“Uh-uh. You whores aren’t about to jump my bitch,” she yelled and got the girls off Taina.

  It wasn’t the first fight Taina and Marisol had gotten into together, but they always shut things down. The two girls came out with a few scrapes and bruises, but they always looked better than their opponents. That time was no different.

  “Come on, let’s go before those fuck boys show up,” Taina said and grabbed her book bag off the floor and Marisol’s hand so that they could run out of the classroom together.

  When they were out in the hallway, they decided to go to the usual spot where they cut class together, behind the stairwell at the very back of the school.

  “Fuck,” Marisol said when they sat on the cold marble floor. “We were just about to get to my favorite part in Hamlet.”

  “You are such a nerd, dude,” Taina said, unzipping her bag. “Where the trees at?”

  She took out a pack of regular Swisher Sweets cigarillos and removed one from the pack. Then she gutted it, and Marisol took out her weed and broke it down with her pink grinder.

  “This is some good shit,” Marisol said. “I got it from my brother’s stash.”

  “One day, he’s going to find out you’ve been stealing his weed.” Taina giggled.

  “Well, for your sake, you better hope he doesn’t. Here.” She handed the broken down weed to Taina, who put it in the brown wrap.

  She rolled the blunt so perfectly that a pothead would have envied it. The two girls took turns hitting the blunt and passing it.

  “I’m glad you finally beat Selena’s ass,” Marisol said. “Everybody thinks you’re some frail princess, but you showed them fuckers today.”

  Taina nodded her head. Her father taught her how to fight when she was very young, despite her mother’s dislike.

  “I hate that bitch,” Taina said. “She’s such a hater. Mrs. Ross too. My mom said she tried to trap my papi with a kid and . . . Well, you don’t want to know what my mom did. Anyways, what did you say this shit was called again? ’Cause it’s hitting.”

  “I didn’t say,” a high Marisol laughed. “But my brother said it’s called Starburst or something. I told you it was some good shit.”

  When they finished smoking, their eyes were low and bloodshot red. Knowing that they had more classes to go to, Marisol took out some eyedrops for them to use and some perfume spray.

  “That’s why you’re my bitch,” Taina said as she used the drops.

  Just as they finished getting rid of the evidence and took one step from behind the stairwell, they saw one of the school security guards and the principal headed their way. Marisol hurriedly stuffed the grinder in her book bag, and the girls walked toward the two men.

  “What’s up, Principal Schroeder?” Marisol asked, her voice low and even.

  Principal Schroeder was a man in his late forties with a head full of white hair. His face held many wrinkles from frowning at the students who frequented his office daily. That day he’d heard an urgent request for security being called for Taina Capello over his walkie-talkie. From the sounds of it, he knew he’d better be present for the pickup, but upon arriving at the classroom, he was informed that she and Marisol Ramos had fled. He searched the empty halls of the school for the two girls for more than thirty minutes before he finally found them.

  “Hey, Principal Schroeder,” Taina greeted him in a stoner trance.

  He looked back and forth between the two young women and noticed something was off about them. He knew they were high out of their minds by the grins on their faces and the fact that the tops of their eyelids were basically touching their bottom ones. He breathed deeply and looked at the security officer standing slightly behind him.

  “Take Marisol and escort her to her next class,” he said. “Taina, you come with me.”

  The girls went to protest, but one stern look from Principal Schroeder silenced them.

  “See you at lunch, chica,” Marisol said to Taina before the young security guard led her off.

  “Follow me,” Principal Schroeder instructed Taina.

  She followed him, already knowing he was about to take her to his office to talk with her one-on-one. It never failed. He saw Taina in his office every other week or once a month. Either way, it was far too much for his liking. He led her through the whole school until they got to his office, where he opened the doors and walked through with Taina close behind him. She smiled at the young secretaries, who shook their heads when they saw her.

  “Not again, Taina,” one of them named Jen said.

  She was the only one Taina seemed to like in the whole office. She stared at Taina with knowing eyes. Instead of responding with words, Taina put her hands up and shrugged her shoulders. She was sure that Jen knew all about the fight.

  Taina followed Principal Schroeder back. He opened a glass door leading to his office. The office was spacious and neat. The walls were off-white, and he had a flat-screen TV hanging from the ceiling. She looked around at all his pictures on the walls.

  That’s when he went fishing. That’s when his wife had their son. That’s when he became principal.

  Taina mentally recited the happenings of his photos as she sat down across Principal Schroeder’s desk. He stared into her eyes briefly as if waiting for her to speak first. When she didn’t say a word, he sighed. Taina’s folder was already sitting on his desk, but he pushed it aside instead of looking through it.

  “Aren’t you growing tired of seeing my office?”

  “Never,” she said with a smile. “It’s so interesting here. Why would I ever get tired of seeing such a place?”

  The principal heard the sarcasm in her voice and shook his head.

  “I think you behaved much better when your father had those bodyguards accompanying you to class,” he said.

  “I would be just fine if you would tell the teachers here to watch their mouths,” Taina snapped back. “I would never get in trouble if people just talked to me right.”

