15 Reasons To Live

Chapter Eleven

15 Reasons to Live © Copyright Brianna Howell 2013








"A horse?" I asked incredulously.
He laughed as he ran his hands along its mane.

"Yeah." He replied. "I haven't seen this guy in years. Want to go for a ride on him?" He asked looking over his shoulder at me.
My eyes widened. I wasn't exactly sure where we were, but it had enough traffic for me to know that riding a horse around there wasn't the brightest idea.

He stared at me blankly and then burst out laughing. He was joking.
I smacked his arm but it only made him laugh harder.
"You thought I was serious!" He exclaimed, laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes.
I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes at him. I'm not going to laugh.

His laughter died down after a little while and we took Toño back to his stall in the alleyway.
"Now, for the real reason I brought you here." He said grabbing my hand.
We walked through the doorway, and immediately I could tell that they lived simply.

He walked to the rickety staircase
"Isa!" He yelled. "Isabella! Venite para abajo, quiero que conoscas a alguien!"
He stepped back from the railing and his eyes adverted to mine anxiously.

Not a moment later a dark haired, willowy girl came down the steps.
"Que te pasa Rodrigo? Can't you see that I'm-" She started. Her eyes went wide when she saw me.

"Hey babe, I'm gonna have to call you back in a sec, ok? Love you too, bye!" She whispered into her cellphone with a sweet look on her face.
Her demeanor changed when she looked back at Rodrigo.

I wondered briefly who this girl was. An old friend, another cousin maybe? She couldn't have been much older than me, maybe twenty-two at most. Whoever she was, she was beautiful, if not a bit tough looking.

"Who was that?" He asked gruffly.
Her eyebrows shot up and she crossed her arms.
"A friend." She replied in a monotone voice. She had a sort of urban, grunge look going on, and so far it definitely seemed to suit her personality.

Rodrigo shook his head and walked closer to her. "No, no, no, don't lie to me. Vos lo llamaste 'babe'!" He exclaimed making air quotes.

She squinted her eyes. "Who is she?" The girl asked nodding her head towards me, completely changing the subject.
Rodrigo clenched his jaw, flexing his hands to calm himself.

"Isa, this is my friend Abigail." He said gesturing back to me.
His eyes met mine for a few seconds and I couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
"Abigail, this is Isabella my-"
She cut him off quickly. "Aunt" she said with a triumphant smirk.

I looked over at Rodrigo who seemed to be uncomfortable. "Your aunt?" I asked unbelieving.
He had a flat look on his face. "Normally I would say she's my cousin, but yes, she is technically my aunt."

Isabella hopped down the last few steps with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Do you wanna know how?" She asked linking arms with me.
We walked towards what I realized was the living room, as Rodrigo trudged behind us.

"Isabella, don't scar her too much alright? I have to go do something, I'll be back in a little bit."

I looked at Rodrigo's retreating form pleadingly but it was to no avail. There was no escaping this strange place, and the even stranger girl with her silly stories.

"And then my Uncle Ernesto said 'Rodrigo, get out of the-' " Isabella's story was cut short by the door slamming shut. Rodrigo strode into the room quickly. "And that's how it ended!" He said clapping his hands. "Let's go Abigail." He said quickly, grabbing ahold of my arm and leading me to the door.

"Perame Rodrigo, I was almost done with telling her about the time you slept on Tio Ernesto's chicken coop."
He groaned and pulled me along behind him. "I swear Isa, the next time you tell that story I'm telling Conchita what you were really doing on Christmas Eve last year."

Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare!" She whispered.
He pursed his lips in annoyance. "Do it again and you'll see."

We got back onto the bike and started the motor. "Bye Abigail!" Isabella called. I waved back at her.
"What about me?" Rodrigo yelled over the sound of the engine. "Adios Inutil!" She yelled back with a laugh.
Rodrigo cracked a grin and we rode away from the tiny apartment.

Then we pulled to a stop on the corner of a quiet looking park.
It's not something I would have expected coming from Rodrigo, but I'd seen stranger things in the past few days.
Mind you, I'd only met him the night before.

Rodrigo ran a hand over his face as we walked down a path towards the pond. "Sorry about that." He said with a bashful grin on his face.
"About Isabella?" I asked.
He shook himself like he'd gotten a chill. "All of it." He said. "It was a really bad idea, but you were a good sport."
I laughed. "Well I don't really know about the rest of your family, but I really like Isabella. She was nice for a change."

He grinned. "I don't know that nice, is the word I would use. But under all of her trouble she's a good kid."
I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"What trouble?" I asked.
He shrugged, walking with his hands in his pockets. "Her friends aren't good for her to be with. And I guess she has a boyfriend now, so-" he trailed off.

I stopped walking. "What is it?" I pressed.
He looked away like he was trying to avoid what he was about to say. "I'm going to hate myself for asking you this, but I have to."
I braced myself and nodded bravely.

"Could you take Isa with you?"

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Fin!

Chapter eleven is up! It's unedited though, so any spelling/grammatical errors should be taken out once I get the chance to revise.

I'm so sorry for not posting it sooner, but I've been very busy and stressed. And when I wasn't I was just procrastinating (c'est la vie!)

But anyways, hopefully this can make up for my month-long wattpad break.

Please let me know what you think of Isabella and the rest of the gang!

If you're feeling particularly generous you can click the vote button.
Or you can comment, either one makes me enormously happy :)

Thanks!

-Brianna