The Red Hot Tamales

The next morning I awoke to the girls talking quietly.

"Do you think something happened between them? Should we tell Dehlia that Todd and Copper might have done something?" One of the girls whispered.

"No! Because what if they didn't do anything? Then we would have just caused a major problem! I think we should just leave it be. "Another whispered back.

"You guys are so stupid! Of course they did something! Those two have a strong thing between them, anyone can see it. I for one vote not to tell Dehlia and then see what happens! It would be much more exciting that way." A third whispered. I rolled over silently and watched the group of girls. All of them had their backs turned towards me. They had continued their conversation. I sat up slowly. None of them paid attention to me. I silently got up and grabbed my things. I headed up the stairs, where Jose and his friends still lurked.

"Hey, you gonna give Jose a kiss again?" One of the boys said grinning at me.

"That wasn't me, and no. I don't know where his mouth has been. Sorry." I walked out of the door as the boys started hooting and hollering at Jose. I grinned as I walked down the steps. Stupid boys and their strange ways. I started to frown as that brought back memories of last night. I don't understand him. I shook my head and pushed all thoughts of Todd to the back of my mind. Instead I thought of how dangerous slumber parties could get.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

I walked into my door and was instantly attacked by a little ball of fur. I bent down and picked up the little puppy. It continued trying to attack every part of me with her little pink tongue.

"Where did you come from girl?" I asked the squirming puppy. She yipped at me and I put her back down where she did this little dance on her hind legs and her front paws in the air. I giggled and looked up as someone else entered the room. My mother stood in the room.

"Cooper, it's nice to see you well. How have things been?" She walked towards me and drew me into her stiff arms for an uncomfortable hug. She pulled away immediately.

"I am fine mother, doing wonderful in fact. What are you doing here? I mean, don't you have some big case you needed to work on?" She looked offended at first then put on her best lawyer face.

"I came home because I heard that my daughter was injured. I didn't expect to see you already up and around." She looked me over like a farmer looked over a horse to buy. I almost asked if she wanted me to open my mouth.

“That was almost two months ago.” She looked shocked. Then it smoothed back into the lawyers face.

“Oh… Well.” She looked around and spotted the puppy lying at my feet. She smiled.

“Well the time doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are here. And just in time too. Happy birthday Cooper.” She gestured towards the sleeping puppy. I blinked as I realized that today is my birthday. I am seventeen. I smiled as I looked at the sleeping Collie. She looked like an angel.

“Does she have a name?” I picked up the sleeping bundle, which made her whimper a puppy whimper in her sleep. Her paw twitched. I giggled.

“No, we figured it would be best for you to name her, since she is yours.” She walked in towards the office. I looked up.

“You mean dad is here too?” I looked back down as I realized that my mom was already gone. Her motherly deeds down for the day. I sighed.

“Come on Angel, let’s get you settled in.” I headed to the stairs, leading up to my room.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥ ~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

Monday morning I walked up the steps of our school. It was the last day of school, and all the kids knew it. The air was filled with the excitement and anticipation, teachers tried to keep the kids under control. But it was the last day, no one wanted to sit still. I sat on the stone railing. I looked around and watched the other kids. The cheerleaders practiced their cheers on the yard, not wanting to let go of the feel of being accepted. The skaters practiced their tricks on the railings and trying to impress the girls who stood around ignoring them. The Jocks relived the glorious moments of their season.

“Todd How Could You!!” I heard someone yell. I turned to see Todd and Dehlia not to far away standing under the oak tree. Dehlia looked pissed. Todd was trying to calm her down. It seemed as if everyone was watching them now. Dehlia continued to yell at Todd, no one knew what was going on. Todd tried to pull her to him to give her a hug, but she jerked away from him. She turned away from him. She looked around the school yard, and her eyes rested on me. Her face turned murderous and she stormed towards me. I stood up from the railing as she reached me.

“You bitch!”She screeched as she slapped me. I heard everyone take a deep breath, but my fist was already flying towards her face. My hand connected with the side of her jaw, making her head snap back. I heard someone yell fight, but Dehlia was already back. Her hands turned into claws as she tried to rake my face with her nails. I grabbed her hands and pushed her back. One of her hands grabbed onto my hair and pulled at the same time. She dragged me along with her, both of us landing on the ground. I yanked my hair out of her hands and slapped her right across the face. She grabbed my arms and rolled, pushing me onto the bottom her hand went back to slap me. Suddenly she was lifted off of me. Todd was holding her around the waist. He was trying to control her. I got off of the ground, someone grabbed onto me to hold me back.

“How Dare you go after my boyfriend you Tramp!”She screeched at me.

“I didn’t go after your boyfriend you stupid bitch! He was the one who kissed me!”I yelled back at her.

“What where you doing with my boyfriend in the first place? Huh, answer that one you stupid skank!” Spit flew out of her mouth and she reminded me of a rabid dog.

“He was the one who called me Dehlia. He called me for help, and I went to go help him!” I screeched at her.

“I should have been the one to help him, you just stay away from him you boyfriend stealing whore!”

“Dehlia, Calm down!” He tried to order her. Dehlia twisted around and pushed away from Todd.

“Damn you Todd! Sometimes you act like such a Toddler. You need to grow up!” She slapped him and stormed away. He came over to me. I shoved past him.

“Don’t even try talking to me Todd. I am so pissed at you right now.” I grabbed my stuff off of the railing and headed to class before the teachers came to grab the trouble makers. This was the worst day to start off a summer vacation.