Romiette and Julio (3 page)

“Yeah, I feel you, Diego. I guess I’m glad I got out of there, but why Ohio? The Montague family has lived in Texas for two hundred years.”

“I’m gonna miss those barbecues and weddings at your grandpa’s ranch with all your uncles and their wives and kids. Your grandpa is a trip! Doesn’t he get married every five years?”

Julio laughed. “Mama says Granpa’s a rascal. Papa says he’s just trying to recapture his youth. Granpa told me that after his first wife died, he was brokenhearted. He says he’s trying to find a woman who can keep up with him! I really miss him already. Just before we left, he told me to keep the river in my heart and follow it.”

“Old people say strange things sometimes. You met any girls yet, Julio?”

“I’ve seen little kids, and old people. Not even any ugly girls. I hate this place! Did I say that already?”

“
Sí
, man. What about school?”

“Don’t know. I start tomorrow, but I’m not expecting much. Hey, my mama’s calling me. Good to talk to a familiar voice, man.”

“Hang in there, Julio. Maybe something good will come outta all this.”

“I ain’t gonna hold my breath waiting. Later.”

Julio could see the school about a block ahead. It was as he expected—tall, brown, and ugly. Schools in Texas were sprawled out over several buildings with walkways and arches and cool breezes. Lunch was always outside, and an air of freedom blew through the whole place.
How will I ever find my way through that giant jail?
Julio wondered bitterly. He walked up to the front of it and tried not to stare. It must have been five stories tall, of heavy brown brick, built to withstand tornadoes and snowstorms. Just looking at the unblinking face of that school made Julio remember how angry he was. He just frowned and walked up the icy front steps to the huge front doors.

The school was dark inside. It even smelled damp and depressing. Julio thought,
I will
never
feel right here!
Kids were gathering in small groups in the front hall, girls giggling, guys laughing too loud. It was January, the first day back after Christmas vacation, and everyone was excited to see their friends after two weeks away. No one noticed or spoke to Julio. One girl squealed shrilly as a boy picked her up and lifted her over his head. She yelled, “Put me down, Marcus!” but you could tell she was enjoying the attention. Julio stood near the door, watching the friends chatter about nothing and everything, and hating every moment of it. He clenched his fists, and
found himself breathing hard. He felt like he was about to explode.

“Hey, man! Get out the way!” A tall, freckled boy wearing two safety pins as earrings, a small gold nose ring, and bright green hair—green like the color of a fluorescent marker—fell through the door where Julio had been standing, and knocked Julio sprawling to the floor. He jumped up and spun around in one swift movement, took his right fist out of his pocket, and all of his anger and frustration exploded in the center of the green-haired boy’s face. Bright red blood spurted from his nose, making him look somehow like a leftover Christmas decoration.

“Fight! Fight!” somebody yelled, and instantly a crowd surrounded the two boys. Kids started jostling and pushing, cramming in to see the fight, shoving each other and getting louder in the hot, crowded hallway. The bell rang then, and the principal, large, balding, and red faced, pushed his way through the crowd, which somehow disappeared in seconds.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded. “Who started this? Five minutes back in school and you’re already fighting. I’m not going to start the new year off with this kind of mess. Both of you in my office right now!” He was sweating heavily and breathing hard.

Ben, the one with green hair, who was now sitting on the floor holding his nose with one hand and his nose ring in the other, had no desire to take on an angry stranger. And Julio was no longer so angry. Too bad this strange, skinny kid got in the way of months of frustration. They looked at each other,
then looked at the sweating, red faced principal, and almost grinned. Ben spoke first. “Mr. Prince! Nobody’s fighting! This dude here was just trying to help me up. I was running and I slipped on the ice on the front steps and hit my nose on the door. I was thinking of calling my lawyer, or maybe America’s Most Wanted, or maybe the president. I think you ought to get some salt on that slippery spot, Mr. Prince. Now if
you
should fall, sir, we might have an earthquake or something, and we wouldn’t want that to happen, because that would interrupt our educational success, and since I always wondered how much pressure a nose would have to put on a door to make it bleed, I feel that I have learned something this early morning, even before class starts!”

