MI MILAGRO, JJ maybank

Chapter 16 - Young and Beautiful

"What do you mean by 'I don't want to go to Midsummers'?"

María decided to stay at Sarah's house that night. She didn't want to be alone, with the image of the cops taking JJ away stuck in her head.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him being escorted with handcuffs on his wrists.
She could still hear his words,
"María, leave now."

When she arrived at her friend's house, Sarah came in all soaked from the rain, with a silly grin that wouldn't go away. María asked her why she was so happy, but Sarah kept dodging the questions.

Now, all of a sudden, she didn't want to go to the most important event for her, Midsummers.
"Well, that's it—I just don't want to go anymore," she said, shrugging.

María looked at her as if she were crazy.
"But you were the one who convinced me to go, you were really excited about it," she stared at her friend intensely, "Does it have something to do with what happened yesterday that you don't want to tell me?"

Sarah burst out laughing, in a way that was quite revealing. You gotta know one thing, when Sarah lies, she turns really red and her voice goes all high-pitched.
It's a shame, considering that being able to lie well is a crucial skill for teenagers.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah waved her hand as if what Maria had just said was absurd.

"Tía, you're terrible at lying."

"I'm not! I didn't do anything yesterday!" Sarah suddenly got very defensive.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "It's funny, John B didn't come with us yesterday," she remarked.

Sarah blushed intensely. "He wasn't with me!" she said in that high-pitched voice.

Maria smiled triumphantly. If there's one thing her father had taught her about the trade, it's how to pry information out of people they didn't intend to share.

"Who said anything about him being with you?"

Sarah went silent, staring at Maria, who was cracking up, eyes wide open.

"Oh, you're wicked," she said, handing her the phone so she could see the pictures she had taken the day before on her little "adventure."

Maria scrolled through the photos with a grin on her face. She could tell that John B had also had a good time by the way he was smiling in them.

"Look at him, John B, smiling with a girl," she said, handing back the phone. "That's not something you see every day."

"Really?" said Sara, not taking her eyes off the phone.

Suddenly, Wheezie popped up, all dressed up for the event.

"You're not dressed?" she asked, stating the obvious

Sarah simply shrugged
"No, I'm not going"

Wheezie snickered. Even she thought it was ridiculous for his sister to moss that event
"I mean, it's Midsummers. You've been talking about Midsummers since last year. You have a date, remember?"

"Yes, I remember" Sarah huffed.

Suddenly, Rose and Catherine entered, all decked out for the event.

As expected, they both had on some hideous accessories: Rose was wearing a spiky crown, and Catherine had a choker that covered her whole chest.

They were really going all out.

"Why aren't you two dressed?" Rose asked.

"'Cause I ain't goin'," Sarah retorted.