Chapter 3

ONE YEAR LATER

Ronnie, Kale's best friend, stood at the front of the class, making a speech in Spanish about what he was planning on doing with his summer vacation.

"Quizas..." He said, and the entire class laughed quietly. Ronnie ate up this attention and realized that he had the class going, and that it would be easy to keep them laughing," Quiz-ass..."

Even Lina laughed, despite the fact that she had been scribbling absent-mindedly in her composition book. She had drawn a picture of a mangled car, the person covered in the sheet, and a girl with her face in her hands. She didn't know why she got the urge to draw these things. It was almost like she wasn't doing it. Her hand was moving with a mind of it's own and it was drawing these images. She couldn't stop herself from making these pictures, and she had tried.

Ronnie continued his speech, and said something about gazing at the beauty of female inhabitants of someplace, most likely Hawaii where he was going with his parents that summer. Minnie Tycko, the school bitch, rolled her eyes and muttered," Yeah, keep dreaming, perv."

Lina looked at her, rolled her own eyes and then muttered something of her own," Fucking bitch..."

Minnie looked at her, slightly shocked; she and Lina Brecht, being the two hottest girls in school, had never been friends, but they had never had problems with one another. She shook off Lina's insult, and just went back to writing a note to her friend. She didn't hold anything Lina did against her because her dad had died, but in Minnie's mind, since it had been a year, she should be over it by now.

"Quizas..." Ronnie finished. Ronnie walked back to his seat which was right in front of Lina's, and she looked at him, smiling and laughing slightly. He smiled stupidly, and turned to the teacher once his name was said.

"Si, Senor Guiterez?" Ronnie said, still smiling his obnoxious smile. He so loved to laugh at his own jokes, and he was still laughing at how he had so geniously changed the spanish word," Quizas" to "kiss-ass."

"Quizas yo le dara una F."

Ronnie sat down, his smile fading fast and Lina couldn't help but laugh ever so slightly.

"Shut up, Lina." He said jokingly and she stuck her tongue out obnoxiously at him. He made the strangest, most ridiculous face she had ever seen, and she started to crack up quietly.

"And another thing, if you and Senorita Brecht could keep your antics outside of my classroom, I'd be most appreciative."

"Whatever, Guiterrez." Lina replied, uncaring that she was being rude and disrespectful. It was the last day of school, what would he do to her?

"Senor Brecht?" Mr. Guiterrez said, but Kale was unresponsive. He had his hood up and his head was hung, and both Ronnie and Lina looked back at him. Once everyone else realized that he wasn't responding, they too looked back.

It broke Lina's heart to see her brother so depressed that he couldn't even stay awake during school. He didn't sleep much at night, and she often heard him walking around in his room in the early hours of the morning. She knew he still blamed himself for their dad's death.

"Kale..." Lina whispered," Kale, wake up."

"Get up, man..." Ronnie muttered as he kicked Kale's foot. But Guiterrez had a better method of waking him up. He took an eraser off the chalkboard and threw it so it hit Kale in the head. Kale jolted awake and looked around.

"Senor Brecht... do you think it might be possible for you to remain conscious long enough to tell us what you plan to do with the three wonderous summer months that await us."

Kale didn't respond right away, but he looked to see Lina scribbling in her book, the way she always did, and he knew that she was barely aware of the situation. And he was right. Once the eraser had been thrown, Lina had turned back to her book and continued to draw more morbid pictures that Ronnie, who was seated in front of her, knew not to look at.

"Do you want me to stand up?" He asked, sounding tired and uncaring.

"Si." Gutierrez replied.

"Este invierno..."

The class laughed, and Lina shot all of them dirty looks.

"Verano..." She whispered to Kale.

"Verondo..." Kale said, so obviously just wanting to sit down and get out of there.

"Este verono..."

"Kale?"

"Este... Que?" He asked.

"Que usted va a hacer?"

"I don't... I don't know what that means. I didn't get that far in the book." Kale replied, knowing that this wasn't an excuse and that he was about to get chewed out by the teacher.

"Did you do the homework or not?"

"I guess not." Kale replied, his eyes on the drawings in Lina's book that she was back to drawing. He saw Guiterrez moving towards him out of the corner of his eye and when he looked in Guiterrez's direction, he saw that he was right in his face.

