Perfectly Wrong

39. Offensive

Camila spends most of Saturday helping her mother with the girl’s costumes for Halloween while Shawn and Aaliyah end up leaving town after all. She lets her mother know about Shawn’s schedule and how they’ll be helping him out. She might be pissed at him, but she doesn’t want Sofia and Aaliyah to suffer because of that. When Shawn gets home on Sunday night, Camila does her best to act with indifference because she convinced herself she doesn’t care.

 “ Sofia, call Aaliyah and tell her she can come over and put her costume on.” Camila says as she drags her sister out of bed. “ Shawn has to leave early anyway, so she can get ready over here.”

 It’s finally Halloween, day of the cancerous lungs. Sofia runs to the kitchen and grabs the phone to call Aaliyah while Camila takes a shower. She helps the girls get ready and wakes up her mother right after so she can see the result. Camila makes Sinu close her eyes and walks her into the living room, positioning her in front of the two nine-year-old girls.

 “ Wait!” Aaliyah says. “ What about Shawn? He needs to see us too.”

 Camila quickly puts her boots on before opening the front door to go outside. She finds Shawn in his car, pulling out of his driveway already, so she runs and throws her arms up in the air so he can stop. She can see by the look on his face that he’s hoping she might be forgiving him.

 “ You’re still an asshole, but your sister  wants you to see her costume.” Camila tells him. “ Come in for a second.”

 Shawn follows her inside and Camila makes him close his eyes too, positioning him next to her mother and telling them both to open their eyes.

 Sofia is the right lung. Aaliyah is the left one. The stuffed material is shaped so their arms and head fit through small openings and the bottom is open to their waist and legs. The material had been dyed so it would reflect dead spots here and there. There are larger lumps protruding from the lungs in various places: the tumors. There is a long pause before anyone reacts.

 “ It’s disgusting.” Shawn says.

 “ Repulsive.” Sinu adds.

 “ Hideous." Camila says.

 The girls high five and after taking several pictures, Camila drives a pair of lungs to school.

••••

 Camila is not even halfway through second period when her phone starts vibrating. She picks her phone from her back pocket and sees Shawn’s name on the screen. Shawn never calls her. She doesn’t know what to do at first, so she ends up letting her anger speak louder and ignores the call. She places her phone back in her pocket, but in a few seconds he’s already calling again. On his third attempt, she gives in and takes the call.

 “ Shawn?” She whispers.

 “ Camila, it’s me.” He says from the other side of the line. “ Look, you have to go to the elementary school. There’s been an incident and I can’t get through to your mom. I’m two hours away, I can’t go.”

 “ What? With who?” Camila whispers.

 “ Both of them, I guess. They’re not hurt, they just need someone to pick them up. Go and call me back.”

 Camila ends the call and quietly excuses herself from the classroom, followed by Maisie.

 “ What is it?” Maisie asks as they walk into the hallway.

 “ I don’t know. Something with Sofia and Aaliyah.” Camila tells her.

 “ I’m going with you.”

 The two of them make their way to the parking lot and Camila drives them to the elementary school. They enter the office and find both Sofia and Aaliyah sitting in the lobby.

 “ Are you two okay? What happened?” Camila asks, running to the girls and hugging them.

 “ We don’t know.” Sofia says. “ They just told us we had to sit here until our parents came.”

 “ Ms. Cabello?” Someone says from behind them.

 Camila turns around and sees a red haired woman looking at her. She has a black pencil shirt and white dress shirt, looking more like a librarian than a principal. She gestures for both Camila and Maisie to follow her. They walk into her office and sit down before she starts speaking.

 “ I’m Ms. Lee. I’m the principal here at Chapman Elementary.” The woman speaks like she’s somehow superior to them and Camila has to hold herself not to roll her eyes. “ Are Aaliyah’s parents joining us?”

 “ Aaliyah’s parents are dead.” Camila says.

 “ Oh, that’s right. I’m sorry.” She says. “ Is it her brother? She lives with her brother right?”

 “ He’s working. He can’t make it.” Camila says, nodding her head. “ I’m Sofia’s sister. What’s the problem?”

 “ Well, isn’t it obvious?” The woman laughs, gesturing at the girls out her office window.

 Camila looks at the two girls, who are playing rock-paper-scissors and laughing. She knows the principal is talking about their costumes, but Camila continues to act oblivious.

 “ Is rock-paper-scissors against school policy?” Camila asks, making Maisie laugh.

 “ Ms. Cabello.” The principal says in disbelief. “ They’re dressed as cancerous lungs.”

 “ I thought they were rotten kidney beans.” Maisie says and they both laugh.

 “ I don’t think this is funny.” The principal says. “ They're causing a distraction amongst the students! Those are very offensive costumes! I don’t know who thought it was a good idea, but you need to take them home and change their clothes.”

 “ Ms. Lee.” Camila says calmly. “ Those costumes were made by my mother. My mother, who has stage four small-cell lung cancer. My mother, who will never watch her little girl celebrate another Halloween again. My mother, who when asked by her nine-year-old-daughter if she could be cancer for Halloween, had no choice but to make the best cancerous lung costume she could. So if you think it’s offensive, I suggest you drive them home yourself and tell my mother to her face. Do you need my address?”

 The principal has her mouth open as she looks at Camila, not knowing how to respond to that. Camila stands up and Maisie follows her to the door.

 “ And one more thing. The costume contest? I hope it’s fairly judged.” She says before walking out.

 “ What’s going on?” Sofia asks as Camila closes the door behind her and Maisie laughs.

 “ Nothing.” Camila tells her sister. “ You two can go back to class. She just wanted to know where we got the materials for your costume so she can be a hemorrhoid next year.”

 Maisie is clearly trying to contain her laughter as the girls make their way back to class. When they’re finally back in Camila’s Jeep, they laugh so hard, they cry. Camila has six missed calls from her mother and two from Shawn. She assures them everything is okay and that she handled the situation, without giving too many details. Later when she picks the girls up, they run excitedly to her car.

 “ We won!” Aaliyah yells as they climb into the backseat. “ We both won! Fifty dollars each!”