Spanglish | editing

Chapter Six

Weekends are teenagers time to either relax, party, or procrastinate; most of the time all three. I'm not a normal teenager though; I don't have time to relax, party, and I can't afford to procrastinate. My grades are the most important things to me, it being my only chance to make it somewhere in the world. Neither one of my parents went to college, but I have to. I can't end up like my mother and I don't want my future children, if I even have any, to be like me and depend on my grades to be okay in the future.

Currently, I'm staring at my history project, my brain fried to all hell. I have been doing homework all day. John has been telling me to chill because it's a Saturday and I need to relax. Ariel has been telling me the same thing, asking me to come over. Of course I turned her down. My mother took Adeline to my aunts house for the day because they are getting their hair done and going out to something. I got invited but I said no because I wanted to finish my homework. Sunday is the day I can sort of relax. I mean, after church of course.

I don't see people problem with letting me do my work. I mean if I want to do work, let me! It may be unhealthy, but I don't give a damn.

Putting my face in my hands, I take a deep breath. Just a little more work, just a little more. You'll be done and you can take a break.

"Nida! Tus amigos están aquí! Dijeron que te están obligando a divertirse! (Your friends are here! They said they are forcing you to have fun!)" John yells from the front room. With a growl, I get up and stomp out of my room. Everyone is so frustrating, so worried about me on why I never have fun. They're right though, I'm so focused on work that I never have fun. I'm okay with it though, I don't have time for fun. I'll have fun after college.

Ariel and Chris are in my doorway, smiling smugly at me.

"Yo no quiero salir! (I don't want to go out!)" I yell at Ariel who laughs.

"Too bad I don't care what you want." She says, grabbing my wrist and yanking me out of the door. I quickly yell at John that i'll be back later and we have leftover pupusas in the fridge.

I was forced into a silver Lexus, me sitting in the back and the chatty pair in front. Chris and Ariel have a thing for each other, no question. It's been obvious for over a week, since we've been to the movies. It's honestly really cute, the type of cute where you want something to happen. You can see them stealing looks at each other and every so often, he would compliment her and she would blush. I take it back, their romance is the gross kind of cute.

We park at a huge outlet mall, it packed with people. It took us forever to find a place to actually park without having to do so on the grass. Chris is so protective over his car, he almost cried when Ariel suggested we park in the grass so we wouldn't have to keep looking. After 10 minutes of driving around, Chris saw a guy leave and took that one. Crisis averted.

Apparently, everyone is supposed to be here and they planned this specifically to get me out of the house despite what I said about wanting to do homework.

"This'll be good for you, Nida. Fun doesn't hurt." Ariel advises as we walk to the food court. As annoyed as I am about them defying my wishes, I guess they're right about this. Maybe I do stress too much about my school work and not enough about myself. I need to learn to be selfish every so often.

When we arrive in the packed food court, it's not hard to spot Daniel and Adam. There are literally girls of all ages swarming them, flirting and talking their ears off. I laugh a little at Daniels facial expression. He looks disinterested and a little annoyed at all the girls talking to him.

The three of us walk up to their table and Daniel looks so relieved. He quickly stands up from the table and pulls me to his side, slinging his arm around my waist. My eyebrows knit and I look up at him.