Chapter 3-6: The Bistro

“Heyyyy there, little Chinch.”

“Oooh, yer so cute and furry,” I cooed. “Can I touch your velvety back?”

I hadn’t yet worked up the nerve to stroke the chinchilla’s back. Lucky enough that I had earned his trust to pick him up. After our first few conversations Chinch was starting to think I was a pretty cool guy, and he would willingly walk onto my open hand when I reached into his cage.

I reached out my left hand to touch him, but he jerked nervously away.

“Ok ok, buddy,” I soothed. “Not too much too soon, I know. We gotta earn each other’s trust, right? That’s how real friendships are made.”

“We’re going on a field trip to the Bistro today.” I said excitedly. “Maybe I’ll get to learn some new recipes from the master chef! Like a cobbler… or key lime pie! Mmmm, that’s my fave. Are you excited, Chinch?” Chinch gurgled, and I smiled. “We’ll go there before lunch, and stay for the whole afternoon. Then Reynaldo is coming over!”

“Gurgle gurgle,” replied Chinch.

I grinned. “Anyway, the bus’ll be here soon, I better get going. In you go, little buddy.” I placed him carefully inside and let him walk off my hand, and he scurried into his bed of pine shavings.

“Hi Vandeen.”

I couldn’t tell if her smug expression was a geniune smile or if she was about to tease me about my vision or about Joey or something.

“What do you want, Zarita?” I don’t know why I hated her so much. I just did. It seems like we haven’t gotten along since we were toddlers. Even then I must have known I had a reason to be insanely jeal—to hate her.

“Nothing. I just wanted to say good morning!” She said pleasantly.

“I’m still not talking to you, Zarita.” I pursed my lips and tried to look away.

“Fine then. Be like that. I’m just trying to be nice.” Her smirk turned into a grimace.

“Yeah ’cause Mom or Uncle Arna probably put you up to it, just like Mom said I should–”

Beep Beep! Thankfully the school bus saved me from trying to come up with any niceties for my perfect, prissy cousin. Was she secretly planning another prank? To get me back for getting her back for getting me back for snubbing her for– it was all starting to become a jumble in my head now. I blinked quickly to clear my blurring eyes and ran ahead of her to get on the bus.

Our house in the “rich” outskirts was the second stop, after Nathaniel Ennis who lived even further out in the boonies. He was older and worked part time at the Bistro, so he would be one of the leads today to show us around.

I was hoping we’d get to do a cobbler or cheesesteak… or even dim sum, although that was probably a bit too advanced for high school Home Economics. But still… Mmmm. I imagined the aroma and how I would arrange it in liitle squares on the plate, and perhaps garnish it with a sprig of fresh cilantro or parsley.

I really wanted to talk to Nathaniel about what we were going to cook today but I felt funny about intruding all of a sudden on the seat next to him, when every single seat on the bus was empty. Maybe he would think I was gay or something. Besides, Zarita always sat with him. I usually sat alone.

I wondered if the other grades were going on a field trip today. Specifically, I wondered if Kia’s class was going on a field trip today…

As we got off our bus and started to line up by the black iron gate, I noticed that the central bus had already arrived. I spotted the unmistakable blond curls of my new mortal enemy. I guess you could call him my MEF… my Mortal Enemy Forever. He took his place in line behind his BFF without so much as a glance to me.

Was it just my less teenage-hormonal mood today, or did Mike appear bigger and slightly more-able-to-win-in-a-fight-against-a-skinny-geek-no-matter-how-much-adrenaline-said-skinny-geek-could-put-forth?

Maybe I should hit the weights soon, I thought. If only we had a set. I certainly didn’t want to be out falling on my sweaty newbie ass at the public gym. I shuddered at the thought.

…

…

I ran into the house, breathless and pleasantly full of delectable dessert. We had to partner up, and Reynaldo and I had made the most amazing apple cobbler.

“So what did you think of today? How did yours and Mike’s cobbler turn out?” I asked my cousin, who had of course paired up with Mike. Although I had no idea why Mike was taking this course – he didn’t seem like the cooking type to me. But then again, I didn’t really care to know any more about his “type”.

