Read Over My Head (Wildlings) Online
Authors: Charles de Lint
Over My Head (Wildlings) (11 page)
She nods.
"Well, I don't feel like talking to you, either. Just go inside. I'll keep watch tonight, and tomorrow morning, we'll take your sisters to their school."
She frowns at me, but doesn't move. I'm surprised at how much she looks like Marina. I'd never really noticed it before. I suppose I can see it now because she's standing so still, right in front of me. When they're moving, they inhabit their bodies so differently. Marina is loose, comfortable in her skin. Ampora carries a tightness, like she's pulling away from the world instead of living in it. But if you were to put them together and take away Marina's skateboarder gear and Ampora's gangsta chic, the resemblance would be uncanny.
But while she might look like Marina, that doesn't mean I'm inclined to share any secrets with her.
"Look, I get it," I tell her because she still seems to be waiting for me to say something. "We're not friends. We don't have to be friends for me to do this."
"Then why are you doing it?"
If this were one of Des's movies I'm sure the script would have me come out with something witty and cool. But it's not. It's just real life and I'm just me. So I stick with the truth.
"Because somebody has to stand up to those shit-heads. Go on in. You'll be safe."
She nods, but she still doesn't go inside. Instead she points to the playground down the block.
"My kid sisters play there," she says. "Lots of the little kids in the neighbourhood do. It was a safe place, you know?"
I nod to show I'm listening.
"Last week the bangers started coming around. They'll pull up in their fancy cars and all the little boys go crazy seeing those sweet rides. The bangers start struttin' their lies, talking about how jumping into the RKs will put these kids on top, make them special. All the other losers will be working their asses off for nothing, but not them. Side with the Kings and they'll have everything they want. Money, girls, parties, custom rides.
Familia
."
"It's an old story," I say. "You seem to buy it."
That earns me another glare. "These kids are seven, eight, nine years old. The Kings are passing out
joints
. My sisters come home and ask why I don't have an RK for a boyfriend."
"I didn't say it was right."
"Damn straight it isn't right," Ampora says. "And I went over and told them to haul ass or I was going to call the cops."
My eyebrows go up at that. Nobody calls the cops—especially not in the barrio.
"What
else
was I supposed to do?" she asks. "¡
Híjola
! The bandas aren't going to listen to me. Not unless I've got a loaded gun pointed at their head. I
had
to threaten them with the cops."
"So tonight … you weren't hanging with them by choice?"
"They said I needed a lesson about what it means to cross them."
"And you're mad because we pulled you out of that situation? They could have killed you. They love making examples of people."
She shakes her head. "They would have just roughed me up—made sure I understood what getting in their way meant. And so long as I kept my head down, everything would have been okay. But now … my sisters … my parents …"
"And would you have?" I ask. "Kept your head down?"
"I …"
But she can't answer. She doesn't have to. I already know. I might not know her very well, but Marina's talked about her enough. Ampora doesn't back off.
"So it's better this way," I tell her.
"How's it better? What can
you
do? Maybe I should be talking to whoever messed
you
up because somebody sure gave you a beating."
Only because I let them, but I'm not going to tell her that.
"No," she goes on, "you're just a kid that all these paranoid people think is a Wildling, and having some weird-ass cop in your corner isn't going to help. The bandas will eat you both and spit you out."
"He's a real cop."
"Yeah, but Wildlings aren't real, so where does that leave you?"
I raise my eyebrows.
"Oh, come on. Anybody with half a brain knows it's just some government scam to keep us down. And even if you
could
turn into a bird or a rat or whatever—how's that help with the bandas? The Kings'll just shut you down."
"Trucho didn't seem to think so."
I don't want to get into a pissing contest with her, but I can't stop myself from bringing it up. She didn't see what I did—nobody saw it except for Trucho—but she knows I did or said something to make him shut up and have Lil' Puppet drive them away. In
his
custom Hudson that only
he
ever drives.
"Yeah," she says. "What was up with that? You must have something big on him."
