𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐄

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏

carmen

My whole life, I've been sheltered. I never had that much freedom and only really had one friend growing up. My parents treated me like I was an extremely fragile glass sculpture, that one wrong move and I would shatter into a million tiny pieces. I couldn't blame them however; my father was a highly regarded crime lawyer in Mexico, with many people after him-hence why my Mexican father and Venezuelan mother decided to raise me and my brother in America.

Although my brother, Maikel, never suffered the same fate as me. He was always allowed to go out with his friends, could come back at whatever time he wished and wasn't treated as if he was a ticking time bomb. When I used to ask my mother as a child, the response would always be 'boys are boys mija, your brother could handle himself if anything happened to him.'. I guess I should be grateful, that my mama and papa always made sure I was okay and treated me with this much love and affection, however I couldn't help but feel an extreme amount of envy towards Maikel and the free rein my parents had given him.

I felt alone, like no one understood me. I knew there were people in the world going through so much worse than what I was going through, so from a young age I pushed away all these feelings and instead the few good things I had. I had my family, more specifically my brother Maikel. He's the best brother I could ever ask for and even snuck me out of the house and took me out for day trips to some places. Kai always tried to empathize with my situation, even though I knew he never did, but it was the effort that counted. Kai always involved me in things he would do and sometimes would defend me when I got into an argument with my parents.

The other good thing I had in my life was my best friend since birth, Nila. I met her at kindergarten and later discovered that we were neighbors. We've been inseparable ever since. Me and Nila went to the same elementary, middle and high school- staying a duo through all of them. Nila was much more sociable than me, getting along with everyone at our all girls school but also loved getting into drama. I despised conflict, whereas she thrived in it. I would ask her why she loved drama, to which she would say 'i love being a bitch.' She was never a bitch to me though, and my parents trusted me with her, so the odd occasion I was allowed out, it was always with her.
Not that I was complaining though, I love Nila and got along with her and her family. She was half Indonesian and half Trini, so during the holidays she was always between those two countries.

My family loved Nila and her family so we would always hang out together, but for some reason, Maikel never really got along with her, and the two would always bicker about silly things and tease each other. Nila regarded Kai as 'an annoying piece of shit', whilst Kai called her 'a pain in his ass'. I learned to ignore it over the years, after coming to accept the fact that they will never get along.

That brings me to here, freshman year of college at Cleveland College. My brother's college. It is an extremely competitive and prestigious college and very hard to get into, but luckily I was a bit more on the brighter side so it wasn't that hard to get into for me. Nila got in on a volleyball scholarship, which was not surprising considering that girl is insane at the sport.

It took a lot to convince my parents to send me here, and even now they're still slightly hesitant on the fact that they won't be able to see me everyday and 'Protégeme del peligro' (protect me from danger) as they liked to say. But the thought that I was here with Nila and Maikel put them at ease a bit. A little.

I'm suddenly snapped back from my thoughts when I begin to feel my arms aching from the two boxes of packed clothes and objects in my arms. Not to mention the unbearable heat and trickles of sweat running down my back. It was an extremely hot day and even with my white tank top and blue denim shorts, I still felt like I was in an oven.