Dalma was doing some more finishing touches and exhaled deeply before getting out of the car. She and Joely had done everything possible to ruin her car. Joely sent her a message and she was ready to see Iz.
The car was around the corner of the workshop and Dalma walked up there trying to act well her irritation that her car broke down and she found no help. The door was wide open but the space inside was too big to see who was in it. A man with a mustache existed from a small office with an inside window.
"How can I help?" This one asked.
Dalma smiled at the kindness the man showed.
"My car is broken. It's around the corner and..."
"No problem." The kind man interrupted her. "We'll fix it fast."
He was ready to get out but Dalma stopped him.
"I'm... I go to the same school as Iz." She said stuttering an easy sentence to a man who was probably his father.
"He's not here." He announced and Dalma felt her jaw drops.
"I'm going to' kill Joely." She mumbled slowly.
"What?" The man asked.
"Nothing."
"Shall we?"
"Yes."
While the man talked about carburetors and other things related to cars, Dalma was looking on social profiles with the name Iz Wallstein. No success.
"How is Iz?" She then heard a question that was interesting to her.
The man didn't look up and his face was oil dirtied.
What to tell him? She reflected. She barely knew him. Iz was still a stranger to her and it was hard to tell his father that he was tough and hardly liked.
"Iz is ambitious." She told him. "And always has a good response to give."
"Has some good grades but he was always difficult to bond with." The man confessed. "But he's a good boy."
Dalma said nothing more and let him finish. Any parent knows his child well, she thought.
After half an hour, Iz's father even managed to make that old battery work again and Dalma paid him more than she was asked, though the man refused as much as he could.
"Do you want to me tell something to... Iz?" The man asked.
Dalma weighed her options.
"No." She selected. "I'll see him in school."
"I don't think you're from around but you're welcomed here anytime." He was nice to invite her.
"I'll return." She promised. "If I'll ever need help with the car, I know where to come." She added.
"And next time, let me make you a discount at least. You know my son, and at least this I can do for him. You're very beautiful and I want you to return, make this place look better." He winked and then departed, letting her feel embarrassed that he tried to fix her with his son.
The car worked well and she wasn't going to mess with that battery. Her, Joely, or anyone else. Now, even the purring engine easily reminded her of Iz and the time his father pictured her with his son.
Iz was everywhere. If until now she barely noticed him, now she saw him even in those who were trying to imitate him or simply resembled him. She knew when he wasn't on the field, she knew when he went to the locker rooms. She felt his absence but also his presence like a unfilled whole in the stomach. She could barely resist eating in the cafeteria and just felt it hard to finish the classess and go home. Her plan had failed and it hit her hard.
