About a Girl

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Angela was up early. She was ready for school and downstairs before her mom even stirred. Gabe was already over making breakfast for them. Any time Gabe needed to go into the shop early he came over and would make them a decent meal and take Angela to school.

She never minded. She loved Gabe’s cooking almost as much as her mother’s. She was excited because everything he brought with him to cook with was fresh from the local market. He even said the eggs weren’t even a day old.

He was making some sunny side up eggs and frying up some bacon. He had coffee for her mom already and waiting. He always made sure he had everything to please what ever the taste buds were in the mood for. He even cleaned up after himself.

“What do you want querida?”

Angela came to from her daydream of her date tonight to focus on Gabe leaning over the table looking at her. She always wanted to know what ‘querida’ meant. She never asked him and was a little embarrassed to. She felt her cheeks flush as he continued to stare at her.

“I don’t know. I don’t mind some eggs. The bacon smells good.”

“Do you want some hotcakes?”

She nodded, “Yes please.”

He turned away from her and Angela could hear her mom come down the stairs. She had her robe wrapped around her and she looked over to Gabe. He already was pouring her a cup a coffee as she sat down next to her daughter. Gabe smiled and slid it over to her. She thanked him and reached for the sugar.

“Gabriel put that cigarette out. You do not smoke in my house.”

Gabe pulled out the toxic stick from his mouth and crushed it to kill the flame. He placed the remaining cigarette behind his ear later. He wasn’t one to waste it, “Sorry hun. I always forget you hate me for smoking.”

“One of these days they’re going to find out its bad for you. Besides, you smell up the house. I honestly don’t know how Angela can be around you when you have those.”

She looked over to her mother as Gabe opened the window to let the smoke out, “They don’t bother me.”

Her mother didn’t looked pleased, “They should. Don’t you ever let me catch you or I’ll tad your high.”

“Yes mama.”

Gabe chuckled and handed Angela a plate of pancakes with her eggs and bacon. She was already dying to eat it. The smell alone making her stomach hurt. She grabbed her fork and dove in as Gabe asked what her mother wanted.

“I don’t know how you do this Gabe. You are a saint. I’ll get something at the hospital don’t you worry, make yourself something.”

Gabe continued to insist but her mother kept declining. Gabe eventually gave up and started making himself something. He made his pretty quickly and let the used dishes soak in the sink before sitting across from the two girls.

He looked tired. Angela had wondered what he had been doing last night to give him such bags under his eyes. She wanted to ask him about it but he probably would avoid the subject.

Angela’s mom soon dismissed herself for a shower and left the two younger alone. Gabe didn’t waste anytime in moving to set next to her taking the spot where her mother had been.

Gabe spoke before taking a sip of coffee, “Are you wanting to come home and change or do you want me to just pick you up?”

She looked over at him, “Oh. Well, I have gym so I figured I would change after that. They require us to shower anyways.”

He nodded, “Alright. I may be late. If so, I’ll send Suarez to come get you.”

She looked at him with curious eyes, “What are we doing tonight?”

“Up to you.” He shrugged and took another sip of coffee, “We could go see a movie.”

She liked the idea of a movie. She agreed to the idea and he beamed. He got up and made his way to the dishes he needed to clean. He started to wash them and Angela got up and brought her plate towards him. He took it from her and put it in his pile to do.

“What about dinner querida? Where do you want to go?”

“Can we go to the restaurant on main?”

He turned to her and laughed, “Out of all the places we could go you want to go there?”

She shuffled, “I like it there. I love the girls there. They’re so nice to everyone. I haven’t seen Victoria anyways. We don’t have to go there if you don’t want to.”

Gabe hated that restaurant. Never told her but he never wanted to step foot in that place. The only time he went in was either when Angela was working there or she asked to go. He knew Angela did part time there some days after school but could never understand why she kept wanted to go back.

It was more of a middle ground for the town. One side held the rich boys and gals while the other side the group Gabe was fond of. They were like him and hated those rich snobs. The environment was so different from the different sides.

“We’ll go.”

But if she wanted to go he’d sit through it and let her go. He always wanted to make her happy and loved that smile of hers. It wasn’t that bad. No one messed with him anyways. They were too scared. Everyone, but Angela, knew Gabe had more then a single knife in his pocket at all times. He occasionally had a pistol hanging off his belt and he wasn’t a lousy shot.

He never let Angela know because he didn’t want to scare her but he felt he needed it just in case. You could never be too careful as Gabriel always said. He always wanted to be safe rather then sorry. That’s why a few of his own friends played it safe like he did.

“We met someone yesterday.”

He looked over to her, “What?”

“Mama and I met a new family that moved here.”

Gabe looked away and got a little cold, “What part of town?”

