03
For the next few days, the routine continued, except, today something happened to catch my attention.
During my third period History class, when we were all doing our class work, I overheard Dave talk about a certain someone to his friends.
"That guys really pisses me off!" Dave complained as low as possible.
His friend, James spoke, "Calm down, Dave, you'll get him soon enough."
"No!" Dave tapped his desk. "I want to get him now!"
His other friend, Bob, chuckled. "Why are you so worked up over him?"
"You-you don't get it. This guy…" he grunted a little. "His attitude annoys me. He thinks he's so cool. 'Whoa, look at me, I'm a badass!'," he mocked. "I hate it. It makes me want to beat the shit out of him!"
I slightly turned my neck to the right and noticed them leaning into each other.
"Well, that's true." Bob pondered. "He is always scolding at people and never talks to anyone."
"That's all show! I hate it. What? He thinks he's too cool so he won't talk to anyone? He's only trying to make himself look good and that adds to that fight we had two weeks ago," Dave spat.
I rolled my eyes. This guy, Dave, is an imbecile. He doesn't know a bloody thing.
"So what are you going to do?" James asked.
Dave shook his head. "I'm just going to wait for the good opportunity when he pisses me off and then I'm going to ramp him!" He punched his hand.
"Well, good luck with your suspension again," Bob joked.
Dave shut him up and the conversation changed from there.
I started down at my desk. Ronnie can't afford to get into a fight. This time he won't have his father to protect him. I had to warn him before it was too late.
During lunch I looked all over for him. I had Vita and my other few friends help me out. He wasn't found anywhere. After school I rushed over to his classroom but he had already gone home.
Man, how the hell does he do that? I wondered. Freaking snake he is.
When I got home I already expected him to be in his room. I knocked.
No answer. I knocked again.
"Yeah?" he finally answered in a tone as though he had just woken up.
"Uh.. Ronnie, I have to talk to you." I felt so awkward and shy because I haven't talked to him this much in a while. Hell, I haven't really talked to him. My mom was the only social contact he really seemed to have [very little with my dad and sometimes with my brother].
"What?" He sounded a little more alert. "Why?"
"It's a warning about that Dave guy you got in trouble with on the first day…" I fell silent but he was silent as well. I realized he probably wanted me to continue. "Oh, uh.. I overheard him say he wants to fight you again. That he's going to jump you when you least expect it so you know, I wanted to warn you. Give you a heads up."
He stayed quiet right after I explained and it made me nervous.
Did he fall asleep or something? What the hell?
I was about to knock when he replied, "Well… thanks. Good to know." Then I heard shuffling. He was probably going back to sleep.
"Yeah.." Was he really glad that I told him? He didn't really seem to care. Is he even going to take action? I mean, I don't want Dave to beat him up especially after all those things he said about him. Man, his expressions are really odd. I can't predict what he's thinking at all. I smiled. Well, at least he gave me his gratitude. That counts for something, right?
That evening during dinner I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible when it came to glancing at Ronnie. I really wanted to know how he felt about this Dave thing. His reactions were so apathetic so it was really hard to guess.
The few times I looked at him, he didn't do much, like usual. He just ate his food and made small talk with my mom but this small talk caught my attention.
"So how's school going?" she asked both of us.
I smiled at her. "Good."
Ronnie shrugged and took a bite of his chicken. "It's alright."
"Chew your food before you speak, Ronnie," my mom demanded.
He apologized.
I looked at my mom. I wanted her to ask more and she did.
"Have you made any new friends?" she asked him.
He pursed his lips. "Not really, but I don't mind."
"Aw, come on, son, how is it you don't mind?" she asked and turned to me. "Aracely, you should try to and help him make more friends--"
"No," he cut in, "I really don't mind. I'm not one to have many friends. Plus, I still have my friends from back at my old school and I'm satisfied enough with them." He looked down at his plate and ate some more of his chicken.
She looked over at me as if asking if I knew about his old friends. I shook my head at her.
"Oh," she simply replied. I could see she was just as confused as me and curious. How is it that he's satisfied with his old friends if he never even leaves the house to go see them.
I immediately thought about lunchtime at my school. He's never anywhere to be found during that time. Could he be ditching? I decided to ask. "Ronnie, do you hang out with your friends during lunch?"
"Huh?" He looked over at me. "No, I don't hang out with anybody."