“Uhhh!” She put one rude finger up to my face. I jerked back in surprise.

“Ok ok, I’m sorry about this morning!” I relented. “We had a great day so let’s try to be nice for the rest of it.”

“Hold up.” She said snarkily.

“Mike told me you threatened to beat him up at the library last weekend. Man, what a jughead you are! He’s bigger than you, he could have kicked your nuts in, bad.”

I immediately drew my brows together and glared at her. “Well that’s his side of the story, Zar.” I said. “I believe he threatened me first… wait… why am I even defending myself to you? I don’t care if he’s your Bee eff eff – this is between him and me. So stay out of it!”

“Fine! Ugh, Vandeen Jonso, you are just unbearable sometimes. How am I even related to you? Gawd, I can’t wait to move out of here.”

“Couldn’t come soon enough.” I muttered under my breath.

“Ok.” She said with utter annoyance, and flicked her hand as if I were a pesky fly buzzing around her ear. “Leave now, please. I have better things to do than to listen to your whiny voice.”

Ding! I was grateful to be saved by the ring of the doorbell. I opened the door to let my friend in. “Hi! Come on in.”

“Ohhh… hey.” He said shyly to Zarita.

“I didn’t realize you lived here too. Or… do you…?”

“Yeah unfortunately I do.” She sent a quick glare towards me. “We’re first cousins.”

“Oh.” He looked down at his feet for a minute. “I’m–”

“I know who you are.” She said. “Reynaldo Chastain. I know your family. I mean, who doesn’t? My name’s–”

“Yeah I know.” He said, now a small smile forming. “Zarita Frio. Your family is pretty famous too, you know, being vampires and all…” I swear if he wasn’t dark-skinned I would see a blush forming.

“Vandeen didn’t tell me you were coming over.” She continued. “Did you have fun today at Little Cortisan?”

During this awkward exchange I stood there being almost completely ignored.

“Okay okay!” I interrupted them before Rey could answer. “Let’s go, Reynaldo. Zarita’s got some—” I gave her a dirty look. “– better things to do.”

“Ok. See ya.” He said to my cousin as he gave her a timid wave.

…/

“I’m comin’ upon ya, fast! Watch out!” My blue racecar whipped around the turn and came dangerously close to Reynaldo’s car. His eyes widened and I gripped my game controller tighter.

“Nooooooooooooooooooo!” The sound of pixelated metal-on-metal rang through the tiny television speakers.

“Hahahaha. I sideswiped ya. You’re dead, buddy!” Ahh, I could already taste sweet victory.

“Not if I can help it! I’m gonna have to use lethal force to take you down.”

…BAMMMMMMM!

“Yessssss! You’re totalled! I WIN!” I literally jumped off my seat. I wasn’t even much of a gamer; right now I was feeling pretty pumped.

“That’s ok,” he said with a devilish grin. “I’ll get you back next time.”

“Wow, how long have we been playing?” Rey asked as he looked at the time on the Maxoid Simulator display. I had cooked us supper — my famous mac and cheese — then we got totally caught up in Tony Simk Skateboarding and Sim for Speed and realized we failed to even start our homework.

“Whoa it’s after eleven, I’d better go!” he said. “See ya in class tomorrow. Oh, and maybe you could, um… tell your cousin my number? ‘Cause, well… she seems nice.”

“Yeah, ok….” I wasn’t really fond of this idea. He was my friend, not hers.

I went upstairs to check on Chinch’s food dish after Rey had left, and wasn’t able to stifle a huge yawn and stretch. My neck and arms were a little sore now from playing. I guess homework cramming in the morning would be in order.

“Hey, Chinch! Aww, you’re asleep. That sounds like a great idea for me, too. Sorry you didn’t get to meet Reynaldo. Next time, okay? He’s pretty cool!”

“Hey! Who said I was sleeping? It’s midnight – time to party!”

//

Continue to Chapter 16: Frioson.