The Light in the Wound (6 page)

“Hi, nice to meet you, Jesse. Alicia, I’m gonna go and get us those Cokes.” I smiled at him.

And just like that I walked away from Jesse Cain.

I never really made it back with the Cokes. On my way to the bar, I saw some of John’s friends, and we ended up hanging out and catching up. There was quite a bit of flirting back and forth, and by the time we were exchanging phone numbers, Evie was rounding us up so we could get home in time for our curfew. As we walked out into the driveway and over to the waiting car, Alicia subtly grabbed my arm and pointed her head to the right of my direction. Handsome Boy was leaning casually against his car with his arms across his chest, watching us as we entered the car and drove away.

“Isa, did you know who that guy was?” Alicia asked, somewhat exasperated with me for some reason.

“No, who?”

“You were kind of standoffish. He’s only the crush of the entire high school.”

“Isa is an ice queen,” Evie said, laughing, and I laughed along with her.

“Ali, don’t you know by now? Boys are just trouble. Stay away from them and just focus on your studies.” And with that, I turned up the car radio and got lost in my thoughts.

Minutes later, Handsome Boy’s face popped up in my head.

“Ali, what year is he?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“He’s our age, Isa.”

I nodded and went back to secretly worrying about my mother and what she was doing that night. Earlier that evening, I had insisted on staying home to watch some movies with her, but my sisters wouldn’t hear any of it. They were very excited to reintroduce me to the world I knew and left three years ago.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”

—Buddha

A few weeks passed after Evie’s party and things were starting to settle down at home. I spent quite a bit of my free time with Gracie. She was so sweet and so lovable and aside from an occasional mild seizure and her lower birth weight, we didn’t see any serious side effects of my mother’s drug dependency while she was pregnant. We were told to expect some learning disabilities along the way, but so far Gracie seemed to be focused and alert. Our home life was often tense and stressful. My mother was always on edge, trying to please the new man in her life. He had a wife and family who often called our house to harass her and to demand that she send him back home to them.

Evie and Alicia still lived with my grandparents on my father’s side, but I saw them every day after school. My father had since married a woman fifteen years his junior that he met while she was a contestant in a small beauty pageant. Speaking of grandparents, my mother’s parents were not communicating with me and had been very upset when they returned from their trip to find me gone. Still, my grandfather continued to send my mother the funds needed for my daily support. I sent them a letter thanking them and promised that I would continue to work hard at making them proud of me someday.

School was also going well. I was alone during the actual school day since my old friends were all one grade ahead of me. Alicia tried her best to include me with her group of friends, but catching up on code or stolen glances or mid-sentence conversations was a very exhausting process. One late afternoon, I decided to walk to the park adjacent to the school while waiting for Alicia, who had softball practice. I sped past a group of girls laughing as one of them rolled the dice and threw it across a board game. One of the girls looked up at me and smiled, and I smiled right back.

“Hi, wanna join us? We’re playing Scattegories.” The girl was slightly smaller than me, petite and very fit with beautiful long, shiny dark hair.

“No, thank you. I’m just waiting for my sister to come out of practice.”

“They should be done soon. We saw them running laps just a few minutes ago. We’re from the other high school, waiting to practice on the field. My name is Betty Turner, and these are my friends from the track team.” Betty and I started talking and exchanged phone numbers after we discovered that we were wearing the exact same brand of watch.

On the way home in the car, Alicia casually mentioned, “Isa, guess who asked about you today?”

“Let me guess, Ali. Mrs. Martinez, who has been asking me to join the Glee Club. When will she finally get that I can’t sing?” I answered.

“No, not her! Jesse Cain asked about you again.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing, really. Asked why you came home, if you were going back to Canada, and if you ever planned on watching any of our games.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him that you’re not really into sports!”

“Alicia! That’s not true! What do you call my riding?”

“Riding around on a horse all day isn’t really a sport.”

A few weeks had passed and life was uneventful. I was focused on spending time with Grace, and my mother was either sleeping a lot or out with her friends. There were daily fights and emotional screaming matches between her and her boyfriend.
Nothing new. Same old routine again.
I had taken to becoming the mother of the house, running the budget, giving instructions for Gracie, while my mother slept through it all. When she was awake and lucid, she was the best mother she could ever be. Loving and attentive, she always aimed to please her girls. But she was also moody and delusional, often telling us that she could spend all she wanted, knowing that her parents would bail her out of any financial bind. She also had a crying fit when she found out that my father’s new wife had given birth to a son.

One afternoon as I walked toward the school gates to wait for my ride, I saw a familiar figure standing by the entrance, his back turned toward me. I noticed him right away. It appeared that he was looking outside, waiting for someone. His hair was slightly longer and he was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. His gym bag was slung upon his shoulder as he leaned on the gate with one leg crossed over the other. Everything about him — his stance, his build, his hair, the back of his neck — was perfect. I walked straight past, trying my best not to brush against him as students swirled past the gates hurrying to get out of the school premises.

“Isabel.” That voice. Deep and raspy.

I kept walking until I felt his presence right behind me. He touched my shoulder and a million electric sparks coursed through my body.

“Isabel, please wait up,” he pleaded. “I was waiting for you to get out of class. I’ve been wanting to call you, but Alicia wouldn’t give me your phone number.”

Someone as good looking and popular as him is really asking for my phone number? Why would he want to call me?

My heart was beating in my chest, and I was suddenly nervous. He was just so unassuming, almost like he didn’t really know that he had it going on.
A few high school girls shuffled past us, trying to get his attention. Each one had a ridiculously giddy smile painted on her face.

“What can I do for you, Jesse?” I asked. I was sincerely baffled as to what he would need from me.

He nodded his head at the swooning girls, his face blank and expressionless as he turned away from them to face me. “I was wondering if you’d like to go see a movie with me sometime.” He fidgeted with his hair, brushing it back repeatedly with his hand.

“Sure,” I answered. “Just give me a call and we’ll plan something.” I reached for my pen, wrote my number down, and handed him a torn piece of paper. “See ya!”

My phone rang just minutes after I arrived home that afternoon.

“Hi, Isabel, it’s Jesse. Do you think you can go out tonight? Maybe just for coffee?” he inquired nervously.

“Sorry, Jesse. I’m really tired today. Can we do this some other time?” I answered as I glanced around the living room to see whether my mother was home.

“Sure. How’s everything? How has your first month back been?” Just the way he sounded made me feel like I was talking to an old friend.

“It’s been going well. I feel like I have so much to catch up on for school,” I responded.

“I know what you mean. Do you have plans of returning to Canada anytime soon?” His tone was cautious as he asked me this.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I lied. “It depends on what happens to me this year,” I continued.

“Give it a chance, Isabel. I’m sure you’ll love it here. I’ll make sure you do,” he said, slowly and deliberately.

I think I might get used to this guy.

We talked for an hour that night. Many awkward periods of silence characterized our conversation. It seemed like all he wanted to do was pepper me with questions. I did learn that he came from a family of four children and about his love for the game of baseball. He spoke about having to coach part time to earn some extra money for college. I found out that not only was he on the varsity baseball team, but he was also Student Council President of his school. Finally, we spoke about his plans to attend a local college in the city. It was nice to have a new friend, and for no other reason than that, I enjoyed our telephone conversation that night.

A week later, Jesse asked me if I wanted to watch him play baseball in a home game at his high school. I didn’t really have any weekend plans, so I asked Betty to come to the game with me. Betty was actually dating a popular model who wasn’t exactly in good graces with her parents. She jumped at the opportunity to have him meet us at the game. That afternoon, we made sure to arrive fashionably late and cut through the side of the field to get to the stands while the game was in progress.