“But let’s wait to see,” I added, bringing some brightness back into his eyes.
“It will be like going home for you,” he promised. “You’ll see.”
I must have done even better in the afternoon in class, because Señorita Holt pulled me aside at the end of the day to tell me she was happy with my rapid progress and hoped I would not let anything slow me down.
“I am hoping to get you into regular classes sooner than anyone would expect,” she said.
I thanked her and hurried out to make the bus. Ignacio was saving me a seat. When I excitedly told him what Señorita Holt had said, he didn’t look happy for me.
“You’ll be a gringa before you know it,” he said. “And forget me.”
“I’ll never be a gringa,” I said, smiling. Then I stopped smiling and said, “I am who I am forever, and I would never forget you.”
He liked that and talked mostly about the upcoming fiesta at his house to celebrate his sister’s birthday. He told me about the relatives who lived near enough to attend and all of the different foods and pastries that were being prepared. He added that he played a little guitar and would be performing.
“I’m not very good,” he said, “but I’ll do it for my sister and my mother.”
When we arrived at the bus station, I saw Jesse was already parked and waiting. I quickly explained who he was, so Ignacio would not think I had found a boyfriend. However, he still looked suspicious. His proud Latin way wouldn’t permit him to watch me walk to Jesse’s car and get in. I saw how he kept his face forward and didn’t even glance in my direction.
“Hi,” Jesse said, opening his door and going around to open the door for me. “Cómo está?”
“Bien,” I said, and got in.
“Your cousin Sophia?” he said when he got in again.
“Yes?”
“She turned up at school this afternoon…came to escuela.”
“Oh?”
“To go after Bradley. There was some todo.”
“To-do?”
“Argument, fight…big mess. She’s telling everyone you were raped.”
I just stared at him.
“You know that word?”
“Yes. Violado.”
He nodded. “Like violated. Right. That’s what she’s telling people,” he said. He started the car and drove toward my aunt’s hacienda.
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She was telling everyone I was raped? My aunt still did not know what had actually happened to me. What would she say or do now?
“If there’s one person you don’t want on your tail, it’s Sophia Dallas,” Jesse said, smiling. He looked away and then back at me. “You all right, Delia?”
I found that for the moment, I was unable to speak. My throat felt as if it had closed up.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out what this would all mean for me. As soon as Jesse let me out at the house and I started up the stairway to the entrance, the door opened.
My aunt Isabela stood there looking out at me.
“It doesn’t take you long to go from one to another, does it?” she asked me, gazing toward Jesse’s disappearing car.