Chapter 33

7:15 a.m. Monday

Lupe Fuentes smiled when she met Andy in the lobby. Andy picked up her backpack to lug to the car for her.

"Thank you for driving me to school," Lupe said shyly. "I was a little surprised that Rico agreed to let you do this."

"I have something important to talk to you about," Andy replied. "Otherwise, I doubt he would have. It's why I haven't offered before. I go right past the middle school. Of course, I didn't want the rest of the building thinking I was their chauffeur either. But I always see you dragging a load of books with you."

"Yeah, the others, not so much," Lupe agreed. "At least Rico stopped them from picking on me because I like to read."

"He stopped them from picking on me, too," Andy said.

"I can't believe you're going to college!" Lupe said with excitement. She had lived in the building her entire life and she had never heard of anyone else making it past high school. Most in the building didn't make it past tenth grade.

"That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about," Andy said. He saw Rico standing on the corner and he waved. Rico gave him a nod but nothing else. "Uh, you saw a picture of my girlfriend, right?"

"She's pretty," Lupe said.

"And she's really nice," Andy said. "Yeah, her looks were what I saw first but I care about her because she's a really good person. People tend to see how someone looks and forget about the rest."

"I won't do that," Lupe said sincerely.

"You're smart enough to know better but it's difficult sometimes," Andy said. "Do you remember the girl I dated before Regan?"

"The slut," Lupe said softly.

"Well, yeah," Andy agreed. "I went out with her for the sole purpose that she was pretty and popular."

"And because she fucks," Lupe added. Andy's face turned beet red.

"Yeah," he admitted.

"I'm not going to fuck for a long time," Lupe announced.

"I'm sure that's Rico's plan," Andy joked.

"Fuck Rico," Lupe said, her voice angry. It caused Andy to look over at her. "He acts like he's my father. I won't fuck because I don't want to fuck up my future. It has nothing to do with what Rico wants or doesn't want. It has to do with what I want."

"I was kidding," Andy said. "I didn't mean to make you mad."

"You might have meant it as a joke but it's the truth," Lupe said, sighing heavily. "Andy, people fuck in bathrooms at school. They fuck while they're waiting for the bus. A girl gives a guy head every day after school. She's in middle school like me and the guy is in high school. She sits with him on the back of the bus and sucks his dick on the way home."

"Damn," Andy said.

"The other kids on the bus think all girls should be doing that for them," Lupe said. "Including me."

"Uh, look, I don't mean to piss you off again but does Rico know about this?" Andy wondered.

"He'd kill them," Lupe said. She might not have been joking.

"Have they... ?" Andy asked. It was a sad fact of life that rape was prevalent in his little corner of the world.

"No but it's getting bad," Lupe admitted. "A guy grabbed my tit on Friday. I thought Rico might have found out about it and that's why you're driving me. Then I realized he would just break the kid's hands off."

"Are they from our building?" Andy wondered. He needed to tell her about the scholarship but he also needed to know more about what was happening.

"Not a chance," Lupe said. "They're niggers from two blocks down. They're older than me but a year behind me in school. They want to be bangers but everyone knows they're just little shits. They have their own little gang at school and terrorize everyone."

"Have you told a teacher?" Andy asked. He knew it was a stupid question when it came out of his mouth.

"I'm just some stupid puta from the housing projects," Lupe hissed. "They already think I'm going to be knocked up in the next year and they don't care if it's a nigger baby or a spic baby."

Andy let out a long breath.

"It's why I want to talk to you," Andy said. "Regan goes to a private school up Highway 28. It's an all-girls school called Clairborne-Benedict. She said there are scholarships for exceptional students. I told her about you last night and she thinks you'll qualify. If you're interested, I'll get you a packet and help you fill it out. We can probably get you in there by next semester."

Lupe turned her seat to face Andy, her mouth opened in shock.

"For real?" she asked.

"For real," Andy confirmed. "I told Rico about it last night. That's why I'm driving you to school. If you want, I'll pick you up afterward. Think about it today and let me know."

"I don't need to think about it," Lupe said. "I'd fuck you right here in traffic for a way out of this shithole. What do I need to do?"

Lupe knew that nothing good came without payment up front.

"Nothing like that," Andy said. "Rico is bringing your mom down today to get your transcript. I'm going to stop tomorrow on my way to work to pick up the application. We'll sit down Wednesday night and look at it. If we can fill it out in one night, I'll drive it out Thursday and drop it off. All you have to do is keep doing what you're doing. Rico said your grades are really good. Is it true that you've only got one grade lower than an A?"

"In Spanish!" Lupe said. "Can you believe that bullshit? The cunt teacher thought because my last name is Fuentes I should speak the language like a native. I told her my family hadn't spoken Spanish is five generations but that didn't make a bit of difference. She was some stupid twat right out of college – a lily white college girl the school district hired to teach Spanish. She hasn't seen Spain any more than I have."

