A Diamond In The Rust

A New Recuit

Lovino Vargas hated his job more then anything. He didn't have to work if he didn't want to, but his father decided it was time he became a man and made his own living. The Vargas family was a huge family with enough money to back them up on anything. They were living large in wealth but made Lovino and his younger Feliciano go to a common school so they wouldn't let all the money go to their head. The job Lovino landed was one at an orphanage. His fathers buddy from the mafia, Santino, owned it and said he could use some employment help and Lovinos mother volunteered him for hiring without his consult. The orphanage wasn't bad at all. It was very clean and good looking. Marble floors, dining halls, servants to do all the cleaning. It was the kids he had a problem with. The little parentless kids who walked around like their lives were over. Pale, tear stained faces sulking around barely ever smiling. The kids bored him and couldn't see why the kids were so down at such a nice place, but then again, Lovino had family and everything he wanted at his command, so he couldn't relate to the kids at all. When they first moved to America, his parents found an academy that held kids from all over the world from kindergarten to twelfth grade and enrolled them as soon as they were able to start school. The only requirement for the school, speak English. He was now in eleventh grade and all the kids in his grade knew each other and grew up together since they were stuck in the same school since kindergarten. They were like, one ginormous messed up family. Lovino was waiting for the end of the day so he could finally leave and go home to his mothers cooking. He was currently in the office running some errands for his teacher. He turned a corner into a narrow hallway that led to the principals room. "Let's see the bastards who got in trouble today", that particular hallway in the office had chairs lined up along one of its sides. Chairs for the students who got sent out their classrooms or needed to talk to the principal. He looked and saw that all the chairs were filled up by none other then the schools usual trouble makers.

The Hispanic kids were always finding ways to misbehave since they all first started school. He had no intentions in getting involved with them. They were bad kids and he didn't need to get caught up in that. He wasn't all golden star pupil either, but these kids were just bad news for him. He observed them while he filed some documents. First one closest to him was a girl from Venezuela. She was the most innocent one with the best grades and manners. She respected her teachers and was kind to people, she just gets dragged along. Lovino felt bad for her, but they were all great friends so he knew it wasn't that big of a deal. Next to her was a big tall guy from Brazil. He was the star athlete on the guys soccer team. He was also tough and an easy intimidator. Sitting next to him was a light skinned girl from Columbia applying makeup. She was always stylish, but had one of the biggest attitudes in the school, she was also a major drama queen. If she caught you looking through her makeup or any of her stuff, she would beat you to a pulp. On her other side was a young Dominican girl. She always had a mad expression on her face as if everything bothered her. Sitting next to her was the guy with the biggest swag on campus. A guy from Puerto Rico. He was smooth with the ladies, even smoother then Lovino, and always looked fresh and ready to take on anyone at any given moment. Beside him, was a big guy from Cuba, Alejandro. He was extremely dark skinned and had dreads that he pulled back in a ponytail. He was in love with ice cream and seemed to have an imaginary friend. His friend seemed so real to people it confused them, until they remembered his friend was real and was a student from Canada named Mathew. Next to the Cuban was the smallest but toughest of them all. A bad to the bone Mexican named Esmeralda Alvarez. She didn't care what any one thought of her and many feared her. She wasn't the person you'd want to mess with because she was known for beating people up with out thinking twice. She was also known for sneaking to the back of the school to smoke illegal drugs, not to mention she's been arrested a few times. Lovino always kept his distance from her, but they occasionally made small conversation. Esmeralda was never mean to you if you didn't give her a reason to, and Lovino wanted to keep it that way. She was also the prettiest. One of the prettiest girls in the school, one of the only ones with natural beauty. She could forget to wear makeup and not have to worry about it because she was still beautiful. He remembered how she used to charm the boys into giving her their snack when they were little kids. She was the only girl in the school who could come to school in sweatpants and still make a guy make a double take. Some days, she would primp herself up, but other days, she would just come in wearing baggy sweatpants, a fitted t-shirt,a flat hat and a pair of shiny black Nike high-tops. She called it her 'casual clothes', but Lovino only thought it made her look tougher. He guessed today was a casual day for her because she wore just that. He knew her parents died when she was a small child and was currently living with her cousin, the Cuban boy next to her.

 Lovino tried not to stare at her as she sat on her chair criss-cross playing with a rosary on her neck. She suddenly looked up at him for a second and flashed him a killer smile. The girl had a good sense of humor and was always somehow managing to smile. Lovino gave a weak wave and went back to what he was doing. She looked down and started to examine her nails, making her long wavy black hair cover half her face. Barely audible Latin music could be heard but he couldn't pin point whose pocket it was coming from. He looked back at the girl with the sun-kissed skin. Esmeralda was now digging through her bag. She pulled out a tomato and bit into it. The Colombian girl started a conversation, but Lovino couldn't understand it because they were all speaking in Spanish. None of them were born in the U.S, but neither was Lovino. He finished his work and walked out. Those kids were always in there. Some not all the time, But Esmeralda was. She was loud and rude. Feliciano told him she was a really nice person deep down, but Lovino just thought his brother was going crazy.

Finally the day was over. Lovino and Feliciano went home to their huge family. They lived with a couple of aunts and uncles, cousins, and their parents. After Lovino ate his well deserved meal, he went to the orphanage. He sat there at a desk flipping through a magazine as he watched the kids draw depressing, sloppy pictures. He was mainly in charge of their arts and crafts. His boss walked up to him. "Ciao Lovino. A word please?", Lovino nodded and set the magazine down. "Listen, there's been a robbery at a market down town a couple days ago and one of the people involved has to do community service here with us", Lovino rolled his eyes. "Great. Just what we need. Some criminal hanging out with kids", Santino put a hand on Lovinos shoulder. "She'll be doing the arts and crafts with you", Lovino gawked at him. "What! Oh please no, I don't want to deal with some no good chick for about a month", he pleaded with his boss. "A month exactly actually. You have to, it's court ordered", Lovino shook his head. "Well could you at least tell me who it is?", his boss nodded and started to walk away. "She starts next week and her name's something like Esmeralda Alvarez. I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention", he walked out the door. Lovino felt his heart stop. "Great. One more reason to hate my job", he was really not looking foward to this.