  “You are a student. It is your responsibility to respect the teachers. And fighting is something we can’t tolerate in this school.”

  “So, basically, you’re saying that it is OK for these teachers to talk to me crazy, but I can’t defend myself verbally? And it is OK for a girl to try to trip me just as long as I don’t hit her back? Why isn’t she in the office too?”

  “She is in the nurse’s office, that’s why.”

  “That’s what that bitch gets,” Taina said, folding her arms with a smug expression. She leaned back in her seat and looked the principal square in his eyes. “Because I’m sure that’s the only form of discipline she will receive.”

  “Look, Taina, I’m not sure what happened in that classroom today. All I know is that several witnesses are saying that you took your frustration with Mrs. Ross out on Selena.”

  “And how believable does that sound, Schroeder? Whenever I come into your stupid office, you never believe me or anything I say. So you know what? Forget it. Give me detention, in-school suspension, or whatever. I don’t care.”

  Principal Schroeder thumbed through her file and saw it read of a troubled kid. No discipline seemed to work with her, and whenever he called home, one of the Capellos’ many housekeepers always answered the phone. He had tried to schedule conferences with her parents, but only her mother always came. And he felt that Taina and her mother didn’t exactly see eye to eye when it came to certain things.

  “It’s to the point where I don’t know what to do with you anymore, Taina. And because your father made one of the most generous donations to the school, I am not able to suspend or expel you.”

  Taina translated that to, “Your father put too much money into this school that we have already spent, so I know that if I get rid of you, Denny Capello will kill me.”

  She shook her head. Nobody cared about her, and Principal Schroeder’s following statement proved that.

  “Just do me a favor and try to keep your nose clean for the next few months, OK? You get good enough grades, and you graduate soon. The sooner you can get your diploma, the sooner you can be out of this school and out of my hair. Deal?”

  “Whatever,” she responded, looking at the ground.

  Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of his office. Before he could answer, the secretary Jen opened it.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but I have a student here looking for his class schedule. He’s the new student.”

  “No problem, I was just done here,” Principal Schroeder said. “Send him on in.”

  Taina glanced up when she heard footsteps walking inside the office. Her heart skipped a beat when they fell on the most handsome boy she had ever seen in her life. He was a tall Latino and had the most gorgeous eyes in the universe. His brown hair was a nice length, not too long or too short, but trimmed nicely.

  When he saw Taina staring, he flashed her a perfect white smile, and his already high cheekbones rose even higher. He was a pretty boy, but something about him read the complete opposite of that. He was dressed in the school uniform, but Taina was drooling at the sight of his muscles that were defined clear as day through his blazer.

  “Hey,” he said to her.

  “H . . . hey.” Taina swallowed her spit and waved a shaky hand.

  “Jen, can you please get somebody to escort Taina back to class for me? I’m not sending her home today, but I also don’t want any more fights breaking out in the hallways.”

  Jen winked at Taina, seeing how she looked at the new student.

  “Come on, Laila Ali,” she said. “Let’s get you back to class.”

  Taina stood up, and the boy took her seat. She was about to follow Jen, but right before she exited the office, she heard the boy’s voice being directed at her again.

  “Taina,” he said, causing her to whip her head around. “I like that name.”

  “Thank you.” She returned his smile. “What’s your name?”

  “Mario.”

  “Mario? Hmm . . . Fits you. Well, I’ll see you around, Mario.”

  “I hope so.”

  Taina hurried up and turned around before he could see her face turn beet red. Jen gave her a knowing look when she shut Principal Schroeder’s door behind them. She called a security guard with her walkie-talkie to show Taina to her next class. He showed up in no time, but Jen grabbed her hand gently before he left with Taina.

  “Can this please be the last time I see you in this office?” she asked.

  “I can’t make any promises,” Taina told her with a sly smile. “But I can try to make my next visit not so soon.”

  Chapter 5

  “Oh my gosh, girl, he was so fine,” Taina told Marisol at lunch. “I have never seen anybody look so good except for, like, on the internet.”

  Taina had been waiting for her lunch period for what seemed like a whole year. When the bell finally rang in her AP Psychology class, she jetted out of the hallway to meet Marisol in the cafeteria. She spotted Em instantly at the table they sat at every day with a few other girls, but Taina didn’t care for them to know her business all like that. She sat down and spoke to her friend in a low, excited voice.

  “So is he, like, here for the whole day? Like, did he start school here already?” Marisol asked, happy that her friend finally had a crush.

  She had secretly started to think that her friend was going the other way because she never gave any guys at their school a chance. She was genuinely excited to see her girl interested in a boy. She could see the giddiness in Taina’s eyes when she spoke about him and could only imagine what he looked like.

  “Well, he was getting his class schedule, so I would assume that he did start today. He was also in his uniform.”

  “See? It was meant for you to beat the shit out of Selena today. If you hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have had to go to the office, and you wouldn’t have met the man of your dreams.”

  Taina burst out laughing. Marisol was really into that “destiny” mumbo jumbo, and she truly felt that everything happened for a reason, that there was never anything left up to chance.