Andy chuckled. He had worried that Lupe might be too shy to survive at C-B. He worried no longer.

"I'll pick you up about 3:45," Andy said when they pulled into the school.

Lupe leaned over and kissed Andy on the cheek before she grabbed her books and left. Andy shook his head and started around the driveway when he saw a group of seven African-American kids start circling Lupe. He'd seen the move before so he put the car into park again and got out.

He pushed one of the kids out of the way and moved beside Lupe. He was bigger than all of them but there were seven of them.

"We missed your fine ass on the bus today, Chica," he heard one said. "I'll see it today when I got you bent over at lunchtime."

The boys stopped their circling when Andy walked up and put his arm around Lupe's shoulder. He felt her trembling beneath his hand.

"I'll walk you into school," Andy said. Two boys stepped in front of him but he pushed them out of the way as he'd done to the first kid he'd seen.

"You're all alone white boy," a kid said.

"You have no idea how wrong you are," Andy said. The teachers had all turned their backs on the episode so they could truthfully tell the cops that they hadn't seen anything.

"You fucking pussies," Andy hissed as he passed a short, balding man in a suit. He had attended the same school four years earlier but didn't recognize the teacher. The school district routinely used the inner city school to weed out substandard teachers and administrators. Very few lasted more than a year or two; and the ones that did only stayed because their skills were too few to go anywhere else.

The man kept his back to Andy while he walked Lupe into the school and up to the metal detector. The school security officer was about 70 years old.

"Christ," Andy said as he turned to Lupe. "I'm going to be back at 3:45. You wait right here until you see my car out front. Stay with friends or any large group for the rest of the day. If anyone gives you trouble, kick them in the nuts and take the punishment. I'll square everything with the scholarship board if I have to. OK?"

"I've survived all year, Andy," Lupe said.

"But this is worse than usual, isn't it?" Andy asked. Lupe looked back to the kids standing out front waiting for Andy to come out.

"Yeah," she admitted.

"I'm going to deal with this," he said firmly.

"Don't get into trouble," Lupe said, tugging on his sleeve.

"Don't worry about me," Andy replied with a forced smile. "Just watch out for yourself today."

Lupe nodded and watched as Andy walked boldly through the doors and confront her tormentors.

"I wish I was older," she said to herself.

7:45 a.m. Monday

Andy had pondered his limited options as he talked to Lupe in the school's entryway. He was older and he was white. The school board would paint him as the bad guy in whatever happened when he left. He was old enough (and cynical enough) to understand that reality.

He also knew that any physical confrontation on school property would lead to his immediate suspension. He wouldn't graduate and Stanford would rescind his acceptance. There was also a good chance he would be charged as an adult and go to jail for violence on school grounds.

Still, he knew he couldn't hesitate for even a second. That would be a sign of weakness and he'd be viewed as a "victim" instead of a "predator." He doubted he was truly either but that was the black and white of life in the inner city.

He pushed through the doors and walked straight up the biggest kid in the group – who was still a full head shorter and probably 40 pounds lighter than Andy.

"You don't know what you walked into white boy," he sneered as he stepped closer to Andy.

"I was about to tell you the same thing," Andy countered. He didn't back down but held his ground. "I'm sure you've heard of Rico Campos. Well, he's her uncle. He looks out for her. You need to leave Lupe alone."

"Fuck Rico Campos," the boy said. "And fuck you, white boy."

"Fellas, I'm just telling you like it is," Andy replied, looking down at the kid. "You need to do yourselves a favor and talk to someone older in your building before you make a mistake that will cost you and everyone you know more than you want to give."

"I ain't scared of Rico," another boy said.

"Then you're not very bright," Andy countered.

He saw a kid in the back look toward the parking lot.

"That's the white boy we ain't supposed to fuck with," he said, tugging on the arm of a kid in front of him. "I recognize the car."

The other boy turned to look at Andy's car and then back toward the front.

"Yeah," Andy said. "I'm the white boy you ain't supposed to fuck with. Rico passed that word along to the crew in your building and they passed the word along to you. Well, Lupe is the same as me. If you give her problems, those problems are going to come back on you pretty quickly."

"You don't go to school here so you need to move along," a stiff voice said from Andy's shoulder. He stepped around and stood beside Andy. Again, Andy didn't recognize him.

"And you need to get your head out of your ass and stop letting these cretins do anything they want," Andy shot back angrily. "If that girl gets hurt, you're going to find yourself in a gang war that you won't survive. I'm not talking about professionally. I'm talking about Rico Campos killing your entire family because you let something happen to her while she's in your care. That's after he kills these little idiots that you let run the fucking school. Stop being a dumbass and show some authority to someone who isn't white!"

The man bristled at being upbraided by someone three decades younger.