"You should go inside."
"But you haven't told me anything. I told you."
"I know. And I appreciate it. It's going to help me figure out how to make the Kings stay away."
"Uh-uh," she says. "You don't get to leave me hanging."
"Maybe not. But you haven't earned enough of my trust for me to tell you anything more."
She glares at me for one long moment.
Then it's, "Fuck you, Saunders," and she stalks up the dirt driveway to her house.
Nice.
I have to admire her spirit even if I don't like her. But that isn't going to stop me from making sure she and her family stay safe.
There's not much cover on her street. Just a few scraggly palms, one of which is on her next door neighbour's lawn. I sit down under it, out of sight of her neighbour's windows, and call my mom to explain why I'm not home. She doesn't like it, but when I explain the situation, she doesn't argue. She just tells me to be careful.
"And Josh?" she adds before I can hang up. "You're not going to let
these
guys beat you up, too, are you?"
"No, Mom."
Next I text Des to make sure he got home okay. I start to put my phone away, but it vibrates with an incoming call.
"Dude," Des says as soon as I answer. "Is everything cool?"
"Yeah, it's quiet. I think the only danger I'm in is if Ampora decides to come outside and bust my chops again. That girl throws a mean punch."
Des laughs. "I guess the tough chica gene runs in the Lopez family."
It's true. Marina doesn't take crap from anybody.
"Could you send Marina a message?" I ask Des. "Fill her in on what's happening."
"Sure. You're actually staying there all night?"
"Yeah, but I don't think anything's going to happen. Ampora's worried about her sisters, so I'm going to see them safe to school before heading to Sunny Hill with her."
"Which is why you want Marina to know
before
you show up at school with her sister."
"Pretty much."
"And then what are you going to do?" Des asks. "Because this problem isn't going away."
"I know. We'll have to figure something out. Maybe Chaingang can give us some advice."
"Or Cory," Des says. "Have you heard from him yet? I'm dying to know what he did to Erik."
That reminds me. I promised Cory I'd go talk to Auntie Min, which I really don't have time for right now. How do things get so complicated this fast?
"Cory's got his own clock," I tell Des. "You never know when or where he'll show up. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Dude," Des says and he hangs up.
I stash the phone in my pocket and stand up. I'm thinking of taking a walk around Ampora's house just to get the lay of the land. But then I see headlights turn onto the street, moving slowly in my direction.
Marina
So I wake to a text from Theo, but no matter how I look at it, it's all business. He thanks me for talking to Auntie Min, wonders if I can get in touch with Cory to see what we can get from him. Do I know how to contact Cory? Can I talk to him?
I try to read between the lines, but there's nothing there. It's like we never kissed. Like it didn't mean anything. I end up feeling stupid, like one of the women in Mamá's telanovelas who are always mooning over some guy or another.
Then my morning gets more complicated when I read the email from Des.
Ampora
? Josh is guarding my father's house to protect them all from the Kings?
What's wrong with this picture? Just everything.
And then I realize that Josh getting Des to keep me in the loop is his way of letting me know that it's okay between us. That he trusts me and wants to keep me involved and in his life, even if that means he has to let me know he's with Ampora because he knows exactly how I feel about my sister from hell.
Except, if I'm reading Des's email right, Suelo and Ria are also in danger. As are Papá and Elena.
What the hell has Ampora done
now
?
And of course, while Josh is being so open with me again, I'm sitting here holding another big fat secret from him. I have to tell him. Except what if Theo's right and it just sets Josh off?
I'm feeling so miserable that I almost snap at Mamá when she pops her head into my bedroom to see if I'm awake. But I stop myself in time.
"Is everything all right,
mija
?" she asks.
I nod and pretend to rub sleep from my eyes.
"I'm just trying to wake up."
She studies me for a moment, then decides to take me at my word. As soon as she leaves, I return Theo's text. I tell him I'll try to track down Cory. I press Send before I write something stupid like that I miss him or something. I don't even know if I do. I don't know what I'm feeling right now.