I shook my head. "No, I mean do you hang out with your old friends?"
"No," he suddenly replied and continued eating.
That confirmed it. I mean, he's literally nowhere on campus so where else could he be? Out of school of course. Well, whether it was true or not, it was none of my business.
"Okay, okay, stop picking on him and let him eat his food," my dad interrupted.
For the next few days at school, many rumors began to spread about Ronnie and they weren't good.
They were that he was thrown in jail before, he's homeless and is a big time freeloader, he's in a gang, he's not in a gang but only acts like he is, he's actually twenty-two years old, the tattoos are fake, he does hardcore drugs, he steals from convenient stores, secretly works for the cops, and many related and unrelated matters.
I was stunted to hear all of this. My friends would also occasionally tell me other things they've heard as well.
During lunch when I was eating with my friends, I heard more.
"Oh, and that rumor about how he'll sleep with anyone for money, well it's been getting all the girls worked up, you know," my friend Melissa mentioned to me. "Makes me wonder if it's true," she gloated.
I turned to her and scoffed. Melissa has a huge crush on Ronnie but that was only because she never got to know him well. If she knew how hard he would ignore her, it would probably hurt her feelings but since she's never worked up the courage to talk to him, she wouldn't know at all.
She jokingly apologized but that question got to me. "What do you mean, getting all the girls worked up?" I asked.
"Hello. Knock, knock." Vita thumped my head. "Haven't you noticed how almost all the girls are going gaga over this guy?"
I frowned and admitted the truth. "No. I haven't. How weird. But I thought everyone hated him, I mean, why would they make these rumors up?"
"I think you know some people that hate this guy, right?" My other friend Jane cut in.
I nodded. "So you all think this was Dave's doing?" I was beginning to suspect him.
Vita shrugged. "We don't know but we sure as hell know that these rumors are getting way out of hand."
I began to wonder if Ronnie had heard these rumors. Since that time, a few days ago when I warned him about Dave, he still hasn't shown any progress at all. He went on with his life like no one had any problem with him.
Was my warning even useful? I wondered.
It's really hard to know what he's thinking and especially when he isolates himself from everyone. It's like he has this transparent shield around him that blocks out reality.
Does he really not care? Is he just going to let these rumors spread out like wildfire? Mr. Eister said that he was a delinquent back then. So what halted him now? Did this whole new life he has now really affected him that much to the point of kicking reality out? But most of all, is he alright?
My mom said to give him time but it's already been too long and no sign of life has come to this boy.
I had to do something and on that very minute a wave of wanting in hit me. I wanted to get into that shield. I wanted to know him.
The next morning before school I did something for the first time. I waited for Ronnie so we could walk together to school together. I decided to surprise him by waiting on the porch stairs.
I sat there for a good twenty minutes before he stepped out.
He turned to me when he closed the door and I smiled. I thought I surely surprised him but what he did next surprise me. He walked away as if I wasn't there. He did see me he just didn't care. Typical him. I should have know he would do something like this.
I stood up and jogged over to him. "Hey," I politely greeted him.
He just rose his head up a little in response but continued to look straight ahead.
"So… How are ya doing?" I casually tried to strike up a conversation.
"Is that your friend coming towards us?" he immediately beckoned towards his left, ignoring my total question.
I glanced and saw Vita running in our direction. Oh no, she woke up late. "Vita," I whined to myself and walked a little in her direction. Such bad timing. And I really wanted to try to talk to this guy alone.
"Aracely! Ara! Oh my god, I'm so freakin' tired!" She panted when she reached to me. "What time is it? Are we late?"
I shook my head. "There's still ten minutes."
She whipped her head with relief. "God! I should have know my stupid alarm was behind fifteen minutes…" she began to ramble on about her little cousin messing around with her stuff including her alarm clock and what not.
As she spoke and I pretended to listen, I turned behind and noticed Ronnie had already walked a good feet away.
I slowly sighed. I should have know he would do that too.
"Hmm.. Was that, Ronnie with you just now?" She finally noticed when she realized I wasn't paying attention.
I exhaled. "Yeah, but it's not that important. I was just giving him something he forgot." I didn't feel like bringing up the real reason why I was walking with him. This had to be between him and myself.
She didn't think much of it and continued on about some party this weekend.
Tomorrow I will try again, I told myself when I saw him laying down on his desk during English.
I will get through that shield.