"You guess not?" Guiterrez sighed, and if they had been out of that school he would have punched Kale's face in for being so uncaring, disrespectful, and for being such a smartass," I don't know who you think you are... or who you think you're dealing with. But I want you to give me one good reason... why I shouldn't fail you."

Kale didn't say anything, so Guiterrez moved closer to him and whispered, just low enough so Kale and the people around him could hear," What would your father think?"

Lina turned back and looked at him, rage clear on her face, but before she could say anything, Kale had slammed his fist into Guiterrez's face, sending him crashing to the floor. Kale lunged for him, but both Lina and Ronnie jumped up and grabbed him. Lina got his arms, while Ronnie got him around the middle.

"Kale, don't!" Lina screamed as Kale tried to break out of their grasp," Kale! Shit!"

Someone had run and gotten an assistant principal, and Kale was pulled out of the room, his rage not subsiding until he was three hallways away from the spanish room.

Lina looked down at Guiterrez, a look of pity and fury on her face. What he had said had been unexcusable, but Kale shouldn't have punched him. God only knew what would happen to him now. She knew her brother's short fuse would ignite eventually, but she had always prayed it would just be him putting his fist through a wall, not a teacher's face. Another assistant principal beckoned for her to follow, so she packed up her things and followed him to the office.

Kale and Lina sat in silence in the principal's office, waiting for Julie to arrive. The school had had to call her at work, and she had had to leave early, and the hours she would be missing showing houses would be money lost from her paycheck.

They heard her high heels clunking down the hallway and although several other teachers wore high heels, they knew instinctively that this person was their mother. The door opened, and only Lina turned around.

"Hi Mom." She greeted her.

"Lina, put a shirt on over that, for God's sake." Julie snapped, and Lina rolled her eyes and pulled a pink sweatshirt on over her skimpy black tanktop.

"Hello Rocky." Julie greeted Kale loudly, snapping him out of his daze.

"What's up?"

"Don't 'what's up' me! Do you have any idea what you have done, Kale?!"

"Mom, just calm down..." Lina started.

"You stay out of this, Lina! It doesn't concern you!"

"Mom, don't yell at her! This isn't her fault!"
The principal came in to find them all arguing, and he cleared his throat which brought silence in the room.

"Mrs. Brecht, maybe you should have a seat."

Julie sat on the other side of Kale, and the principal took a seat behind his desk.

"Is he pressing charges?"

"Yes." Principal Redding replied with no hesitation.

"Oh, that's just great." Julie said, looking disgusted and infuriated as she looked at Kale," That's just... wonderful! Kale, what has gotten into you?!" Kale didn't respond, so Julie continued her rant," Why would you punch a teacher?! Now God only knows what's gonna happen to you!"

"Mrs. Brecht... have your children seen a psychiatrist after their father's death?" Principal Redding asked.

Julie looked at him, slightly offended," Of course they have. They saw him for a few weeks... then they both stopped going."

"Why didn't you insist that they go?"

"What is this, Dr. Phil?" Lina asked, looking infuriated," Mom, let's just go. He already told us when his hearing is. Let's just leave."

"Were you aware of your son's anger issues, Mrs. Brecht?"

"My son doesn't have anger issues!" Julie responded, trying to keep her voice calm," My children just lost their father! I realize that it's been a year, but that's not something that just goes away! Kale lost control today, I realize that. But he is depressed and on edge, and something that teacher said or did made him snap."

"I'll tell you what the teacher said, and Ronnie heard it too, so it's not like I'm making it up. He said,' What would your father think?' And let me tell you, I would have knocked his ass out too."

"That man has no right to press charges when he provoked my son like that." Julie informed the principal," You don't bring up a dead parent like that."

"Mr. Guiterrez was not trying to offend anyone. He was just asking a simple question, and Kale punched him. His hearing is tomorrow, nine AM."

"Thank you." Julie replied sarcastically. They stood up and walked out of the office, and down the hallway, Julie walking a few feet in front of them. She lowered her sunglasses before they were even close to the door, and Lina and Kale both knew that she was about to cry.

On the way home, there was an awkward silence in the car and tension that couldn't have been cut with a chainsaw. They drove for ten minutes like this, and it wasn't until they were five minutes from home that Julie spoke.

"Lina..." She said softly as she reached over and took Lina's hand. Lina didn't turn her attention away from the window, but she did squeeze Julie's hand," I'm sorry I yelled at you, honey."

