Disclaimer: Everything familiar belongs to Janet Evanovich. Thank you for letting us play.
Warning: Adult language, adult situations, some violence, some smut (later chapters), may not be for the faint of heart.
Lester's POV—Age 8
I don't understand why we had to leave Newark to move to Trenton. All my cousins are there, and I'm stuck here. Even though my step-father is great to me, and is Italian, I'm not really accepted because I'm not Italian. When people think that my last name is Rizzi, I'm okay, but once I tell them that I'm a Santos, well, then, playdates suddenly get canceled, and I'm stuck by myself. That's why I'm sitting here, alone, on my porch, staring off into space. I watch the girl from two doors down walk away from her house with a cake. Who would send a six-year-old girl to deliver a cake? Her sister, Valerie, who is in my class, is mean to me. Just because I'm half-Cuban, half-Spanish.
My mother is a Cuban-American. My Abuela Rosa immigrated here when she was sixteen and married my abuelo at eighteen. She had my Uncle Ricardo two years later and my mom when she was twenty-five. She called my mom her "miracle baby." I'm not sure why. But anyway, my Uncle Ricky has lots of kids. His oldest daughter is Celia, and she's twelve. Rosa is ten, Mariela is my age, followed by Carlos, who's six. Then there are Javier and Isabella, the twins, who are three. While the girls are annoying, Carlos was always fun to be around. He may be six, but he isn't a baby.
I decide to take a walk, nothing like sitting alone to encourage movement. As I turn the corner, I see that Morelli boy, Joe, trying to lead Valerie's sister into his garage. I move closer, hearing him talk about some game called Choo-Choo. I remember hearing him talking about looking under girls' skirts in school, and I don't like the sound of the game. I know I need to intervene.
"Joe, leave her alone. She's only a baby."
"What's it to you, Leslie?"
"You have a sister, Joe, is that how you would want someone to treat her?"
"You leave my sister out of it, she's a good girl."
"And she isn't?" I ask, pointing at Valerie's sister.
"Stephanie is a good girl, but she's my girl. I get to mark her as such now."
By now, Stephanie is starting to get upset. I can see her eyes looking around, trying to find an escape.
"Get out of here, Santos, you're scaring her."
"Joe, I'm going to go home. My mom will be looking for me." Stephanie says, tears threatening to fall from her beautiful blue eyes.
"No, Cupcake, you're staying here with me," Joe replied, tugging on her arm.
"Let her go. Stephanie doesn't want to be with you anymore." I walk over to Joe, trying to seem larger than I am. As I start to approach, a car starts coming down the road. Joe roughly pushes Stephanie towards me before stomping back into his yard. I catch Stephanie before she stumbles.
"Are you okay?"
"No, Joe hurt my arm."
"Let me see, Beautiful." She shows me her arm and the nasty bruise that's starting to form. I kiss her injury, and she smiles. Her eyes light up, even though there are tears there.
"Thank you. What's your name?"
"My name is Lester Santos."
"Oh, you're that Cuban boy that Valerie talks about."
"Yeah, well, I better be going home now," I say, suddenly angry that I interjected. The little girl obviously feels the same way Valerie does about me.
"No, Lester, please stay. I think it's cool that you're not like us. Anyway, my sister, Saint Valerie, thinks she knows everything. Her friends are all mean. If you aren't her friend, then that means that you're not mean." She said as her eyes rolled when mentioning her sister, 'Saint Valerie.' I hold in a chuckle.
"No, Stephanie, I'm not mean."
"Please call me Steph. I always feel like I'm being yelled out when someone calls me Stephanie."
"Okay, Steph. Let me walk you home."
We spend the next few minutes talking about the shows we watch and our favorite activities. I was surprised to learn that Steph liked superhero comics and that she loved baseball and hockey. She was the coolest girl I ever met. When we arrived at her house, I saw the look her mother gave me, one that resembles my mother's face when she eats an extra sour lemon.
"Stephanie Michelle Plum, what took you so long? Mrs. Gazarra said that you left her house ten minutes ago."
"Mommy, Joey tried to take me in his garage, but Lester stopped him. Joey hurt my arm, and I didn't want to go with him. He's mean, Mommy. All of Val's friends are mean to me."
"Nonsense. Joseph was probably just trying to get you away from him." Mrs. Plum said while looking at me.
"No, Mommy, Lester helped me. Lester is my friend. Right?" Stephanie said, looking at me with those pretty blue eyes wide open.
"Yea, Steph, we're friends."
"See you tomorrow, Lester," Stephanie responded with a bright smile. I can tell that her mother wasn't happy, but what can you do.
Lester's POV age 12
"Lester, what's wrong? Why are you so sad?" Stephanie asked me.
"My mom is pregnant again. She's going to have another baby. She and my stepdad barely have time for me now. Once the new baby comes, I won't matter."
"That's not true. Your stepdad was at your soccer game when you scored the winning goal."
"That was the one, and only time he came since Leah was born. I am always stuck helping Mom because I'm the big brother. Huh. When I was younger, I wanted a brother or sister. Then you came along. You are my sister, Stephanie, more than Leah ever will be."
