Chapter 2

“Miss Marquez? Please see me after class.”

Karmen sat at her desk after the end of period bell sounded and the rest of the class shuffled out. Once the room had cleared, she stood and waited in front of Mr. Sawyer’s desk. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

Michael Sawyer looked up from a notebook and smiled. He had been teaching at the high school long enough that he recalled having both of her older sisters in his classes. If he had to choose a favorite of the three, it would be Karmen. Her personality and work ethic towards her studies were exceptional.

“Yes. Nothing major.” He noticed Karmen relax a little. “For the past few days, you seem to be very distracted in class. Your focus is off. Is everything okay?” He was worried that something might have happened to suddenly derail one of his bright students and was willing to intervene if needed. Usually if it was a girl acting in this manner, the potential trouble was a result of either something at home, or there was a boy involved.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Sawyer. A few days ago I got some wonderful news. My boyfriend is going to be flying out from California to be here for Homecoming.” Karmen blushed slightly as she looked down at her feet. “The excitement of seeing him again is all I can think about.”

“Ah, yes. I do believe that you mentioned him in that literary work of art you turned in about your summer vacation.” The teacher chuckled. “In all my years of teaching, that was one of the shortest and yet most complete essays I have received.”

Karmen giggled.

“I do have a few questions that you need to be aware of,” he continued. “Is he still a student back in California? And how old is he? I know that our school district will allow guests to functions who are not attending classes in this district, but they still need to be high school students where they live and under the age of 19 years old.”

“He is 17 and a senior at Lodi high school. I’ve already purchased the tickets for the football game on Friday and the dance on Saturday. But I admit I’m a little worried.”

“Worried?”

Pulling her phone out, Karmen tapped on it a few times. “Si. Worried that all the girls will want to dance with him!” She showed her teacher a short video of them dancing from the baseball awards dinner.

The teacher chuckled to himself as he wrote out a late pass for Karmen’s next period. He was scheduled to go to the lunch room as a monitor and he needed to get going as well. “I think that won’t be an issue.

Just make sure that the two of you have fun.”

“Sir? You said there were other interesting essays you received?”

“Right. One year I made the error of asking the students to wrote their essay from the perspective of a movie character.” His chuckling grew louder. “One fellow submitted 100 lines of ‘I AM GROOT!’ for his essay.”

Looking around the lunch room, Karmen spotted her friends and made her way towards their table.

“Hey, Prima! Come sit and talk!” This came from a friend, Yvonne, who slid over to make room for Karmen to sit. “How’s lover boy doing back in Cali?” She found it fascinating that her friend had gone away for half the summer and returned home in love.

Taking a sip from her water bottle, Karmen grinned. “He’s great! And I didn’t tell you before because we were still working out the details. He’s coming to visit for Homecoming!”

Excited squeals from her friends at erupted, until one muttered, “Uh-oh. Guess who is heading in our direction?”

“Buenas tardes, señoritas.” This came from a fellow named Merced. He was a senior and fancied himself to be handsome and irresistible. “How is everyone doing today?” Squeezing in besides Karmen, he turned to her and smiled. “I was wondering if I might have the honor of escorting you to the Homecoming dance?”

As a senior, Merced figured most girls would be flattered at his attentions. He had noticed Karmen last year, but at the time she was 14 and in 9th grade. He felt that she needed a little more time to ‘grow up’ before he approached her. He was well pleased in how she had matured in the last year.

“Thank you, but no.”

“Too late!” Yvonne smirked. “She’s going with her boyfriend!”

“Boyfriend?” Merced looked puzzled. “I was not aware there was one. Who is he? Perhaps he will relinquish the night to me so we can enjoy it? I will have a talk with him.”

When Merced stated the word ‘talk’, he was thinking he could intimidate the other boy, since he figured it was an underclassman. He was tall and fit, and the few times he had been in a scuffle with other students, he easily was able to overpower the opponent and win.

“Fat chance of that,” Yvonne continued. Karmen looked at her, silently asking her to be quiet. “He’s a true gentleman, not like you, ‘Mister Triple-F’. He’s a thousand times better than you are, so go find another girl who doesn’t know about you and ask her!”

“Triple-F?” Karmen had never heard the term before.

“Find her, fuck her, forget her,” another girl at the table answered.

“That is not so,” Merced stated in a tight voice. In response, several of the girls rattled off a list of names of his previous conquests. “Enough!” He stood. “If that’s what you think of me, you’re wrong.”

The list of names continued. The best possible way to describe the student was ‘horn dog’ because of his actions. “Think about it,” he looked at Karmen. “And I’m certain this boyfriend doesn’t even exist!”

“Believe what you will, but the answer remains ‘no’.” Looking up, Karmen gave Merced a defiant scowl.

“I want to eat my lunch now. Go away.”

Standing, Merced strode towards the door, doing his best to ignore the giggles behind him.

“Mama? Why are some boys muy estúpido?”

The question brought Sylvia up short. “Dios mio, no!” she thought, thinking that something bad had happened between Karmen and Scott. “What do you mean, cariña?”

“At school today, a boy asked me to Homecoming. He didn’t like it when I turned him down. Yvonne was a blabbermouth and told him I was already going with Scott.”

“What did he say?”

“He acted like he didn’t believe that I had a boyfriend. He is one of the boys that thinks that because he is handsome, a girl needs to just swoon at his feet and be grateful.” Karmen paused. “He has a reputation for dating a girl, getting what he wants from her, and then dumps her.”

“Well, I can understand why he is interested in you.” Sylvia studied her daughter and smiled. “So beautiful! Any man would be interested in you!”

“Mama, there is only one man that I’m interested in right now. But we’re still young and trying to figure out how love works. Will he be the man I marry in the future? I want to hope so, but if I’m being honest, a lot can happen between now and that time. Can I share something private?”

“Si.”

“Scott and I are both virgins. I told him that I plan to wait until my wedding night to share the gift a woman can only give one time. It’s something I will give only to my husband. You told us that was how it was for you and Papa. Waiting was the right decision for you, and I feel it’s the right one for me. He said he understood and can agree with how I feel. He has promised to not push me or make me feel guilty about this decision. I want to finish college first before I think of getting married.”