Lina didn't say anything at first, but then she replied," It's ok."

"I just... I was taken off guard by this. And I had to leave work early, and now I'm not gonna get paid for the hours I missed..."

"Mom, I told you I would get a job, and help you out."
"That's too much of a responsibility, Lina." Julie told her, as she looked at her. Lina couldn't see her eyes behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses," I'm working two jobs, and it gets us by, but it only just gets us by. I just want you and Rocky Balboa back there..." They all laughed slightly, despite the situation," ...to be normal teenagers. Kale, I'm not mad at you."

"It's ok to be mad at me, Mom." Kale told her," I screwed up, and I realize that. I don't know if I would take it back or not, but I am sorry."

"I know you are. I just... did you have to punch him?" Julie asked, looking back at him in the rearview mirror.

Kale didn't respond right away but then he finally said," Yeah. I had to punch him."

The next morning, around eight thirty, Kale, Lina, and Julie were getting ready for Kale's hearing. Lina's heart was pounding as she heard Kale moving around in his room. What would she do if they sent Kale to Juvy? There was no way she and her mom could make it on their own!

Once she was dressed, all in black as usual, she left her room and walked down the stairs. When she got into the kitchen, she saw that Julie was drinking coffee in the kitchen, and looking around for something.

"What are you looking for?" Lina asked as she walked over to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup. She drank it black, and started looking around for whatever it was Julie was looking for.

"I'm looking for my keys."

"Uh... Mom? They're in your pocket." Lina told her, laughing slightly.

Julie stopped looking, and felt her pocket. She sighed and ran her fingers through her long, wavy dark brown hair.

"God, I'm a mess this morning."
"You're really stressing out over this, aren't you?"

Julie sighed and replied," Yeah. God, what are we gonna do if they send him to Juvy? I can't... I can't see that happen, Lina."

Lina hugged her tight and said," I know."

Kale watched from the hallway, and felt a slight pang of regret. He knew that if they put him away in juvenile hall, he'd be leaving his mom and his sister all alone. Sure, if he were in juvy there would be one less mouth for Julie to feed, and she might actually have some money to spend, but he knew that they would miss him too much to appreciate either.

Did he regret slugging his asshole Spanish teacher completely though? Not a chance.

Lina and Julie sat on Kale's left, while his lawyer sat on his right. He had plead guilty, which was the only thing he could do, because there were a room full of witnesses that would testify against him if he were to plead innocent. Not to mention, the shiner he had given Guiterrez was a dead giveaway. Kale and Gutierrez glared at each other across the courtroom, while the judge reviewed his notes. Finally, he looked up, and Kale knew that the decision was made. In a few seconds, he would know his fate.

"Mr. Brecht... you are two months shy of eighteen, that means the assault two charge you've pled guilty to carries a max of one year in juvy. With these priors, you're up to three."

Lina ran her fingers through her hair, and looked at Julie, who was wiping a tear from her eye. It was over, and the verdict was what it was. There was no changing anything now.

"I'm sorry." Kale mouthed to Julie. She looked away, unable to look at him or she'd break down into tears right there in the courtroom.

"However..."

They all looked up, praying that there was going to be some sort of miracle and the judge was going to reconsider his harsh decision.

"Losing a parent isn't easy. Which is why I am sentencing you to three months house arrest."

"Yes!" Lina exclaimed, but then she covered her mouth, when the entire courtroom looked at her. Kale laughed to himself but quickly stopped when he saw the judge look at him.

"Mr. Brecht, I just cut you a break. Don't test me."

"God, Kale, you are so effing lucky!" Lina exclaimed as she turned onto the main road on the way back to the house," I mean, seriously, he had that long pause in there, and I thought it was done!"

"Me too." Kale replied, laughing slightly in relief.

"Lina, pay attention to the road." Julie instructed as she sat in the passenger seat rooting through her purse for her cellphone.

"Mom, I drive better when I talk." Lina insisted.

"You can talk and drive but just pay more attention to the latter of the two."

"What's that mean?" Lina asked as she glanced at Julie briefly.

"It means,' Pay more attention to the road before you run us off of it.' Where is my phone?!" Julie exclaimed.

"What do you need your phone for?" Kale asked, coming up on the left side of her seat so he could look over her shoulder.

"I need to find out if I work tonight. They want me to cover the hostess stand for a few nights this week."