The principal just shook his head and said, “Shut up, Ben. It’s too early in the morning for your babbling.” He turned to Julio, who was amazed and trying not to laugh at Ben, who so glibly got him out of trouble. “Young man, is that what happened? Did he slip and fall?”

Julio looked at Ben, who was grinning in spite of a very swollen nose, and replied, “I’m new here, Mr. Prince. Why would I hit someone I don’t know? Today is my first day, and I came to enroll. Here are my transcripts from Texas.” Mr. Prince didn’t believe either of them, but he had morning announcements to make, a sick teacher’s class to cover, and a call to make to the custodian to get some salt on the front steps, so since the danger seemed to be over, he let it go.

“Take your stuff to the secretary in Room 102,” he told Julio. “And Ben, get to class!” He weighed at least three hundred pounds, and he waddled as he headed down the hall. Ben watched him, put his book bag under his coat, and pretended to huff and sweat and roll. He burst into laughter as soon as Mr. Prince was out of earshot.

Julio echoed his laughter. It felt good to laugh. It was almost as satisfying as that right hook into Ben’s nose.

“Why’d you help me?” Julio asked, laughing again. “Why didn’t you narc on me? I punched your lights out.”

“Well, fortunately, I had a spare set of bulbs and I could see you had some issues that had nothing to do with me. Am I right?”

“Yeah, man. I just got here and nothing was going right and I want to be back home in Texas, and then some kid with green hair knocks me down.”

“Hey, tomorrow it will be blue! I like being original! If you ever see me looking ordinary, you got permission to punch me out again. I gotta get to class. What’s your name, dude? I gotta know who redecorated my face.”

“Julio. I’m Julio Montague.”

“I’m Ben! Ben Olsen. Later, dude.”

“Later, and thanks.”

Julio thought about the incident with Ben as he waited for the secretary with the blue eyeliner to check his papers and give him a class schedule.
I could be getting kicked
out
of school, instead of checking in,
he
thought.
If it had been me getting punched by a crazed stranger, I would have clocked him, not helped him. Amazing dude, that Ben.

Julio got his schedule, sighed, and headed to the fourth floor for his math class. The halls were mostly empty by now, with crumpled paper and candy wrappers littering the floor. He could hear Mr. Prince’s monotone voice making the morning announcements, stuff about SAT registration forms, and tardy slips, and the basketball game tomorrow night. None of it had any meaning for him as he checked all the closed doors in that long, dark hallway but couldn’t find Room 407. He saw 405, 406, then the numbers jumped to 412 and 413.
Why do schools do this stuff to kids?
he thought in frustration.

“Yo, Chico, you lost?” The voice came from the end of the hall.

“Yeah, man, and my name’s not Chico.”

“You look like a Chico to me. Room 407 is around the corner in the new wing … Chico.”

Julio walked toward him, his anger returning, but the boy disappeared into a classroom. All Julio saw was that he had on purple sweats. Julio was frowning when he walked into 407. That “Chico” comment made him tense and irritated. Anglos at home used that name as a put-down. And, at home, it was mostly the Anglo gang members who used it. This was not a good sign.

The math teacher, a tall, skinny man with a really cheap hairpiece that slid whenever he moved his head and did not match his graying hair, looked at
Julio and smiled. “Welcome, Julio. You can take that seat behind Brandy. Are you a good math student, or will you fit right in with my friends sitting here who think math was invented by beady-eyed monsters?”

Julio grinned. “You mean it wasn’t?” he said with mock surprise.

The teacher, Mr. Whitehead, rolled his eyes and smiled again. “Yep, you’re going to fit right in here! Here’s a textbook. We’re on page 155.”

Most of the kids ignored Julio. A few of the girls looked him over with interest, but nobody spoke or even smiled. They seemed to pay more attention to the fresh snow that was falling than to the discussion on polynomials. Large, flat flakes floated slowly at first, then thick like falling cloud bits, covering the dirt and grayness of the city. Julio watched also, admiring the beauty of the falling snow, and wishing it could cover all the darkness and fear he felt inside as well.

