The Second Chance

Chapter 1

It was a cold winter afternoon in North Carolina. It was always like that for some reason even in the summer. I tried not to pay too much attention to it. Every day I had to get up and work, that was the grind and it didn't stop because the weather suddenly changed. Every kick of the ball led me somewhere and that was the joy of it. Soccer was my passion. My only focus at the time. My dream, my goal was to make it pro, to play for Real Madrid and I had my mindset on it. After my training session was finished I went inside to take a shower. I was practically panting like my dogs but it was a typical day for me. I took the dirt from my cleats and went inside. As I opened the door I heard chatter from the living room. "What happened?" I asked. My Mom and my sister were talking about a trip. My older sister suggested we should go to this cathedral in Raleigh that looked amazing from the inside. "You? Want to go to church?!" I said to her in astonishment. She replied, "Yeah. It looks really beautiful." Of course, that's why she wanted to go. Just because it's beautiful. I knew she wouldn't want to go voluntarily to hear the word of God. I didn't blame her though. Neither did I, especially after the dreading Sunday School I went through. I ignored everything else they said afterward and went to go take a shower. Saturday rolled around and my Mom was telling my Dad about my sister's plan. He agreed, not bursting with happiness but not with gloom either. Looking at my Dad's expression, I wasn't too fascinated by the idea either. We haven't been to church in a long time, especially with this pandemic around, but I wasn't exactly jumping from excitement to go back. Church classes were enough pain and I would not want to have my Mom yell at us for being late again or the priest expressing every word like we didn't hear him the first time. But I thought about the architecture I would see, the inspiration I could get, what I could learn, and how I wanted to get closer to God and I willingly gave myself into the plan. Besides, my Grandma came to visit us from Mexico for a while, and not being able to go see exactly "anything" in a new country can be pretty boring. I would know. So that settled it, we were going first thing Sunday morning.

"Bryan wake up. We're almost leaving!" Screamed my Mom at my bedroom door. I got up and checked the time on my phone. Sunday, February 21, 8:21 a.m. it read in bold white letters. She always did this. She would wake up everyone two hours early before we had to go like at school when she would scream "It's already 7:30! Wake up!" and it would only be 6:00 in the morning. "I'm going!" I screamed, but it didn't matter, I'd have plenty of time and it wasn't as if I was looking forward to this. I had homework I had to do at home so this was just a time killer for me. I got up from bed picked a red and black sweater, a pair of jeans, my Adidas shoes, and quickly changed into my clothes. I noticed Mom was still in her PJ's but she pressured everyone else to hurry up and get ready. HA. I laughed to myself. Typical. I ignored her and got ready to leave. I was about the second to first to get on the couch waiting for everyone else. My little sister Andrea was already there laughing her ass off for no reason like she did every day. Her laugh sometimes sounded like a witch after she told her evil plot to the princess. My Dad soon came after and just stared into Facebook. He would get mad at us for being on our phones a lot even though that's exactly what he did when he came. We never bothered saying anything though, we didn't want to get in trouble. The girls, of course, took forever. "Women am I right." I would jokingly tell Andrea. She'd just laugh and go back to watching 30-second clips of cartoons on YouTube. "I need to use the bathroom!" Michelle would yell. Mom would respond with something like, "I'm brushing my teeth!". After what seemed like hours, we were all finally ready to leave. I checked my pockets to see if I had everything. My phone. Check. My wallet. Check. My Airpods. Check. I was ready. I looked outside. Although it was cold, the setting was beautiful. It was going to be a special day. We left the house and I never came back the same.