"And you're my brother, but that doesn't change the fact that your parents love you."
"I just wish my father never died. Then I would have siblings closer to my age."
"Don't say that, Les. If your father never died, you never would have moved to the Burg, and we wouldn't have met. You saved me that day, saved me from Joe Morelli, that dweeb."
"That is true. Promise me you'll always be here for me."
"I promise, Lester. When's your next soccer game?"
"Tomorrow. Can you come?"
"Yeah, I should be able to. What time is it?"
"3:00."
"Okay. I'll be there. Let me go. Mom is expecting me for another cooking lesson," Steph says as she rolls her eyes.
"Try not to burn the house down, Beautiful."
"I'll try. Bye." She answers as she kisses my cheek.
Saturday
I look along the sidelines and don't see anyone there for me. Stephanie promised me she'd be here, but she's not. Why should I be surprised? No one cares about me here in Trenton. I devote all my attention back to my warm-up drills, getting angry at myself for messing up my footwork.
"Santos, if you don't get your head into the game, I'm going to bench you," Mr. Orr, the team's coach, says. "Why don't you go get some water then come back on the field. Maybe you'll be more focused then."
I nod in reply then head to the water cooler. When I arrive, I see Stephanie standing there, trying to ignore little Richie Orr, who's flirting with her.
"Lester, there you are! I'm sorry, I'm late. Mother made me sign up for ballroom dancing lessons. They start on Monday. I'm so mad right now."
I get a cup of water, then respond, "Can you take Latin dance?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Okay, so sign up for the Latin dance class, and I'll have my mom sign me up. I'll be your partner."
"OMG! Really? You'd do that for me?"
"Of course, Steph. I've been learning those dances my whole life. It'll be fun."
"There's Mary Lou. I'm going to go sit with her. Pino's after?"
"Of course, Steph."
"Good luck, and have a great game." She responded before running off to Mary Lou Molnar, her best friend, and a cool chick to be around.
When I returned to the field, I had my best game ever. I scored all five goals, leading our team to a victory against a tough team. It was all thanks to Stephanie's support that I was able to do so well.
Lester age 16
"I can't believe you got caught smoking weed in the bathroom. You told me you stopped." Stephanie admonished me.
"Well, I lied. Anyway, it's none of your business what I do. You're just a freshman, after all."
"Stop being an ass. You know I love you, you're my brother, and I don't want to see anything happen to you. You are ruining your chances at a soccer scholarship."
"It doesn't matter anymore. My parents are sending me to Miami to live with my Abuela Rosa. My cousin, Carlos, is already there. He's been there for two months, already starting to reform."
"Wasn't he the one who stole the car?"
"Yeah, that was him."
"When do you leave?" Stephanie asks, her eyes fill with tears as I watch my Wonder Woman try to compose herself. Six years ago, Stephanie decided to jump off the roof of her back porch, trying to fly like Wonder Woman. Two years ago, she became the first girl to ride her bike with no hands. She is truly amazing.
"Tomorrow."
"How long have you known?"
"Truthfully?" She nods. "A month. I was told a month ago that one more infraction would send me to Miami. Honestly, I want to go. My parents are so busy with the girls that they don't bother with me. It was the same with Carlos. My Abuela will only have Carlos and me. We can help her around the house, and she can support us how we need."
"I'm going to miss you. Who will keep all the riff-raff away? Who will keep little Richie and Joey away from me?"
"I guess Eddie or Carl will have to step up."
"Do we have time for Pino's, one last time?"
"For you, Beautiful, of course."
We went to Pino's, sharing a meatball hero and a pepperoni pizza. We laughed about some of our antics, and I helped to move Joe along, away from Stephanie. As much as I'm looking forward to my move to Miami, I'm going to miss Stephanie, and I worry about her safety. Her mother doesn't approve of me, but thankfully, because I inherited my father's more European coloring, she begrudgingly tolerates me. I've asked my Mom to use Stephanie as a babysitter, so she has an escape from her house. My mom agreed. My mother loves Stephanie and lets her hang out whenever she wants to.
Finally, it's time to leave, and I walk Steph back to her house.
"What time are you leaving?"
"Six."
"In the morning?"
"Yeah, in the morning. Paul is driving me down. We want to get there by six the day after next."
"Oh, so I guess this is goodbye, then," Stephanie said, no longer able to hold back her tears. I wrap my arms around her, holding her head to my chest as we sit on her porch.
"No, Querida, it's just a see you later. I'll be back in Trenton. I promise. Plus, we can still talk to each other on the phone. Mom is paying for my own phone line at my Abuela's. I'll give you my number. Plus, you already have my e-mail address."
"Okay. I'll miss you, hermano."
"Same here, hermana.
"Te amo, Lester."
"Te amo, Stephanie." I kiss her on her forehead, then her cheek, and she kisses my cheek back. We give one final hug, then she enters her house. I walk the two houses down to mine, knowing that Stephanie is the only person who I'm going to miss here in Trenton.
A/N: Special thanks to my wonderful beta Susan, who edited one-handed after recovering from surgery. Please read and review. :-)