"So you're gonna come home from trying to sell houses all day, then go straight to freakin' Outback Steakhouse?" Lina asked," Mom, you're working yourself to death."

Julie laughed and replied," No, I'm not. It's not that big of a deal. A lot of single moms work two jobs."

"Yeah, but still..." Lina responded. She was unhappy for the first time that day, hating that her mom had to do all the work to support them. She wanted to get a job so she could help out, but whenever she suggested it, Julie insisted that she wouldn't let Lina lose her social life to work nor would she take her money, so, Lina working was completely out of the question.

Julie quickly changed the subject back to Kale," Let me tell you... when he paused like that, after the whole 'three years in Juvy' thing, I think I nearly fainted."

"So did I!" Lina replied, her face erupting into that huge beautiful smile again," Kale, you are so lucky that judge was sympathetic!"

"I know. Except now I have to stay locked up in the house for three months."

"Trust me," Lina said, "It's better than staying locked up for three months in Juvy, dude."

"Ok..." Kale's payroll officer had hooked a black box-like sensor around his ankle, and then activitated it," You're all set to go nowhere. Now green means you're good, you're in the safe zone which covers about a hundred foot radius from this guy..." She tapped the signal box that set the boundaries for the bracelet," It's like a modem. It gets a constant signal from Mr. Bracelet that it sends through your phone line to the monitoring station downtown."

"Man, you're so screwed." Lina told him, laughing half hysterically. He mocked her and then wrapped his arm around her neck and rubbed his knuckles into her head quickly once he had her in a head lock.

"Ow!" Lina whined as she fixed her hair back into it's regular spot once she had pushed away from him.

"This thing knows where you are, where you've been, and what you're thinking 24/7."

"What if accidentally goes beyond..." Julie started.

"Red light flashes, you've got ten seconds to get your butt back to green or else."

"Or what? The execution squad shows up?" Kale asked sarcastically.

"And they don't bring blindfolds." The payroll officer turned to Julie," It's tamper-proof and water-proof, so don't stick your foot in a bucket of water and try to hop across the lawn. It won't work and you'll look stupid." She turned her attention to Julie," Are you all set up to pay the incarceration fee, Mrs. Brecht?"

Julie looked at her, and paused for a while before answering," No."

"Twelve bucks a day. I accept all major credit cards."

"Ok. My wallet's right over here."

"She's like a Nazi." Lina whispered to Kale," A... payroll officer Nazi."

"I know, right." Kale whispered back.

The payroll officer turned back to them and said to Kale in a warning tone," By the way... house arrest may sound like a breeze. But I've seen folks get a bit loopy after a while, sometimes after just a day or two. So find constructive ways to occupy your time."

Kale nodded, and Lina said," He'll just play XBox and listen to music all day."

"Hell yeah." Kale replied," Three months of doing nothing except sitting on my ass? Too good to be true..."

"BOOM!" Kale exclaimed as a bomb went off on Ghost Recon," Just get your position and hold it." The person over his headset objected, but he said more forcefully," Just get your position and hold it! There's a secret entrance around the back." He covered the mouthpiece and screamed in a high-pitched girl voice," LINA!"

"I'm coming! What's happening?! Are we being ambushed?!" She asked as she ran back into the room carrying two cans of Pepsi. She tossed one at him and it hit him dead in the chest.

"Sorry." She apologized hurriedly as she picked up her controller and resumed running throughout the battlefield," Kale, toss a grenade! Shit! Someone toss a grenade!" She yelled into her headset.

Suddenly, the headset went silent, and the game screen froze.

"No way. No way." Lina said, as she and Kale looked at each other, horrified," Kale..." She hit him in the arm frantically," Fix it. Fix it!"
"Did you clean it?! Lina, did you clean it before you put it in?!"
"Yes!" Lina exclaimed as the screen went back to the home page for the XBox. Kale attempted to reconnect to XBox Live, but nothing happened.

"It's not the game. Something's wrong with the freakin' connection."

Lina sat back in her rocking video game chair, dejected.

"You mean to tell me... we made all that progress... and now..." Lina moaned dramatically and flipped her chair backwards so that it stayed partially upside down.

"Lina... is it possible to survive without an XBox?" Kale asked as he tried one last futile time to connect to XBox Live.