I rush through a shower and breakfast, grab my stuff for school, then I'm out the door. On the way to Des's place I check for a text from Theo, but he hasn't responded yet. By the time Des steps out of his house, I'm waiting for him on the street out front.
"Dude!" he says when he sees me. "Did you check your messages?"
"That's why I'm here. What happened with Ampora?"
He tells me the story as we walk to school, and I can't stop interrupting with questions. It all seems so ridiculous. What were they even thinking to go off and stalk Erik like that? And why's Agent Solana tracking Josh's phone? Then there's this whole business with Cory.
"You should have seen it," Des says. "He went right through that garage door like some kind of ninja ghost."
"What did he do once he got in?"
Des shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe he ate him. Big bad wolf steps up and Little Red Riding Erik is no more."
"Cory's a coyote, not a wolf, and can I just say
ew
?"
"Really, dude? After what he did to Josh? After what he called you?"
"You don't kill somebody for that."
He gives another shrug. "Well, I wouldn't miss him."
"Where do the Kings come into all of this?"
"That happened when we were walking home from Erik's."
I nod when he starts to talk about hearing Trucho Salazar's pimped-out Hudson. Everybody knows the sound of that stupid car.
"You should have seen Josh," Des says. "I figure we're dead, but he's ready to take them all on by himself. He tells me to run—like I'm going to leave him—but then Agent Solana shows up and we find out that your sister's in the car."
"
Hanging
with them?"
It seems hard to believe, considering how Ampora's so down on the gangs. Sure, she dresses like some skanky gangsta chica, but she's no more a member of the RKs than I am. I always figured it was just something she did to look tough and show people not to mess with her.
"No," Des says. "It looked like they were—who knows what they were planning to do, but she didn't want to be there, and Josh just went all fierce on Trucho. I don't know what he said to him, but dude, those bangers just took off."
I shake my head. This isn't good. I can't believe Ampora would have gotten involved with the Kings, no matter what the reason. She should have been thinking of how this would put Suelo and Ria in danger. But that's Ampora for you. She doesn't think about anybody but herself. She never thinks about consequences.
"So Agent Solana drove you over to Ampora's house?" I ask.
Des nods. "We let them off and then the cop drove me home. I would have stayed, but, you know. If my parents ever caught me, I'd be grounded just like you. I can't believe Josh's mom is cool with him staying out all night."
"She knows he can take care of himself."
"But still …"
"She also knows he wouldn't do it unless it was important," I add.
It makes me a little jealous. Mamá and Papá would go ballistic if they ever learned the truth about what I've got under my skin. Elena would be sad and I don't know about my stepdad. He's actually pretty open-minded and cool. But it wouldn't make any difference. Mamá would have me in a convent so fast in a last-ditch effort to save my soul.
We've reached Sunny Hill. I look to the picnic tables under the palm and eucalyptus trees, but Theo's not sitting in his usual spot. I know he also skipped most of yesterday.
"What's up with Chaingang?" Des asks when he sees where I'm looking.
I shake my head. "No idea."
The first bell rings. Five minutes until homeroom. I'm tempted to skip myself and go looking for Cory, but Des would insist on coming along, and if I haven't told Josh about the guy that's gunning for him, I'm sure not about to tell Des first.
"We better get moving," I say and start for the door.
On the way to our lockers, a light-skinned Mexican kid pretends to shoot me with a finger gun, then blows me a kiss as he walks away. Des turns to watch him go, then looks at me.
"Oh crap," he says. "Do you know who that was?"
"Not by name," I tell him, "but I know who he runs with."
The Riverside Kings.
I feel a little sick. So not only did Ampora put the rest of the family in danger, she brought it outside of the barrio as well. And if they're threatening me, they might go after Mamá and my stepdad, too.
If Ampora was in front of me right now, I think I might actually punch her in the face like she deserves.
"Marina?" Des says.
I find a wry smile.