  “Uh, man of my dreams?” Taina raised her eyebrow, still laughing. “I don’t know about that, but he is sexy. Come on. There are enough girls here to hold the table down. Let’s get in the lunch line.”

  The two of them walked through all the students who had lunch that period to get to one of the two lunch lines in the middle of the cafeteria. They pouted because the line was so long, and they had to take their place behind it.

  “Taina?”

  Taina heard a familiar voice call her name. She leaned back and looked up the line. What she saw made her smile. Mario was waving at her and telling the two of them to come cut him in line.

  “Come on.” Taina grabbed Marisol’s hand and dragged her to the front of the line.

  When Marisol’s eyes laid on Mario, she understood why her friend’s mind was so gone. The boy was fine.

  “Well, uh, hello,” Marisol said, nudging Taina with her shoulder, giving her the silent “OK.”

  “Hey.” Mario flashed them a charming smile. “You are?”

  “Her best friend. My name is Marisol. I already know your name. No need to introduce yourself.”

  If looks could kill, Taina would have sent Marisol to an early death. Mario saw this and burst out laughing.

  “Well, I’m glad I could make a lasting impression.” He winked at a very embarrassed and speechless Taina.

  Luckily for her, it was her turn to grab a tray and choose her lunch. Taina wasn’t a salad-eating girl, so she chose a greasy hamburger and fries and bought a lemonade with the tab her father had for her. When she reached the end of the line, she entered in her school ID and waited for the other two to join her.

  “Do you have anywhere to sit?” Taina asked Mario. “If not, you can sit with us.”

  She looked at the table they had just come from and saw only two available seats. She looked at Marisol for help, knowing that this might be her only chance to make an impression on him. She’d already seen the other girls eyeing him like a hawk, and she wanted to sink her claws in him first. Marisol was quick on her feet. She spotted an empty table not too far from where they were standing and pointed it out to them.

  “You two go sit over there,” Marisol said. “I’ll go sit at our usual table. I’ll see you after school, B.”

  She gave Mario another look of approval before taking her food tray back to the table she originated from. Taina led the way to the table Marisol pointed out, noticing all the jealous looks thrown her way. She spotted Selena at a table with all her friends staring hatefully at her as she sat alone with Mario.

  “So,” Taina started when they were across from each other, “what’s up with you? Why did you transfer here when the school year is almost up? Are you a senior?”

  Mario looked at Taina with a blank face. “I mean, can I start my food before you start asking me all these questions?”

  Taina instantly knew that she had messed up.

  “I . . . I’m sor—” She stopped in the middle of her apology when Mario burst into a grin.

  “Hey, I’m just fuckin’ with you. Chill.”

  “You dick.” Taina swatted him playfully on the arm.

  “Nah, seriously, I’m not about to eat this nasty shit anyways,” he said, making a face at his plate. “This shit looks deadly.”

  Taina laughed so hard she almost choked on the piece of burger in her mouth.

  “See? I’m cool on that.”

  “You’re so stupid,” Taina said, still laughing.

  “Never that.” Mario winked at her, causing her to blush. “But to answer your questions, my family moves a lot. Well, what I have left of a family. When my uncle died, it kind of tore up my family. Nobody has gotten along in years. I moved here with a different uncle and aunt not too long ago. She gave me a choice of working or finishing my senior year.”

  “That’s deep,” Taina said, adding shyly, “Well, I’m glad they chose New York as the move.”

  “Me too . . . now.” Mario grabbed Taina’s hand, using his thumb to rub it.

  OK . . . Is this what happens in the movies? Does it happen this fast? OK, Taina . . . breathe. Don’t trip out and scare him away, she thought, trying to force the butterflies out of her stomach.

  “Now, what about you? So far, all I know is that you’re the most beautiful girl in the school, and you like to fight. I’m sure there is more to your storybook.”

  “Well, if you must know, yes, I did fight today . . . I’ve gotten into a lot of fights, actually,” she said, using her free hand to play with the food on her tray. “But the truth is that I hate to fight. I don’t like causing other people physical pain. You have to really push me to that point. And at this school, I get tested a lot because of who my father is.”

  “What? Does he own the school or something?”

  “No, but he runs the streets of New York.” Taina sighed.

  “You say that like your dad is Denny Capello or something.” Mario laughed and looked at Taina, hoping she would laugh with him.

  When she didn’t, he quickly pulled his hand away from hers like he was touching some off-limits property.

  “See,” Taina said to him, shaking her head. “Now you’re going to treat me like I’m poisonous just like everyone else.”

  Mario saw that he had genuinely hurt Taina’s feelings and replaced his hand on top of hers. But as he did so, he looked around, and Taina seemed to know exactly what he was looking for.

  “My father decided to give me a little more space this year—no more goons following me around. I got tired of being crowded all the time. I just want to be a normal girl.”

  “Well, I’m sorry to put it to you like this, but you’re something like a princess . . . There ain’t nothing normal about that.”

  Taina made a face at him.

  “Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

  “I’m just saying, but why would he not have anybody here to protect you?”

  “Oh, trust me, they’re here. They’re outside of the building, though, making sure that everybody who isn’t supposed to be here stays out while I’m in here.”