|
I
decided that it made much more sense not
to tell my parents that I got suspended
for two days for fighting with Juan. I
figured that if they knew about it, there
would be this big scene with my mother
yelling and my father hanging his head the
way he does when one of us kids
disappoints him. I would rather have him
take a smack at me then to look at me with
those sad brown eyes of his, like I had
not only disgraced him and my mother, but
all of our ancestors. Man! I don't need
that! Besides I feel bad enough as it
is.
So I
decided not to say anything to anyone and
just hang out somewhere for the next
couple of days. I 'm not talking about
running away or anything, just to be out
of the house during the day so my family
would think that I was at
school.
The
first day, Wednesday, I went to the mall
where I ran into Chaz. He was out of
school for the afternoon 'cause he had a
dentist appointment or something and
decided that it wasn't worth it to go back
to school just for two hours. If he didn't
know about the fight and my suspension, he
didn't say anything. Even if he did know
about it, he just acted like it was the
most natural thing in the world for the
two of us to be there in front of the
arcade a little before lunch on a weekday.
Fine with me, I probably would have made
up some lie if he asked me and this way, I
didn't have to. So we went into the arcade
and played a few games.
We spent
about a half hour playing "Area 51," where
you have to shoot contaminated military
personnel. We were doing great. I made
Sargent and he made Corporal. But we used
up all our money, which was stupid
because, we were pretty hungry to start
with and by the time we finished playing,
we were like starving. So Chaz suggested
we walk over to his house, which isn't all
that far from the mall.
I
couldn't believe the house Chaz lives in.
Big front lawn, wooden floors all
polished, the kinda furniture that looks
like what you see in a store, you know,
that no one ever sits in. And he had this
really big stone fireplace, with paintings
hanging on the walls. And in the kitchen,
there was a microwave and a cordless phone
and a digital washing machine (yeah! it
had a control panel!) And there was this
giant refrigerator that kinda looked like
a wooden cabinet and it was just packed
with all kinds of stuff. You know, like
fancy bottled juices and all these
different kinds of cheeses and sliced
meats. There were packaged salads and even
sushi! Oh, and in the freezer there were
muffins, cookies and ice cream and they
even had a filtered water set up attached
to the refrigerator door! Like a soda
machine, you know, where you press the cup
against the front of the machine and your
cup gets filled. You could even get cubed
or crushed ice to go with your filtered
water just by pushing a button and letting
it fall into your cup! Man, it was
cool.
At least
that's what I was thinking at first but
then when Chaz showed me his room, which
he does not share with his brother, I
started thinking how different our lives
are. I mean, of course I thought about
that as soon as I saw his house, but it
really hit me when we were in his room.
The nice big desk, the suped up computer,
the microscope, the boom box, the CD
collection, the hundreds of books! I never
would have guessed that Chaz was so... I
dunno. I mean, the guy doesn't have a car
or anything and he sure doesn't wear
expensive threads. I just thought he was
just a regular skater dude and now I
realize that he's, like rich.
After
we'd hung out at his house for a while, I
told him I had to get home. He said he
felt like walking and so he'd walk over to
my house with me. I told him I didn't
think that was a good idea since my little
brother had a cold. Don't ask me why I
lied! I just did. So I left and told Chaz
I'd see him around.
|
