Amigas and School Scandals Read Online Free PDF Page B

you talk to her?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGreat,” Uncle Diego hissed. His knuckles whitened as he continued to grip the shiny steel knife. Then he thrust the blunt weapon at my father like a pointer. “Well, did you tell her how her horrible excuse for a mother ran us out of town? How she ruined our family? How our mother was never the same again, because of her ?”
    â€œNo, it wasn’t like that... .”
    â€œThen, there was a lot you could have done, Lorenzo. You chose not to. And you know what? I’m choosing to get the hell out of here.” He slammed the knife on the table, his eyes large and black.
    â€œDiego!” my aunt yelled.
    â€œDon’t!” he screamed at his wife through clenched teeth.
    Then he snatched his keys from the picnic table and charged toward the back door of our house, my aunt and cousins chasing after him.
    â€œDad!” I yelled, my eyes pleading. “Do something!”
    But my dad just stood there, motionless, watching his brother storm away.
    Â 
    â€œWhat in the world were you thinking?” I asked Lilly, plopping down on the picnic bench beside her.
    The guests around us were starting to disperse. The spectacle was over and apparently enough to trigger the end of the festivities.
    â€œI don’t know. I didn’t think he’d react like that... .”
    â€œLilly, I get that maybe your family back home tells each other everything. But I told you that’s not how it works here.” I shook my head at her, my red hair flopping into my eyes.
    â€œI know, I just thought that maybe you guys could benefit from a little honesty. Maybe if I got the ball rolling ...”
    â€œYa got the ball rolling all right!” Vince exclaimed with a cocky smile. “No need to ease into it or anything.”
    â€œUm, Mariana, what’s going on?” Emily asked softly as she strolled up behind me with Madison on her heels.
    â€œIt’s a long story,” I mumbled, stroking my forehead. I could feel a headache forming behind my eyes in throbbing waves.
    I looked at Madison and Emily, and for the first time since I got off the plane from Puerto Rico, they looked like my old friends. Madison’s face was soft and concerned. I squished over on the picnic bench and made room for them beside me.
    â€œIt all started at Lilly’s Quinceañera ... .” I explained, launching into the story.
    I relayed every detail, from my insulting a stranger’s screaming child at church to finding out that that stranger was my illegitimate aunt. I watched as Madison and Emily’s jaws sunk towards the freshly mowed grass below.
    We were the only ones left at the now defunct barbeque. My Uncle Roberto and his family left immediately after my Uncle Diego, not saying a word. Almost all my parents’ friends and neighbors slowly skulked away, pretending not to notice that anything uncomfortable had happened. Vince’s friends quickly followed their lead, mumbling something about wanting to test their fake IDs before heading off to college.
    â€œI had no idea any of that happened,” Emily mumbled.
    â€œWell, it isn’t exactly something you put in an e-mail.” I tossed my head back and stared at the branches of the oak tree stretched above us.
    I used to climb those knotty branches when I was little. My dad would scream at me to get down, certain that I would hurt myself. I never did. It seemed funny now to think of the things that my parents chose to protect me from, while ignoring the things that really scarred.
    â€œWell, this chick’s in Puerto Rico, right? It’s not like you’re ever gonna see her again,” Madison pointed out. “Can’t you just forget about her?”
    Lilly groaned.
    â€œWhat?” Madison shrugged.
    â€œThe woman is her aunt and her father’s sister. She’s not just ‘some chick.’ She’s family.”
    â€œFamily they were happily living