The Lonely People

Sol

The basketball court was the weirdest spot to find comfort considering I didn't play basketball, but the atmosphere was so wonderful. For some reason, everyone in this town found comfort here too. You had the snack bar near the parking lot, the soccer fields next to the three courts where you heard parents cheering on their kid to score a goal, people playing basketball, and Ms. Bravo was here in her green mini van selling tamales, elotes, and takis.

It was peaceful these days.

Although the basketball court ground was pretty hot, I liked sitting and letting the sun hit my face. I preferred it over wet grass. Plus, watching everyone chat on the court was fun. I didn't want to hear my mom coach my little brother's soccer team.

As much as I love the lady, I just found it incredibly annoying. She was a completely different person, she turned into the embodiment of a soccer mom when it was only rec soccer, after all. I keep telling her to put him in Club Soccer, but nope. She wants to be the coach and spend little money when he's already better than most players here. He could get better, but my mom is too afraid of change.

That's what I'm trying not to be. I think change is a wonderful thing. In fact, I change my room every single week into a new style. I change my fashion style, my hair, I love it. I love being able to be a different person. Maybe that's why I seek refuge on the internet at times. I can be whoever I want and change who I am without the outside world questioning about it.

But maybe my mom is like me when it comes to the spot I sit at. I can't bring myself to move from it at this time. It's just the perfect spot for Jonah to invite me to parties, the perfect spot to watch Antonio Gonzalez to mess up his "perfect shot" and get me to laugh.

Ok, maybe I understand my mom a little, but the difference is, she's being selfish, I'm not.

But anyways, just sitting here wasn't the most fun. It was when Jonah invited me to his weekly parties to get wasted and see the most amazing girl.

Channon Lewinski.

I shouldn't have fallen this hard, but I did, go me! But she's everything I've ever wanted in a woman. Smart, ambitious, likes Mexican food – last relationship didn't even try Mexican in his life, first red flag. Anyways, she is the embodiment of perfection. The first time we talked was incredible. You would think she's this dumb, tall blonde, but I was proven wrong.

She was actually Hispanic to my surprise, she even knew more Spanish than me. Besides her name, she had the culture.

We talked for so long.

She wants to go to Cal State for computer science and become an IT just like me. She even said we could roommate if we go together. We are perfect for each other-

"Ay shorty, vienes a la guateque" – Are you coming to the party? Jonah yelled out from the bench on the other side of the court.

"Ah, yes, si!" I yell back, trying to keep my composure.

"También, cierra la boca, we can see you drool!" His friends get a laugh out of that. I give them a wave goodbye. Now, the parties are the real fun and everyone in school, even the "geeks" and "nerds" come to get high and shit. That's what I love about this town, we're very inclusive.

"Sabes que te amamos, shorty," – You know we love you, short. He says, winking at me. My mom is convinced he has a crush on me, including my track friends. But we've been good friends ever since we played rec soccer when we were kids. I used to play on the boys teams and co-teams because, well, I just did.

But his friends like to tell me he's a pussy because he hasn't asked me out, already. I really don't want that to happen because I already have eyes on someone else. It would make things awkward, so, I hope he continues to be a pussy if he really does like me.

But he doesn't.

Having him as a friend is great. He's super nice and invites me to his parties. And speaking of parties, I have been waiting for him to invite me because tonight is the night I'm asking Channon for her phone number.

"You're going to ask Channon for her phone number?" The voice makes me jump. I put my hand on my heart and looked up at the voice that almost killed me. "Yeah, you started talking out loud..." It was my school friend, Elu. We always worked on computer science and creative writing projects together. She has long black hair, and always wore vintage dresses.

Today, she had a long, dark blue dress with her hair tied back, and she had an orange jabot around her neck. She had mascara and blush, she was all natural.

Though, her party outfits went hard. She loves to wear tight, colorful dresses with tons of bright, mixed up makeup. I look up to her way too much. I would normally wear the same thing I wore that day, but she's inspired me to dress up a bit more, lately.

She moved here, not too long ago, from Arizona back in February because of her dad's job offer.

She used to live on the Apache reservation, but apparently her parents wanted to move out, so her dad eventually went to school for computer science, and now she's here. She's one of my best friends, and only friend, actually – unless you count online friends, which most people don't, but I do. She was super nice, but she had a tendency to be blunt, which can get her into some trouble.

But, really, she just calls out people for their bullshit and isn't afraid of anyone, and I think that's inspiring. So basically, be real with her and things are good.

Normally she doesn't come to the court when I invite her to hang out, but I guess she had a change of heart?

"I didn't think you'd come!" I say. I'm real excited, and curious. "You know, because you always say you have things to do at home and-"

"Well, my dad told me I had to get off my phone and get out of the house, so I drove here. You wanna' go somewhere?" I haven't gone somewhere on that day since last year, before the incident happened.

We don't talk about the incident.

Not yet, at least.

I look at my phone to see the time. It's 3:25, almost time to leave. I look back up at her and pat the ground next to me.

"Yeah...sit down. So we can discuss the plan," I smile.