I fix the tie mom forced me to wear and untuck my shirt. No way in hell I'm wearing both a tie and a tucked-in shirt. I'm not a nerd. And who needs to get this dressed up for a children's school performance? I think it's just a play about how Columbus sailed the ocean or some shit like that.
"Amari! Come on hurry up!" Moms voice is muffled through my closed door, and I push it open, turning off my light on the way out. Jade sits in the living room, munching on chips.
"Where's Amari?" I ask, fixing the cuffs of my button-down shirt.
"Taking forever to get dressed. He wanted to do it himself but he won't hurry his ass up." Jade sits on the couch on her phone, wearing jeans and a deep blue blouse with short heeled boots. She almost looks like a girl.
"How long is this thing again?" I ask, and Jade snorts.
"Not short enough I'm afraid."
By the time Amari is finally dressed and settled and we are headed to the car the sun has set, and a frigid breeze blows through the door when I open it and head outside to start the car.
Amari bounces outside not too long after me and climbs into the backseat, swinging his legs impatiently, but remains eerily quiet.
"Are you nervous?" I ask and his head shoots up.
"No! I'm fine."
But he stays quiet on the way to the school and when we walk in the doors his hands are clenched into little fists.
I put my arm around his shoulders as we walk in and squeeze his arm encouragingly.
"You're gonna do great, buddy," I say and he gives a tiny grin before mom kisses his cheek and his teacher leads him backstage.
There are teachers, parents, and children as far as the eye can see and I start to feel like I'm witnessing some sort of twisted circus performance. In the middle of the chaos, I see Ana with her mom and sister. Estrella is wearing a loose dress that hides the growing belly I know is there. Ana turns as I'm about to call her name and her gaze snags on mine. A grin comes over her lips and I smile back in return. Jade mutters something under her breath that I probably didn't want to hear anyway, and elbows my side.
"We better get to them some seats before these little gremlins take them all."
Mom and Jade follow as I carve a path through the chaos towards the chairs lined up facing the short stage - with a stop at the table filled with snacks of course. Ana has stopped by the snack table too and I let my cookie dribble crumbs into her bun.
She spins around when the crumbs fall onto her shoulders and she pushes me by the chest. I laugh and pretend to fall backward.
"Hi to you too." She grumbles, brushing crumbs off her shirt, but she's grinning.
"Where are you guys sitting?" I ask, and she points to one of the rows, only half-filled, where her mom and sister lean back in the folding chairs, talking.
"Strella begged me to bring her a snack." She says, rolling her eyes, but I know she doesn't really mind.
"She got a second appetite to fill now, too." I remind her and she snorts.
"Yea, she doesn't let me forget."
Ana realizes mom and Jade are with me and stops to say hi to them while I attack the cookie platter, putting a couple in my pocket for later when nobody's looking. Our families sit down together in the folding chairs shortly before the boy's performance is supposed to start and I sneak Jade one of my pocket cookies while a lady in front of me starts giving me the evil eye. I smile charmingly back. Throughout the performance, Jade and I try to pay attention, and of course, listen when it's our brother or Julian, but the rest of the time we make snide remarks to each other and eat more snacks. More than once Ana pinches my leg or kicks my foot to get me to stop but I just sneak her a cookie or brownie and she leaves us alone.
YOU ARE READING
Salted Wound
Teen FictionAnastacia Flores doesn't live a perfect life, but she pushes herself into her education to have a bright future and become a teacher. She is loved and supported by her family, her boyfriend, Luis, and her best friends. Zamari Sabian is a deviant wh...
