CHAPTER 11
Lucy
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FIRST THING IN THE morning I meet Ro and Leti out front. I dress in jeans and a white tank top with a gray sweater—no color. I’m getting used to the dress code.
“Hey,” Leti says. “Angel came by with Toño after you left, said you would be coming with us to the game. Guess you two be a thing now?” I can hear the mockery in her voice.
“Yeah, I guess. That’s kind of the impression I got.”
“He wouldn’t shut up about you last night,” Ro says. “It was like, annoying. We tried to call you out, but you didn’t wake up when we was at your window. Listen for us tonight.”
“All right I will. When the boys getting here?”
“Toño said they were on their way. They’ll be at the corner soon. You ready?”
We walk out of the trailer park and around the block. Sure enough they are on their boards heading straight for us. When Angel gets close enough he jumps off his and scoops me up in his arms to kiss me.
“Que guapa, mami.”
I laugh at the compliment. “Okay, okay,” I say, rushing him to put me down. I’m too nervous and panicky to enjoy his attention. The game is at the same park as the fight.
As we approach I don’t know what I’m more afraid of, the girls being there again, or finding a collection of Catholic candles and dried flowers on the bench where I lost myself.
Thankfully I find neither. Instead there are familiar faces, friends sitting on picnic tables next to the court. But my eyes stay on that bench.
“It’s okay,” Angel says, tugging me along. “Nobody’s going to get through unnoticed. There’s always lookouts posted up.”
I look around, still tense, but follow him to the table taking a seat on the grass next to Leti and Ro. After Angel and Toño hit the court, the game starts. Reggaeton music plays from somewhere behind us. The girls are talking about someone I don’t know, so I just zone out and enjoy the sun. The guys are yelling at each other over fouls and things, but laughter keeps it light-hearted. I only close my eyes for a second.
A loud pop makes me jump and my eyelids flick open. Veronica grabs my head and forces me and Leti to the ground. A mix of fear and anger surges into my chest as I ready myself to fight the queen, only she’s not hitting me. She’s hovering over me like a mother.
I get a chance to look up, and at the same time three more pops go off. Vee pushes my head down again before I see anything. Then she’s grabbing my arm and yanking me up and pushing me forward. “Run, Guera. Get moving. Everyone move!” she screams.
I can’t move. Not yet. I search for Angel. He’s still on the court, running toward me. There are lots of cars parked along the road, but only one driving by—a white El Camino. Three guns are pointed out its window.
Another pop and Angel falls. I’m a scarecrow in a field of bullets.
There are two others down on the court with him.
Angel starts screaming, but doesn’t stand. Instead he pulls a gun from his pants and starts shooting back.
“Fucking move, Guera,” Vee tells me again, yanking my arm. “I can’t leave you here. Let’s go. He’s got himself, don’t trip. We have to move.”
I tear my eyes away from Angel as the sirens approach. It feels wrong to leave him, but my heart is in a thick knot. I’m scared. Everything is happening so fast, I just do what Vee tells me.
A group of us run. I follow blindly, focusing on my breath and my feet pounding on the pavement. Finally I hear them trying to figure out a place to hide. Their words are rushed, but not frantic, choosing the best place from a list they already know.
“Fuck, I hope Toño got Angel’s glock. He didn’t have anything else on him right, Guera?” Veronica looks at me, waiting for my answer as we slow to a walk behind a 7-Eleven. It takes me a minute to realize she’s talking to me.
“I have no idea. I didn’t even know he had a gun.”
“Shit, I guess we’ll have to wait and see. We need to get to Kim’s and stash our shit before we go to the hospital and find out how the guys are.”
The sound of their conversation grows distant as I let myself sink onto the curb, and bury my face in my hands.
“Pull it together, Guera. You can’t do this now!” Vee snaps and gestures for me to get back on my feet. “Go with Ro to the hospital. We need to take care of some things.”
I don’t get any more details on what they’re going to take care of, and I don’t care. The hospital sounds like a safe place to be. So I nod and follow Ro who tells me it’s not far. I’m amazed at how casually they split up, not much different than deciding where to hang out for the night, but apparently this has happened before. They all seem to know what to do and where the guys will end up.
She tries to soothe my silent tears as we walk the alleyways, staying out of sight. “They just got his leg, Guera. Trust me. He’s had worse. It’s going to be all right. He was shooting back so he’s okay. I’m sure Toño got his gun, and he didn’t have anything else on him.”
When we get to the hospital, the cops are everywhere.
“What if they’re looking for someone with my description?” I ask Ro, stopping a ways off. “You know? Because of Littles?”
“They can’t prove anything,” she says tugging me along. She says it so convincingly I want to believe her, but deep down I’m sure they could.
I pass by several policemen with the terrifying feeling they know everything.
None of them give me a second glance, but I’m a sweaty mess by the time we get inside.
As we wait on squared off matching chairs, Ro must sense my paranoia. She spends the whole time explaining that if Littles were dead, there would be a shit ton of flowers and balloons on that bench. We’d know. Word spreads quickly, even amongst different gangs. She makes a good point.
When we finally find out Angel’s room number, we head up the elevator. The door is open, but before I get a chance to see him, a nurse ushers us away.
She’s a young bubbly blonde, and I’m immediately jealous.
“He’s not ready for visitors.” Her ponytail bobs as she shakes her head. “The waiting room is around the corner.”
I plant my feet and peer around her trying to see. “Is he okay, though?” I ask. “Where was he shot?”
“He’ll be fine,” she chimes, like a high school cheerleader. Then she closes the door in my face.
They make us wait another hour to see him, but Ro isn’t as programmed to follow rules as I am. She sneaks up to the door and cracks it enough to hear what’s going on.
“It was his leg, like I thought,” she reports back. “They’re taking him for an x-ray to see if the bone is broken.”
I melt into the blue plastic seat, both relieved and disappointed that we’ll have to wait even longer to see him.
“You can go home if you want,” I tell her.
“What? No way. As soon as that dumb-ass Barbie is out of there, I’m sneaking in.”
I light up at the idea. “Really?”
And that’s exactly what we do.
“Hey, Guera.” Angel sits up straighter and winces as he adjusts. “How’d you like the game?”
I can’t tell if he’s serious, but I laugh. “It was a little intense. Are you okay? What happened?”
His hair has lost the shiny, gelled spike and is laying flat, but I kind of like it that way.
“They got me on the leg pretty good. I won’t be able to board for a while, but at least I won’t be in a chair. They’re gonna give me crutches and want me to stay overnight.”
The sheets are covering his legs, but my eyes still search for the place the wound might be. I can’t imagine what it feels like to get shot.
“Cops had some questions,” he continues, “but I’m not a rat. Kept my mouth shut, so they left me alone easy enough.”
“What about the gun?” I whisper, almost mouthing the words in complete silence.
“Toño has it. No worries, baby. We have a system.”
“Well I’m just glad you’re okay. I was freaking out.”
I stay with him for a while, talking about what happened while Ro makes it her job to check on the other guys. We laugh about how she’s probably sneaking around the hospital mission-impossible style wearing nurse’s scrubs.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” the cheerleader nurse says as she enters.
“Oh, I thought it was okay now,” I lie.
She gives me a look, like she’s heard that before, and I decide not to push it.
“See you soon,” I whisper to Angel before I duck under her laser beam stare.