Chapter 12
***Six months later***
Sitting in the stands with Angel and the rest of the club, we are watching Mouse competing in an archery competition. She goes up to her mark, turns to look at me and Angel and touches her index finger to the tip of her nose and we return the gesture. That's our signal to each other. She takes her position, pulls back the arrow, takes a deep breath and releases, hitting the bullseye right in the center. We all cheer. Once that category was done, they handed out the awards and she won first place. Then she moves over to Kelly to wait on her next event. Once the day was done, we walk up to her and she hugs me tight before wrapping her arms around Angel. "You did so good Bebita. We're proud of you." I tell her and she snuggles into Angel. She is completely a daddy's girl. Kelly smiles as she walks up and says "She's doing great. Looking at her standings, she's qualified to compete for regionals if you're good with that." she tells us. I look at Mouse and she's smiling wide and I say "We'll let you know at her next session." She smiles and says "That's fine." before excusing herself.
That night, we are sitting at home and I ask Angel "What do you think about regionals?" He thinks for a minute and says "I think it would be good for her. She's really good and might help her with scholarships and shit for college." he tells me. "That's what I was thinking." I tell him. "I'll tell Kelly at her next session.
A few days later we are at Mouse's session and I tell Kelly. "Angel and I talked about it and we think it would be good for her to go to regionals. Just let us know what we need to do." I tell her. "I'll send you the info tonight." she tells me. I sit at the picnic table and watch my little girl practice her aim and then watch her during her counseling session and see her smiling when she comes up to me. "Head to the car baby." I tell her and she does. Kelly tells me how she is doing and I could not be happier.
Sitting at home that night, I tell Angel about the info that was emailed to me about regionals and the say "Kelly gave me an update on how she's doing." I tell him. "What did she say?" he asks, looking at me concerned. "Kelly thinks that she can cut her counseling sessions down to once a week but still wants her there two days for practice. She said Mouse told her that she wants to go to college to learn how to help other kids like her just like Kelly did." I tell him. "That kid never stops making us proud." he tells me. "She's a amazing kid." I tell him. "She is. But she has a fierce and amazing mami to help her get through it." he tells me. "She has an amazing papi too." I tell him before kissing him softly knowing we would all be okay.
