“Yeah, conducive. You know that word? It means favorable for what we wanted. Right, Trudy?” she asked before I could respond.
“That’s it. It was not exactly the right situation for our festivities,” she said, giggling.
“So? Where were you?” Sophia asked. “Huh?”
“I had some chores,” I said.
“Chores?” She looked at her girlfriends, who were all smiling. “It couldn’t have been the chore of being with Adan Bovio, could it?”
I had no hesitation about lying to Sophia, and she had, after all, given me a good excuse.
“Yes, it could.”
“That’s bull crap!” she screamed, her hands on her hips now. “Adan Bovio called here for you just a half hour ago. I heard your phone ringing and answered it.”
I just stared at her. Even lying to her caused more problems. Lies never work for long. Some die the instant they’re born.
“You didn’t just happen to go and meet another boy, did you? One of your Mexican boyfriends, maybe?” She glanced impishly at her girlfriends, who drew closer to her as if to add their support. They all wore the same look of self-satisfaction.
“What I do and where I go are not your business,” I said.
“Ha!” She swayed. The vodka was settling into her brain. “What did I tell you, girls? The Latina Cinderella has found another Latino prince. Who is he? How’s Adan going to feel about it? Where did you meet him? It’s no one from our school, is it? Well?”
“Your mother will not be happy to hear about this after-school party,” I replied, focusing sharply on her. I took a step toward her. “She might very well add on to your punishment.”
“She won’t be happy about you going off to be with other boys, your whoring around.”
“Get out of my room! All of you!” I said, pointing at the door.
“I guess I touched a sensitive spot.” She nodded and held her cold smile on her lips.
“Yeah, her G-spot,” Trudy said, and they all laughed.
“You know what that is, Delia?” Alisha asked.
“She knows,” Sophia said. “Bradley Whitfield showed her.”
Something broke inside me. It was as if a dam holding back the heat in my blood burst and all of it rushed into my head. I spun around, seized the footstool at the base of my bed, and turned on them with the stool’s legs forward. They screamed when I charged at them. Trudy dropped her cup, and they all ran out of my room. I slammed the door closed.
I would ask Tía Isabela to install a lock on the door, I thought, gasping and fuming. I heard them close Sophia’s door, too, after Sophia screamed about me being dangerously crazy.
It took me awhile to calm down, but after I did, I actually laughed at how I had frightened them. They were nothing to fear after all.
Adan called again about a half hour later. I expected that he would ask where I had been, but he didn’t. Instead, we talked about the weekend, Friday night’s dinner, and the schedule we would follow on Saturday. I actually listened much more than I spoke. He realized that I was unusually quiet and he asked if everything was all right.
“It’s my cousin Sophia,” I said.
“What is she doing now?”
“It’s better just to ignore her. Ella cocinará en su propio jugo.”
“What’s that mean?”
“She’ll cook in her own juice,” I said.
“I’m going to need your help with some of those great Spanish sayings. I’m helping my father with his speeches.”
“It’s not a great saying. I make up my own sometimes. I’m like my grandmother in that way.”