The Barrio.

Claire kicked the sandy dirt with the toe of her boot. The dust rose into the air in a dense cloud and then settled back down again. She did it again.
There had been an awkward silence between her and Ramon, who was still next to her, after they exchanged names. Claire had never been a social butterfly and wasn’t sure what to say to a boy in a situation like this.
Ramon took advantage of the silence and was savoring such a beautiful day in the desert. It actually wasn’t that hot out, and the slight dent in dry heat was creating some much-needed relief from the recent dry spell.
The city bus pulled up and kicked up more dust than Claire. She grabbed the leather messenger bag from the ground and tried (in vain) to brush off the parched dirt. Ramon grabbed his bag as well, which Claire failed to notice before and made his way to the open bus door, but stopped and turned back to smile at her.
“After you, señorita.”
She blushed deeply and looked down at her shoes as she shuffled onto the bus. She paid the fare and was surprised to see the bus filled with brown faces staring back at her. Sitting next to any of them would make her stick out like a sore thumb.
She managed to spot three open seats in the back and she kept her head down as she walked past the rows of people. She sat down in the one in the middle, trying not to make contact with anyone.
Ramon was a sight to see, taking his time down the aisle as the bus pulled away, and saying: ‘Hola!’ to anyone and everyone he knew. He walked up to where Claire was sitting, where the only open seats on the bus were, and smiled.
“Señora Alvarez!” He exclaimed and Claire jumped, then seemed to realize he wasn’t talking to her. He sat down next to Claire, but she was faced with his back as he chatted extremely quickly in Spanish to an elderly looking woman.
Feeling awkward, Claire scooted over to the empty seat next to her, leaving a bare space in between her and Ramon. She twiddled her thumbs and waited until Ramon finished his conversation. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to do when he did finish, because she certainly wasn’t going to initiate conversation. She was much too awkward for that.
Ramon did stop talking and when he did, he turned to Claire and did a double take.
He started talking, a smile curving the ends of his lips as he did. “I don’t bite, you know.” Claire hesitated, then reluctantly slid over to the seat next to Ramon. “Much.”
Claire blushed again, and she silently cursed her cheeks. “So…do you go to the high school?”
“San Jacinto?” He questioned, the words in his native language rolling off his tongue. “Sí. Are you going there?”
“Yeah.”
“I have to ask: Why in the world did you move to the barrio?”
She chuckled nervously as her mind raced to remember the conclusion she made up the day before. “Why? Not so fond of your hometown?” Turn it on him. That’s what she would do.
He shook his head. “I love the barrio. I’m just wondering why a pretty little white girl like you would come here, of all places.”
“Um, my mom couldn’t find a job, so we moved here so we could find one.”
He chuckled. “You moved to the barrio, where more than half the people here are unemployed. Smart move.”
“I never said we were smart.”
“I don’t believe that’s true.”
“I do.”