It was a long road trip. It reminded me of the ones I would take in Mexico. Hours would feel like days sitting in the back of the bus waiting to get to the city. I took my book and connected my AirPods so I could zone out everybody. I hated having to listen to conversations or anyone else talk like if it was a mandatory part of a test. I quickly put Icon on repeat and started reading. There was no reason not to. I liked reading and I wanted to write my book someday and not only that but my uncle would also give me $20 for every summary I turned in. "It helps work the brain" Mom would say. Now and then I would doze off into the window or hear somewhat of the conversation my parents were having in the car. It was like peeking through someone else's world. My Mom was taking videos for my Grandma since she wanted her to have some memories of being here. I thought it was nice, just as long as I wasn't holding the phone. I never wanted to for some reason. I went back to reading. As I was reading I came across a paragraph I read about 10 times. It said, "Love is always patient and kind. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and endure whatever comes. Wow. I wish I felt what that was like. I was only sixteen but the heart that always loves is young right? It took around an hour and a half until we got there. I looked out the car window. "Damn. Sure are a lot of people." I hear Katrina say. Yeah, there was. They look like they were in their 20s. All university kids I'm guessing. I get off the car and leave my AirPod case in the car. I thought we'd just look around like a museum or a tour. It was chilling outside and the main entrance doors were shut so we just stood near the walls to cover ourselves from the wind. I saw on a smartboard that there was a mass in a few minutes AND in Spanish. Crap. I thought we would just walk around and admire the building and I could tell Katrina had the same idea. I didn't want to sit through hours of exaggerated talking I already had enough of that at home. But we were here now so I had no choice. We looked around like a confused dog wondering where the owner went. The main entrance doors finally opened and people spilled out. Woah. Didn't know that many people were so eager to get up at 11 a.m. for mass. We made our way inside and that's when I saw it. Looking at it reminded me of when I asked my Dad for a toy as a kid and my birthday rolled around and I got a gift from him only to be a clock. Excited then disappointed. It barely looked like the picture Michelle showed us. Sure it was huge but the structure wasn't as fascinating and the color wasn't either. I could tell Juan, Michelle's boyfriend, wasn't surprised either but they almost had a fight about coming here yesterday so I guess he didn't want to end on bad terms and kept his mouth shut. if you paid close attention, you could easily notice the faults. Juan and I both did. He was an aspiring architect and so was I (even though I was still in high school) so we both know what we were talking about. We made our way to the front and we sat in one of the first rows and waited for the priest to show up. I looked around expecting to find at least something interesting. Nothing. I got bored of waiting so I just opened a game on my phone and started playing it to kill time. Then the music started playing. It wasn't the typical Hallelujah song it was like a whole orchestra from the 1800s it was more like what you would put to welcome someone inside if they had music like that. A man holding the Cross walked up to the podium and a man in a purple suit, which I assumed was the priest, followed shortly after. Mass initiates and we sit down ad hear the 40-minute long speech he has prepared. About 10 minutes in I look behind me and around. Still curious about what I might find and look for something cool or interesting. "Look at that," said Katrina. I turned around and above the main entrance doors were the organs and the piano playing with musicians up there playing music. It was huge. I liked it. I turned around and the music changed. It was like a symphony, a soft warm-hearted song that filled the room. My head was moving to the beat and then, in the corner of my eye, I saw something amazing. Something fascinating. Someone beautiful.

I was at a loss for words. She was gorgeous. Her skin was as white as snow. Her hair was like a dark flowing waterfall. Her eyes. I couldn't even make out the color but I got so lost in them that I almost forgot where I was. Her beauty was unmatched and it's unbelievable compared to anyone I've met. If there was a Miss Universe competition for teenagers she would have won it by a landslide. She caught me eyeing her. She stared at me for a moment and I could tell she was blushing. The face mask covered her face but her eyes squinted at the sight of me and I blushed a lot under my mask so I could tell by the look on her eyes she was too. I blushed too. She was beautiful on the outside and I bet she was also on the inside. I turned back to the priest and when it's time to kneel I pray. I pray many times in the least possible amount of time you could think of, wishing, hoping that she would say yes or that I'd get the balls to ask her out sometime. I look around me. Everyone's paying attention but us. Like if we were in our own little world. Time zooms past us and before we know its mass is over. Everyone is headed out and so are we. I take one last look at her and I guess she had the same idea so she does too. We stare at each other for a good 5 seconds before our parents tell us to get moving. I see a couple of girls my age on the way out but I don't pay attention to them because none of them are like her. We go through the main entrance doors and we wait. Mom went to go use the bathroom so we stand at the entrance as if we were homeless people looking for spare change. I couldn't stop thinking about her and what I would do when she came through those doors. She sat in the row to the right of the priest so it was pretty far to get to the entrance. I start counting in my head. "When will she get here?". I turn around towards the entrance door anticipating her arrival. Seconds later the doors open and she comes through. She was like an angel coming through Heaven's gate. I quickly open my phone and text my friends on the group chat. "What do I do? What do I say? I want this to be perfect," I tell them. I prayed that at least one of them would answer and within seconds, my good friend Nick answered and I'll never forget what he said. He told me, "Count to three. Imagine that at the end of those three seconds, you die. Unless you do the thing. That is how I force myself to take action". I took that to heart and I took his advice and counted. "One". I took a step forward. "Two". I took two more steps forward. "Three". Without realizing it, I was there, in front of her. All I needed were the perfect words. But how would I say it? I haven't thought about what I said because I was too paranoid about all the possibilities, all the outcomes in which I failed. I said to myself, "You are here now. Do what you must and just let it flow. Speak from the heart." And so I did. I tap her on the shoulder and she turns around. Nervously I say, "Hey, I didn't know you this morning and I know this might come off as crazy but I never wanted anything more than to be with you. I want the chance to get to know you. To take you out. Will you give me a chance." She looks into my eyes and sheds a tear. She opens her arms and hugs me. It felt like that scene in Superman where he carries Lois in his arms into the sky. Only much more real and much more heartwarming. I loved every second of it. Her arms around me. Her head laying on my chest. It was perfect. They say we all have a movie moment and this was mine. She looked up at me and smiled. She whispered into my ear and said, "I wasn't expecting you to ask me out. But I'm glad you did." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sticky note. She turned around and asked her mom for a pencil. Her mom handed it to her and she started writing. She looked up at me and handed me the sticky note. "I have to go, but here's my number", she said. "Text me". She turned around and started walking towards the exit. As she leaves she waves me goodbye and disappears through the door. I go back to where my parents are at. They all stare at me as if I had just solved world hunger. "Huh. I never thought you'd get the balls to do it." said Katrina. I laugh a little. "What's on the note?" asked my Mom. I look down at the note she gave me.