She hated when he asked things like that. Off of that alone he based judgment on the person. If they were from the rich part he didn’t want anything to do with them but if they were from their neighborhood he welcomed them with open arms.

She didn’t mean to sound bitter, “Does it matter?”

He looked taken back by her outburst, “No. Not entirely.”

“Very sweet people. They’re opening a jewelry store.”

Gabe nodded and didn’t ask any questions after that. She knew he knew then were they were moving to. There was no way in any way would there be a jewelry store in their part of town. It would be robbed constantly. And that’s probably not the worse they would do to the store.

Gabe got up and moved over to start with the dishes as it stayed quiet. Angela felt small with the tension in the room. Made her feel so uneasy and shifted in her seat. She never liked it when Gabe got quiet.

“Their son is my age. Going to be starting school with me today.”

Gabe continued to wash the dishes and not look at her. She felt nervous now. She was terrified of upsetting Gabe. It ate at her anytime he was upset or angry. She just wanted to reach over and apologize for snapping at him.

She looked down at her half eaten meal, “I’m sorry.”

Finally he did look over at her, “What for?”

“Snapping at you.”

He let his smile return, “Don’t you worry your pretty head. It takes a lot more to upset me.”

“Still–”

He turned to her and dried his hands off with a towel nearby, “Querida, enough of this. Are you ready to go?”

She looked at her breakfast and nodded, “Yes. Let me grab my bag.”

Gabe grabbed her plate from across the table, “I’ll meet you in the car.”

She jumped out of her seat and ran up to her room. She made sure she had everything she needed, including her dress, and looked in the mirror one last time. She wanted to at least look nice around Gabe. She wanted him to think she was a decent girl but didn’t go overboard on her looks.

As she left her room she past her mother, “We’re leaving.”

Her mother nodded and yawned, “Alright. Have a good day and tell Gabriel to drive safe.”

Angela agreed and made her way down and out of her house. She could see Gabe already waiting on her. She quickly walked across her lawn over to the car. She slipped in and he started the car.

The ride was short lived but things seemed to be normal between them. She thanked him as he pulled up towards the front. He leaned over and kissed her forehead telling her to have a wonderful day. She told him the same and got out of the car. She closed the door and turned away from the car. Gabe wouldn’t pull away till she was in the building. That’s how he always was.

And this time was no different. As she reached the front door she could hear Gabe’s car rev and pull away. She knew that sound anywhere. She smiled as she entered. She loved that car.

When she made it in she was greeted with the same sight as usual. Teenagers being loud and restless. She was surprised that is was so active today. Especially with the girls. She noticed quite a few of them were in groups talking about something. Angela’s mind flashed to William. He was starting today and he was a looker. She thought maybe they were talking about him.

She passed the school office and she peaked in. She wanted to see if he was here and sure enough William was sitting down on a chair. His feet were up on the table and he was looking rugged. She could see from here that there was a pack of cigarettes in his rolled of shirt sleeve. Gabe wore his pack like that when he was working some days.

She slipped into the office and William instantly looked at her. He didn’t smile but he didn’t glare. It was more of a blank stare of him trying to make sense of the situation. He was so kind yesterday and she was hoping he’d still be the nice guy.

“Hello.”

William tried to smile, “Hello. How are you?”

She shrugged, “I’m alright and you?”

He rolled his eyes, “Waiting for these fools to finish.”

“Ah Miss Anderson. Good morning, I see you’ve meet William Beckett.”

She had jumped slightly at her principal’s voice, “Yes. I meet him yesterday.”

He smiled at her and to William, “Well then, since your friends you won’t mind showing him around? He has a few of your classes.”

Her palms got sweaty, “I don’t mind but only if William needs me.”

William was going to respond but the older principal cut him off over the ringing first bell of class, “Surely he will appreciate it. Why don’t you wait here with him as we finish admitting him and I’ll give you a hall pass to return to class.”

She nodded and moved to sit next to William as the man walked away. William mumbled something about a pig but Angela didn’t bother asking him about it. She probably didn’t want to hear about it anyways.

William looked at her, “A-A-Are they all like this?”

She frowned, “Some days.”

“Well that’s just swell. This place is horrid.”

She placed her bag on the floor next to her feet, “Was your old school better?”

He nodded, “Much. Nothing old and crummy like this.”

She fumbled with her fingers as she tired to keep the conversation going, “The students were probably sweeter.”

William looked over to her, “Are they mean to you?”

She nodded, “Yes. Some of them.”

He shook his head, “Probably because you won’t defend yourself.”

She glared at him, “Excuse me?”

He turned to her, “I-I-I’m not going to lie. You look so weak. You don’t fight back when they poke fun at you. Clearly so. I-I-If you did you wouldn’t be so upset with them.”

She rolled her eyes and looked over at the secretary, “I pick my wars Beckett. Some are not worth fighting.”

