I turned away and headed back to my bedroom, ashamed at my own rage now.
“Delia, come back here and tell us exactly what that means, or else!”
I slammed my door closed.
“I’ll find out what it means. You’ll be sorry if it was a curse.”
I sat in a chair, my torn dress in my lap, and let the steam stop coming out of my ears. Finally, I felt my heartbeat slow down. I had no fear about her translating the curse that had come to mind. I had simply said, “May you feed only on your own goodness and starve,” which was something I had overheard my grandmother mumble to herself when someone made her so angry she couldn’t keep it bottled up. I had no doubt that if Sophia were left to feed on her goodness, she would starve.
Before they left the house, she came to my door and rapped it hard before telling me I would be sorry.
Sorry? I was sorry already, I thought, now feeling guilty that I had let her get to me, but they had destroyed my beautiful dress. Sewing it would not work. I tossed it to the side and closed my eyes. The confrontation and the angry outburst drained me, and without intending it, I fell asleep. I woke when I heard a knock on my bedroom door and then Edward’s voice. The realization that I had slept nearly an hour shocked me. I leaped to my feet, scrubbed my cheeks quickly with my palms, and opened the door.
Both Edward and Jesse gaped at me, the shock clearly written on their faces. I imagined I looked like a crazy woman.
Edward wore a beret and had one of Tía Isabela’s fancy hats in his hand to give me.
“What’s going on? Why aren’t you ready?”
“Sophia and her friends,” I began, and choked back the words.
“What?” Jesse asked.
Without explaining, I picked up my beautiful dress and showed it to them.
“That little mean…”
“When did they do that?” Edward asked.
“While I was in the bathroom, they came in, and they saw my dress on the bed. It was the one I was going to wear to the party next weekend.”
“Before we leave tomorrow, we’ll take you to buy a new dress, Delia,” Edward said. “I’ll have a few words with the stone princess, too.”
“Don’t waste your breath,” Jesse told him.
“I’ll waste hers,” Edward vowed. “C’mon, Delia, throw something else on. Don’t let her ruin our night. We’ll wait downstairs. Here,” he added, handing me the hat. “Wear this anyway. We’ll still make it a French night, d’accord?”
“Mais oui,” I said, and took the hat. I chose another dress and quickly washed my face, put on some lipstick, and ran a brush through my hair.
As I came down the stairs, the two of them began to sing the French national anthem. It was very hard to be sad or upset in their company. My heart was light and happy again. Arm in arm, they escorted me out, with Señora Rosario looking to see what was the reason for all the commotion.
When we arrived at the restaurant, I was surprised to see one of my girlfriends, Katelynn Nickles, there with her family. I could see she was even more surprised to see me, especially with Edward and Jesse. I waved to her, and she waved back, her parents looking our way.
But the bigger shock came an hour later, when Christian Taylor came in with Zoe Stewart, a girl in the tenth grade. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw us. He smiled and went to his table. Up until that moment, I was really having a good time with Edward and Jesse. They had me laughing constantly with their imitations of some of their teachers and fellow students at college. Both Edward and Jesse recognized Christian, too.
“No moss grows on his rolling stones,” Jesse said, and they laughed.
I didn’t. I had not told either of them about the rumors and stories Sophia had been spreading about us at school. After what she had done to my dress tonight, I was afraid of adding salt to those wounds. In my mind, perhaps too naive and innocent, despite all I had been through, I couldn’t imagine people readily believing such sordid tales about Edward, Jesse, and me. However, I got my first hint that things were not going to be smooth for me when Katelynn got up with her family to leave and not only didn’t come over to say anything on the way out but avoided looking my way as well.
“Hey, you’re not falling into another funk because of that idiot being here, too, are you, Delia?” Edward asked me.
“Funk? I do not know this word, Edward. Where is this funk?”
Jesse smiled. “It’s not a place, exactly. It means depression, sadness.”
“Oh, no. I don’t care about him. I just don’t want there to be more trouble at home,” I told them.
“My sister will push and push if she’s not slapped down,” Edward said. “If anyone lived by the rule, give her an inch and she’ll take a foot, it’s Sophia.”