Spanglish | editing

Chapter Three

edited

John gets in my car with a huge smile on his face. Someone sure had a good first day of high school. When I was his age, my first day of high school definitely wasn't great. I had work that afternoon, and it was the first time I had to leave John and Adeline home alone; I was scared out of my mind. I was very protective that night, planning everything out in my head to keep them safe. I was overreacting of course, I was only working for 4 hours and they went to bed shortly after I left, but still. I'm glad he got a good first day.

"¿De qué tienes tan feliz? (What are you so happy about?)" I question as I pull out of the parking lot and get on the road. John just smiles harder and runs a hand through his hair.

"Someone got a girl's number today by wooing them with their Spanish." John brags before getting his phone out of his pocket and responding to a text.

"Is this certain girl texting this certain someone right now?" Out of my peripheral vision, I see him shake his head and he tells me that it's another friend of his named Cameron. He also tells me that he has soccer tryouts tonight and that he needs me to drive him there, which I agree to, of course. Soccer makes him very happy and I would be the worst person ever to take that from him.

We arrive at home some time later, and it's just John and I. Mama is still at work and Adeline is still in school, leaving us alone. I go straight to my room and get on Netflix.

About an hour later I hear banging on door, which makes me jump.

"Nida, ¡vamos por favor!" John yells from the other side. Oh right, soccer tryouts. I grab my keys and walk outside with him.

•••

"¿Hiciste el equipo? (Did you make the team?)" I say into the phone. John just called me to notify me that tryouts were over. He's breathing heavily on the other side.

"¡Si!" Johnny says, excitement laced in his voice. I squeal and cheer. It's not like I didn't expect him to make the team, he's a great player, but I'm so happy that he's back doing something he loves.

"That's great!." I say. "Anytime you're ready you can come out here." He clears his throat.

"Do you think you can come over here for a sec? I have some people I want you to meet." He says wearily. This is strange; he never wants me to meet his friends. He literally does everything possible for me not to meet them, so for him to ask me to meet someone is insane.

"Fine..." I answer wearily. He hangs up the phone and I get out of my car and start to walk towards my brother. I pass many things, such as cheerleaders and football players in practice. I don't think anything of it and my eyes lock on a group of soccer players sitting on the benches.

John is sitting in the middle of a group of three guys, all Hispanic. They look his age relatively. I smile at my brother and stop in front of him. John looks up and smiles.

"Nida this is Cameron, Alex, and Paul. Guys this is my sister, Nida." I shake all of their hands and listen to them continue their conversation about soccer and who can make a cleaner penalty shot. I zone out of their conversation and start thinking. Why in the world did I make that stupid bet with Daniel? I'm better than to stoop to his level. He made it to AP history, that means he's smart Most likely, Daniel will learn a few sentences and that'll force me to talk to him because I'm a woman of my word.

Smart ass.

I feel something sharp hit the back of my legs and my head immediately snaps around. That'll be two times today that I got hurt. Rather than it being a someone that hit me, it's a something. A football to be specific. Bending over, I pick up the pigskin and toss it a few times in my hands.