I didn't say one word. Not during the car ride, not during the hospital examination, I said nothing. If they asked questions which lucky for me were yes or no questions I just shook my head or nodded. After staying in the hospital for three days and after the doctor confirmed that I wasn't injured Emiliano took me back to the police station to decide what would happen to me.

Doing background checks they discovered that I had no living relatives so that meant I would have to go stay at the local orphanage. Before taking me there Emiliano took me back to my house so I could get some things like my clothes and tooth brush then he took me to get some breakfast since it was six o'clock in the morning. He took me to the local diner where he bought me an omelet with bacon, toast, and hot chocolate to drink. I was surprised that he was doing that for me. From what I knew he was about as mean and ill tempered as bull locked in a ring painted red. I guess he had a soft spot for kids. He understood that I didn't feel like talking so he didn't say anything to me. After I ate we got in his car and headed for the orphanage.

Then suddenly we heard gun shots coming from a store that sold jewelry and expensive metals. Emiliano pulled over and got out of the car to investigate.

"Stay here." He told me before leaving.

I had no intention of leaving. Those gunshots made me flash back to when I lost my parents and my grandfather. I was terrified, I couldn't move. If that wasn't enough to scare me then one of the thugs who came over to jack the car had me petrified.

"Keep your mouth shut kid! And I won't put a bullet through your head!" He snapped at me before throwing the bag containg his loot in the back. Two things spilled out from the bag and on to the car floor. A block of silver and a hope diamond. Now I know it's wrong to steal but I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me at this point but I knew if I made it out of here alive I would need money so as quickly and quietly as I could I slipped the silver and the diamond into a secret compartment that I had in my backpack.

The thug started up the car. I froze, what was going to happen to me? What was he going do to me? Was he going to kill me? Was I going to die? I was so scared that I couldn't breathe. Then just as the car had taken off I saw Emiliano throw himself at the side of the car, sticking his arms through the window as he tried to strangle the driver.

"Pull over!" He denanded. "Now!"

"No way! I'm not going to jail!" He said slamming on the petal, making the car go faster but Emiliano wouldn't let go. He just held on to the window and ran with the car as fast as he could.

"Are you crazy man?! It's just some materials! You're going to kill yourself over that?!" The thug shouted.

"I don't care about the stuff you stole!" Emiliano shouted. "I want the boy in the car! Let him out!"

He then punched the driver in the face and started to climb through the window. The car swerved and crashed, Emiliano quickly grabbed me and covered my head so I wouldn't get hurt in the crash. Thankfully none of us were hurt and he ended up arrested. With that settled I was taken to the orphanage and well...It wasn't exactly home sweet home. For one thing I was the only kid there and the police didn't know but Miss Cleopatra the woman running the joint was abusive.

"Now listen carefully." She said harshly toward me. "You will not be coddled here. I am not your mother so do not expect any affection from me. You will do exactly I what I tell you. You will be given chores daily and if you refuse to do any of them or don't do them right then you will go in the hole."

"What's the hole?" I asked her.

"You'll find out eventually that is if you don't upset me."

The hole was a small, dark, and dirty room at the very bottom of the basement where there were no windows or other doors except for the one that she used to lock whoever she sent in there inside. I remember the first time she locked me in there. I accidentally broke a window while washing it and she started dragging me down there, threw me into the hole, and locked the door. Inside there was broken glass and a leaky pipes that squirted boiling hot steam. I had cut my hand on the broken glass and burned my arm on the steam but that heartless witch didn't care.

Everyday it was the same thing. I would wake up, spend the whole day doing chores that she gave me, spent like six hours in the hole if I ever made her angry, ate only one meal which was just bread crust, and then went to sleep on an old mattress that was torn and had springs sticking out. Then came the day when she decided to send me to school but only to avoid suspicion from the cops. I hated school worse because all the kids made fun of me. You see thanks to Miss Cleopatra not giving me soap to bathe with or feeding me properly I always came to school dirty and skinny so naturally I was a target for bullies. I know what you're thinking why didn't I just sell the sliver and diamond I swiped and use the money to buy the things I needed well the missing block of silver and hope diamond were all over the news and I couldn't risk going to jail.

"This seat's taken." One of the boys on the bus told me.

"You can't sit here." Another boy said.

"Don't you dare sit next to me you dirtbag!"

"Loser!"

"Freak!"

"Piece of trash!"

I just kept walking and listening to their insults thinking that I wasn't worth spit. But that moment was when I heard the sweetest voice in the whole world.

"You can sit by me if you want." I looked up to my right to see a girl sitting alone at a seat. She was the same age as me, had blue hair which was usual but I didn't mind, and she wore a red and white dress.

"Ah...Uh...I...Uh...Ah."

"Are you going to sit down or just stand there and keep blumbering?" She asked me.

"Yes! No...Wait! I..I...I mean yes! I'll sit down!"

Okay back then I didn't really know how to talk to girls. In fact she was the first girl who had ever talked to me so I was a little tongue tied.

"You got a name?" She asked me.

"Ma...Manny." I told her. "Manny Rivera."

"I'm Frida. I heard what those jerks said to you. If you want I can beat them up for you."

"No! Don't do that! Believe me all the older boys will crack down hard on me if a girl fights my battles."

