A few days after the last day of school but before the weekend before he was supposed to ritear to Los Montoyas, Boy went bike riding with his cuatche, Jerry. Boy had no destination in mind. He was just gonna follow Jerry. Jerry, on the other hand, had a specific destination he was going to: the school district administration building.
When they got there half an hour into their ride, Boy offered to wait outside and guard their bikes. Jerry said, no.
“I brought a big lock for both bikes. My mom said I need to sign up for summer school or do chores for her and her sisters all summer. She said here’s where to sign up. Let’s sign up together,” he told Boy.
Boy shrugged his shoulders and followed Jerry into the building.
“I’m gonna do a history and math class,” Jerry told Boy when they were at the signing office.
“Me too,” said Boy, not thinking what he was doing.
But when they went to sign up, the only classes available were Algebra and Biology. And there was a $10 signup fee.
“I’ll pay your part. You can pay me back later,” Jerry told Boy.
The dilemma struck Boy immediately. He couldn’t back out on his cuatche, but this meant not going to Los Montoyas for the summer for the first time in his life.
Boy he stayed.
The classes were small in size, both led by friendly teachers. Mostly boys. No girls at all in math. Two in biology. One tall and brawny. The other short and thin.
The tall girl smiled at Boy at the start of the first day. And it went downhill from there.
“I think she likes you,” Jerry said.
Boy didn’t like the idea, as the girl was bigger than him and rude.
“Hey, you like fossils?” she once asked Boy loudly, showing him a hardened piece of poop from the snake pen in the classroom.
Her chatter grew more forward as the week went on. Then it peaked on Friday.
“Hey, you wanna kiss after class,” she said to Boy from across the room.
Boy was embarrassed. This had never happened. He’d never kissed a girl. He tried not to even look in her direction. But it didn’t deter his pursuer.
When the class was over, she yanked him by the arm and tried to kiss him. The other girl looked on in amusement, as if she’d already been told the plan.
Boy broke free and walked away.
At that point, his cuatche, who was the biggest kid in class, came over and told the girl to stop.
“Back off,” he said, staring her down.
The girl stepped back but kept smiling.
She kept her distance from Boy the rest of the summer, but she would often flash mischievous smiles at him.
Boy got an A+ in math, and a B- in biology.
