Kit,” Sadie whispered. I blushed.

I could hear the deep bass of the party even before we left the rest room. When we got in to the party room, the floor was packed. I couldn’t believe so many people showed up! I knew most of the kids from school, but there were a lot of faces I didn't know. I shrugged - they could crash my party if they wanted, I didn't care – it was time to dance. The music was loud, people were dancing, the party was hot.

After awhile I noticed Roberto dancing with a group of his friends. I could tell he didn’t have a date and it felt good when his jaw dropped looking at me. That certainly made the short skirt well worth everything.

After almost two hours of dancing, I lost Sadie in the crowd and was getting overheated and thirsty, so I headed to the back drink table. The punch, I knew, was spiked - it smelled like a mixture of 98% alcohol and 2% punch. I didn’t care much for booze and wrinkled my nose at the scent. Thankfully, there were water bottles chilling in an ice bucket and I chugged one until I couldn’t breathe.

When I came up for air, someone grabbed my arm and I jumped. It was only Braith. “What the hell are you doing?” I asked. I hadn’t seen him all night.

“Don’t ask questions. Just come with me.” He grabbed my wrist. He wasn’t smiling and I could tell he was serious, so I followed him without a fight. We walked the perimeter of the room to the opposite corner and then I saw what he was running from. Vest Boy and Leather Boy stood at the entrance to the room and they had two other men accompanying them.

“Are we going to fight?” I asked Braith. I was ready to fight, but Braith looked at me like I was insane.

“No, god no. We can’t fight them, not here,” he said. He looked around the room. “I just don’t know,” he mumbled. “They shouldn’t be here. They’re not allowed to be here,” he said under his breath. He glanced at the door. “Think we can make it if we run?”