The Innocent ↝ ÉLITE ¹

THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Unexpected

          ARLO SAT IN Martín's class, distracted at last night's and that morning's events. She could not believe she had fallen asleep on Guzmán, it was an awkward car ride to school with the boy in the middle of the two girls as the Nunier siblings' chauffeur drove them.

She instantly snapped out of her day dream when she heard Martín's raised voice. "Give me the phone!"

"My mom was asking me when I get out!" Samuel exclaimed as Martín snatched his phone up and walked to Nadia.

"Nadia, please read." He requested, holding the phone down to the girl.

"What?" Nadia wondered. "Uh..."

"Read." Martín instructed, putting the phone in the girl's hand.

"No." Samuel protested.

"Marina doesn't have AIDS, asshole. It's HIV–" Nadia began and Arlo's eyes widened. Nadia was instantly interrupted when Guzmán shot up.

"Stop reading it! What the hell?" He yelled. "Huh?"

"Guzmán! Guzmán, calm down." Martín said.

Guzmán grabbed the phone from Nadia and tossed it at Samuel. "What are you writing?"

Arlo shot up from her chair next to Marina and lightly pushed the boy back. This was the Guzmán she had stopped being friends with and hoped she wouldn't have to see for a while. "Hey, calm down! Leave him alone."

Guzmán looked at the girl, a look of betrayal in his eyes before he glowered at Martín. "How could you allow her to read it?"

"First, show me some respect. Second, you know the rules. You can't use cell phones. I had the right to do that." Martín defended.

"No. You had the right to take the phone away from him, not warrant an opportunity to reveal private information to the class." Arlo corrected before she could stop herself, then felt Marina tug on her arm.

"She's right." Samuel spoke up. "A hell of a right you had."

Martín looked between Arlo and Samuel. "Shut up."

"Marina, do you have HIV?" Nadia asked as she leaned forwards.

"You can't ask someone that." Arlo hissed.

The class erupted into murmurs and comments as they all looked at Marina who looked down at her desk in embarrassment. Martín tried to calm the class down, but no one listened until Marina slammed her desk and stood up.

Guzmán held his arm out. "Marina, Marina, you don't have to say anything. Please, don't."

Marina looked at her brother gratefully but she mirrored his gesture as she held her hand out. "Guzmán, stop. Please." She whispered. "I was infected a little over a year ago, more or less. And well...I guess...people will be talking a lot about this. In order to be informed about what you'll be talking about...I'll tell you, really, you don't need to worry about me. I take my medication. I do my medical tests every four months and the virus isn't detectable, so that means I can't infect you."

The red head then looked back down at her desk and sat down, tears in her eyes as Christian started clapping and it took one look from Arlo for him to stop. Arlo then sat back down next to her friend and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.

"Thanks, Marina. It took a lot of courage to share that." Martín said. "Don't you think so, Nadia?"

Nadia kept her eyes at the front of the classroom. "I'd rather not comment. I don't wanna hurt anyone."