Ride Home To Me

Chapter 2

"Hey Ma," I greet my mom as she pulls up to the curb in front of the school.

"Gabi!" I turn around to see Letty running over to me.

"Ask your mom about coming over later, yeah?" she whispers.

"Yeah okay man," I force myself to smile. "No promises though."

She winks and walks to the car in front of us, fist bumping a tall, intimidating man that then climbs into the driver's seat.

That must be Mia's brother, I think.

"Who was that mija?" my mom's voice interrupts my thoughts.

"This girl I met today, name's Letty," I say. "We got a lot of classes together."

"She's... cute," my mom says hesitantly.

"Ma..."

"I know, sorry."

I sigh and turn up the radio, staring out the window.

"How was it today?" she asks.

"It was okay. Nothing much happened besides introductory stuff. I've got lots of stuff to catch up on, too."

"You made some friends, though," she smiles.

I scoff and say, "Yeah maybe."

"Hey don't be like that Gabi, that girl seemed very nice."

"Yeah, up until she ends up like the rest of 'em," I mutter. My ma sighs and focuses back on the road. When we get to the house, I look down the street to see Mia trotting over. Damn.

"Hey! My dad wanted me to actually invite you guys to dinner," she says.

"Oh um, that's really sweet but uh, my ma's making dinner I think, and-"

"Who's this Gabi? Hi mija, I'm Vanessa," my ma comes up behind me, cutting me off.

"I'm Mia, I live down the street. My dad wanted to know if you guys could join us for dinner tonight."

I make a pained face at my ma, who just smiles at Mia and says, "That's so sweet mija, tell your papi we'd love to come. I was just going to order chinese takeout tonight."

Mia grins and races back to her house after thanking us. I turn to my ma.

"Was that necessary?! I actually really like chinese food if you somehow forgot!"

"Oh come on Gabi. What's the worst that can happen? It's just a nice man and his family inviting the new neighbors over for dinner. You behave yourself, you hear?"

I make sure to groan extra loud as I head inside and shut the door to my room. When I turn to look at the clock it's still 3:47, so I jump onto the bed and let sleep take me.

•-•-•-•-•

I don't hear much other than the yelling and the cussing and the slurs being shouted at me from all angles as I feel the repeated blows to my stomach and my chest. I can't breathe, I can't see, my hands grab at my hair to keep it from being ripped off my head and as soon as the bitches let up a little bit I open my eyes and swing my fist at the first backstabber I see. It lands with a crack against her cheek and the crowd starts shouting even louder.

"Asshole!" she shrieks.

"You're the asshole!" I yell back. "I trusted you and this is what I get? You're a fake ass bitch!" 

She gasps and comes towards me again, I step backwards but bump against the other girls and they hold me while I struggle against them. The punching starts again, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

Suddenly the shouting fades away and I can hear the crowd scattering. A hand touches my side and I flinch away, trying to scramble to my feet but failing miserably. As I collapse back onto the floor I can faintly hear a blurry school hall monitor calling my name before everything goes dark.

I cry out and jump up from my mattress sweaty and shaking. The bruises on my side have healed a bit but they're still an ugly dark purple, despite them having been put there a month ago. I sigh and read 5:30 on the clock right as my ma comes bursting through the door. I quickly shake myself off.

"What happened? I heard a yell," she asks, frantically looking around.

"Ma, everything is fine don't worry," I say, sliding my shoes on. "We still going to this dinner thing?"

"Yes, Gabi, we are going to have dinner with our new neighbors, and we are going to be nice, and helpful, and make an effort to enjoy ourselves."

"But-" I'm silenced by the look she gives me and I huff instead.

"Okay fine. Let's get this over with," I mutter.