Destiny ran up the stairs to Romiette’s room and barged in without knocking. Romi was used to it. Now that Destiny was driving, she dropped over whenever she felt like it, which was usually once a day and three or four times on the weekend. Destiny’s car was bright red, with dozens of brightly colored butterfly decals on it. Instead of looking tacky, though, it looked just perfect for her. She liked the music loud, the convertible top down, even in the coldest weather (just in case the “right” man was looking her way), and a huge bumper sticker that read,
PRACTICE RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS AND SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY!

“Romiette! Romiette! Just check this out, girl! This is the bomb! Can you lend me forty-five dollars? I’ve got the answer to your dream problems and my man problems too!”

“Forty-five dollars? You got me bent! What do you need that much money for, Destiny? And how is it going to solve all our problems?”

“I got enough for the shipping and handling. I can’t
believe you don’t know. Check out page fifty-four.”

“Now, if I didn’t know you so well, I’d ask page fifty-four of what. But where’s the magazine? Is it
Heavy Hunks
or
Teen Scene
? The teen magazine industry would go out of business if Destiny Louise Dodson canceled all her subscriptions!”

“Don’t talk so loud! I would
die
if anyone else knew my middle name. How could parents who were cool enough to give me a dynamite name like Destiny give me such a stupid middle name?”

“I thought it was the name of the aunt you like who’s the astrologer in California.”

“I’m getting my middle name changed when I’m twenty-one—to something like Sagittarius or Karma.”

“You’re a trip, Destiny.” Romi laughed and reached for the magazine. “So what’s so special in
Heavy Hunks
this month?”

“You know I just read
Heavy Hunks
for inspiration.” Destiny rolled her eyes. “How am I gonna find me the perfect man if I don’t know what’s out there?”

“Yeah, like we know anybody who looks like the dudes in that magazine. They all got big shoulders, hazel eyes, tight butts, and look like they’re ’bout to pop out of those tight turquoise bikini bottoms they dress them in. They all go to Yale, are majoring in medicine, and plan to dedicate the millions they’re gonna make to the poor.”

“So what’s wrong with that?” Destiny asked with a grin.

“You ever seen one
real
dude that looks even close to one of them?” retorted Romi.

“Well, no, but that’s why I
look
so hard. When I see him, I’ll know. I will see his tight turquoise butt in the distance on the beach—”

“We live in Ohio. Which beach would that be?”

“Quit steppin’ on my dream. He will know too. He’ll be my soul mate. He will see my slim, supple body, my long, flowing hair, my perfect white teeth—”

“He must have forgotten his glasses then!”

“Now just stop. When I find him, you’ll take back all your jokes. My soul mate is out there. I know it. He’s searching for me too.”

“Reality calling Destiny … He’s not there yet. What did you find in the magazine that you need forty-five dollars for?”

“Oh! I almost forgot what I wanted to show you. It’s called the Scientific Soul Mate System! It’s just perfect!”

“You got to be kidding,” Romi said with a grin.

“No, for real. You know you believe in soul mates. You just think you’re gonna find yours when you’re twenty-five. I can’t wait that long. I need a date for the prom by June. I gotta find him now! There’s nothing that says I can’t speed up the process. Check this out. Here’s the ad. It’s even got my name in it!”

The Scientific Soul Mate System

Do you feel the soul of another calling to you? Do you know in your heart that your destiny and his were meant to merge in the cosmos? We can help you find him.

The Scientific Soul Mate System has been designed to help you find that special someone. The kit includes everything you need.

1. The Dream Wish Candle
—Specially scented with the aroma of raspberries, known to enhance dream images. Simply light the candle before you go to sleep, and let the gentle smell of raspberries lead you to the dream of that special someone. (Candles are shipped in a sturdy globe for maximum safety.)

2. The Dream Ointment
—Rub just a dab on each temple each evening. Feel the tingle of the peppermint-based salve as it penetrates your consciousness and helps to visualize the dream image.

3. The Dream Tape
—Selected instrumental music with rhythms that match the human heartbeat. Play this softly near you as you sleep. The dream of your soul mate is only a heartbeat away.

4. The Dream Journal—
Keep this near your bed so that when you awaken in the morning you can capture the dream images before they disappear. Special Dream Pen included at no extra cost.