"I don't think so." Lina replied in monotone as she shook her head," I mean... Amish people do." She sat up just as he turned off the console," I'm hungry."

"Me too."

They walked downstairs, and he grabbed a jar of peanut butter and the chocolate syrup from the refrigerator and she grabbed celery and the container of cream cheese.

"Rabbit food." Kale said, shaking his head.

"Shut up, asshole." Lina replied with a mouth full of celery and cream cheese.

They sat down in front of the TV, and Lina jumped up and grabbed the remote.

"No way! You're gonna put on some crappy soap opera!"

"I will not, jerkwad, I'm gonna find something wonderful to watch."
"Yeah... go to ESPN. I wanna see who won the game."
"Please don't talk with your mouth full." Lina told him with her mouth stuffed to it's limit.

He looked at her, his cheeks puffed out from all the peanut butter and chocolate that was in his mouth. He shook his head and said," Hypocrite."
"God, Mom would be so proud!" Lina told him as she swallowed.

"Oh, I know. Cheaters!"

"Yes!" Lina exclaimed. She sat back on the couch, and started to watch the best trashy show on TV, besides Jerry Springer.

"Oh... uh oh!" Kale exclaimed, his mouth full again," Here she comes..." They both laughed as the woman stalked towards her cheating boyfriend, looking ready to spit fire.

"What the f are you doing?!" The woman screamed on TV.

"Caught ya, bro." Kale narrated.

"Allen, what are you doing?" The host asked him as he got out of the car.

"He's bumpin' and grindin' with a prostitute, dude!" Lina burst out, spitting out fragments of celery as she screamed this," God, we're gross."

"I know right. Oh Jesus... man up, Allen." A look of pain crossed Kale's face as he jumped up.

"And that's why I eat rabbit food!" Lina yelled after him.

Kale exited the bathroom and tossed the Sports Illustrated aside. He looked sideways and saw that the door to his dad's office was open slightly. He hadn't been in there much since he had died. In fact, he avoided it at all costs.

He opened the door a little more, and just looked around. Just as he went to step inside, he stopped. He couldn't do it. So he backed out and walked back downstairs.

As he passed a window, he saw that there were people moving in next door. There was a MILF, a husband who looked like a rich businessman, and then... he saw that there was a young girl, about his age. She was definately hot.

"Oh my God..."

"Hey perv... if you want to talk to her, then just go do it."

He went to come back in to quickly and he banged his head on the window which he hadn't even realized he was sticking his head out of.

"Shit, Lina!"

She was laughing hysterically.

"Smooth, screwboy." She walked away and he followed her," Do you know her?"

"Not really." Lina told him as she flipped through the mail. She opened a red envelope and said," Oh look, Saw III off of Netflix. Awesome."

"What's her name?"

"Ashley. Look, I talked to her for like five minutes. I was out getting the mail and she was fiddling with her car, so we got to talking and I asked her if she wanted to hang out sometimes."

"What did she say?" Kale asked, a little too eagerly.

Lina was silent, looking weirded-out but completely amused," Are you in heat or something?"

She laughed at her own joke, and for some reason, thought of Ronnie, who would have found that little crack hilarious. God, he had to get back from Hawaii. She needed comic relief. Kale could be funny, but he got really emo sometimes. But then again, that was understandable. She got a little emo sometimes too.

Kale couldn't help but smile a little at her joke, but he really wanted to talk to her. He hadn't had a girlfriend for about a year, and his last girlfriend had annoyed him to the point of insanity.

"Ok, Dr. Lovin', yes, she said she'd hang out over here sometime. I was just being nice, but hey, who knows? She might be a cool girl."

Kale didn't say anything, but secretly he was thrilled. He was smiling dreamily, and Lina was looking at him and giggling to herself, trying to think of more nicknames and insults that she could throw at him, but she had exhausted him.

"You're funny, Kale." She grabbed the orange juice out of the refrigerator and took a long drink," I'm calling Tony."

"Don't do that." Kale told her distractedly as he continued to stare out the window. Finally, it registered... she was calling her dooshbag boyfriend to come over," Lina! Seriously, can't you find a boyfriend that is actually..."

"Actually what?" Lina asked impatiently as she dialed his number," Hey babe!" She walked away, already deep in conversation.

"That's actually good to you." He finished, but she wasn't around to listen. She wouldn't have listened even if she was in the room. She never listened.