William didn’t respond but he wanted to. He wanted to call her a fool. She was an idiot in his eyes. Never had he met a girl not willing to defend herself to other children. He wondered if her head wasn’t right. He always fought when someone decided to go against him. It was his way of living. He needed to defend his honor.

“Wars are always worth fighting. Don’t be foolish.”

William motioned to unroll his sleeve but Angela stopped him, “Don’t. You’ll get detention.”

He started to laugh as he placed his hand down back in his lap, “Do you really think I–” He paused as he tried to get his words out, “Care about detention?”

She smirked, “On the first day? Yes.”

The secretary came over giving William a sheet of paper with writing on it. He thanked her and stood up. She handed Angela a smaller slip of paper to get her back into class. She grabbed her bag and left the office with William on her trail.

She couldn’t help but feel her palms sweat as she saw one of Gabe’s friends heading her way. She new him. It was Alex Suarez. He was going to pick her up today if Gabe was late. She wondered why he was here.

“Suarez! Why are you here?”

The male looked away from the door he was looking in and looked over to Angela. He smiled and practically skipped over. He was dressed today a lot like William was. His shirt looked dingy which was a surprising for Angela because he was the cleanest one besides Gabe. His jeans were rolled up at the bottom; too long for him again.

Suarez was always one to get handy downs. The Suarez family didn’t have much and Alex’s father really didn’t care for his wife or his son. Suarez stayed with his friend Ryland of over at Gabe’s place.

He smiled as he finally stopped in front of her, “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Is something wrong?”

He shook his head, “No. Gabe told me to tell you he is going to be late. He said I would come get you but I got detention. I told him so and he said he’d come get you instead. Won’t be here till three thirty. Are you ok with that or do you want me to see if Ryland can come get you sooner?”

She shook her head, “Oh no. I can wait. I’ll go to the library and study until Gabe comes.”

Alex nodded before he looked over to William. His smile fell as William gave him a blank look. Alex shifted on his feet and looked over to Angela. He excused himself before he could even ask about William. He didn’t dare. He was so used to her being obsessive over Gabe that this was something new. Angela never talked to boys unless Gabe said it was okay to do so.

Alex was going to tell Gabe as fast as he could. It didn’t look like there was anything in between them but Alex wanted to be safe. As soon as he was out of that building he made it to Ryland’s car that he borrowed. He was going to skip today just because of just what happened.

Angela finally showed William their classroom and they walked in. The male teacher, Mr. Walker as she knew him, looked over to them as Angela walked up to him to give him the slip of paper. He took it from her and she moved to go sit in her usual seat in the middle of the class room.

She could see William looked uncomfortable. She didn’t blame him. All of these kids where judging him right here and right now. She looked away and grabbed her textbook out of her bag and waited as the teacher talked to William.

This was English for the more advanced as most kids would say. It had a lot of the kids from the north side and it made Angela uncomfortable. She was only one of three kids from the south end and the north end kids talked about the three kids in here as if they were a pox. Even if Mr. Walker said enough they’d continue.

It was normal. Angela hated it. She felt different enough as it was and these kids where the same way. Her friend Alice sat next to her because she was terrified of the boys in here. They always said scandalous things about her.

Angela tuned her ears into listening to the man in front, “My name is Rodger Walker. You must be William Beckett.”

William nodded and didn’t say anything but Mr. Walker turned to the class, “Class you will welcome William into our class. He is new to town. I believe from Illinois?”

William nodded again and he looked over at Angela, “Yes. Moved from Chicago.”

One of the kids near Angela talked, “South side I bet?”

William shook his head as he clearly the rudeness in the kid’s voice, “North side. Near the food market.”

The kid looked at William disgusted like William was a pure plague that was going to infect the whole side of the town. Angela looked at him with a calm face and tried to smile. She just found out he was living dead center of the north side. He was going to get a handful of remarks soon.

“Well William, is there anything else you’d like to say about yourself?”

He looked over to Mr. Walker and back to that kid, “Yeah. Call that kid some help the next time he wants to insult me. He’ll need it.”

William walked away from the front and moved into the empty seat next to Angela’s right. She looked at him shocked and Mr. Walker said nothing as he moved over to a cupboard. The kid who spoke looked back at William and laughed to his group of friends.

Angela leaned over to William, “Always worth fighting?”

William didn’t respond but thanked Mr. Walker as he dropped a book onto William’s desk. The male standing over William threatened him with a detention for what he said. He never gave the detention slip to William because ‘it was his first day and he was adjusting.’ Walker was cutting William some slack.

“I won’t be so nice the next time.” He turned towards the class as he walked backwards to the front, “Alright class. Let’s review to catch William up.”

William took his turn in leaning over to Angela and gave her the first genuine smile she’d seen from him, “Always.”
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