"I understand, boys can be stupid no offense."

"None taken."

"So have you made any friends here?"

"I don't have any friends."

"Well you do now."

"You actually want to be friends?"

"Sure why not?"

"Don't you think I'm dirty?"

"Yeah but it's not your fault. I know all about Miss Cleopatra, I had friend who used to live with her before she was adopted. I know what she does. I've told the police but they don't believe me."

"Why?"

"Well I've had a bit of lying problem in the past so yeah."

"Why are you being so nice to me."

"I was told that you don't have a family anymore and if you live with Miss Cleopatra then I know you're miserable so I thought maybe you could use a friend."

She and I were always together after that. During school we had the same classes and we usually spent our time goofing off and playing pranks on some of the teachers. After school when Miss Cleopatra was thinking that I was cleaning out the basement I would sneak out the window and we would meet at the park where we would climb trees, chase each other, and sometimes just sit out and watch the stars. Other times we would go to the ice cream shop, the arcade, and sneak into the movie theater to see horror and action films that we were too young to see. She would bring me soap, a comb, sandwhiches, and anything else I needed that Miss Cleopatra failed to provide for me. She never took me to see her family because she said her father didn't like her playing with boys and because she didn't want her sisters to tease her about me being her boyfriend. I was an only child but I had always wanted brothers and sisters.

Some nights when I would have nightmares or when I would get real scared I would sneak over to her house and she would let me sleep in bed with her. Don't worry all we did was sleep, remember we were just kids, we hadn't hit puberty yet. But I always had to leave at six because that's when her folks got up and according to her if her father ever found me in bed with her he would kill me. Even if it was just harmless sleeping. If it wasn't late when I came over we would watch movies, read, and sometimes she would sing to me like my mother used to do.

"What was it about this time?" She asked me one night as we laid in her bed together.

"It was about the night I lost my parents and my grandpa."

"That must've been so scary for you. I'm really sorry."

"Why did they do it? Why did they have to take my mom, dad, and my grandpa away from me?"

"It's just what bad people do I guess."

"It's not fair."

"I know but like my dad always says life isn't fair."

"Frida?"

"Yes?"

"I'm scared."

"Of your nightmare?"

"No I'm scared that one day someone's gonna take you away from me just like they took my family."

"No one's gonna take me away from you. Wanna know how I know?"

"How?"

"Because we're close. Mom says when two people are close they'll always find each other no matter what so if we ever get separated we'll always find each other."

She put her hand in mind, we both smiled at each other, and then we fell asleep. For once since I had lost my family I was happy. She made my life at that orphanage bearable and I had hoped that we would be together forever. Until we turned thirteen, that was when her folks decided send her along with her sisters to a boarding school. She told me that she'd runaway and live with me but I didn't want her to leave behind her family. Not when she still had one.

During the last few weeks we had, we spent as much time together as possible. We did all our favorite things like reading, climbing trees, pulling pranks, listening to music, and doing dangerous but fun stunts. We went to our favorite places like the movie theater, the aracade, the ice cream shop, and the carnival. We slept together every night of the last week. On the day she had to leave it was very sad for us.

"I'm really going to miss you." I told her.

"I'm going to miss you too." She said.

"I got you something so you don't forget me."

I gave her a bundle of rags. She unwrapped it and what she found inside made her speechless for a moment. One time when Miss Cleopatra wanted me to use a hammer to break cinder block as a punishment for waking her up I had accidentally hit my backpack with the hammer, shattering the hope diamond in the process. But one part of it managed to stay in one piece and it was in the shape of a perfect heart. To this day I'll never know how that happened but since it was in a different shape the police would never suspect.

"Do you like it?" I asked her.

"It's beautiful, I love it. But where did you get it?"

"Uh...Trade secret. But it matches your eyes and your hair."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. This is just for being my first...And only friend."

"Oh Manny."

She threw her arms around me and hugged me close. I hugged her back. Then she did something totally unexpected. She kissed me! Right on the lips! I couldn't believe it, a girl actually kissed me.

"Sorry I meant to kiss you on the cheek." She said blushing.

"Uh...Uh..." I was blushing too.

"It's not what you think! I...I...I don't even like boys like that."

"That's...Okay. Uh...I'm glad you like your gift."

"Yeah I'll keep it with me forever. Oh and I almost forgot to give you this."

She handed me a small wrapped up present.

"What's this for?" I asked her.

"It was your birthday last week. I know you don't like to celebrate it because it reminds you of that day but...I think everyone deserves a present on thier birthday. I hope you like it."

"Frida! Time to go!" Her mother called.

"Goodbye Manny."

"Bye Frida."

She gave me another hug then went too join her mother in the car with her sisters. As the car drove away she stuck her head out the window, smiling and waving at me. I smiled and waved at her back, I didn't stop until I couldn't see her anymore. All too soon she was gone and I was left alone again.

When I got back to my room I opened my present. It was a picture frame that held a photograph of us at the carnival we went to last week. We were sitting on top of the boardwalk, watching the fireworks together. Frida wanted to savor this so she asked a guy to take our picture. I tried to beat him up when he teased us about being a couple. I smiled as I looked at the picture. I was going to miss her so much and I that she was gone I would never have another friend.

Or so I thought...