It was barely before he went to bed that Magdalena managed to convince her brother to talk to the guy they'd seen that afternoon.
"All right. I'll do it."
"Do you suppose he likes girls who dress certain ways, or anything?"she asked.
"I don't know!"
"Well, you should. I don't know how boys like girls to dress. You should tell me."
He sighed.
"Just forget it."
"How can I?"
"Fine. I'll tell you tomorrow."
She nodded.
The next morning, as soon as it was time for History, and she saw Pietro, she couldn't resist telling him.
"You wouldn't believe who I saw yesterday after school?"
"Who?"he asked.
"Oh, it was this guy from my old school. Remember during the assembly I told you that there was someone I really liked, but I never got the nerve even to talk to him. I'm sure my parents probably wouldn't like him, but...you know, I really don't care."
Pietro looked up, from copying the assignments off the board.
"Have you met him? He is just...the hottest guy you can imagine!"she said. "You can't miss him. His name is Fabian Alfredo Amezcua Gomez."she said.
"Um, I think someone with a name like that was new in my English class this morning."said Pietro, slowly.
"You saw him? Don't you honestly think he's hot?"
"I didn't notice. Uh, what makes you think that?"
"What else!"she exclaimed. "I like his hair, I like its color. And he has nice eyebrows, they look so expressive. And I've always liked with mustaches. I've been trying to convince my brother that he needs to grow one. They look much more...masculine with them."
"Oh, I never knew you liked that."
She shrugged.
"Well, I never tell anyone."she said. "I always thought everyone liked men to look that way."
"Oh."
Pietro kept copying the assignments off the board. Apparently, today would be the very first day Magdalena's mind was not going to be on what the teacher had to say, but somewhere else. She didn't even answer the questions as she usually did. Only when no one would answer, and the teacher asked if she knew.
"Pray that he's in one of my classes! Please, Pietro! He's friends with one of my brother's friends, you know."
"You like your brother's friends?"
"Some of them. He knows this guy, who's a Muslim, and he tells me so many neat things about Islam, and the Middle East, and about the food they eat, and their customs and stuff."she said. "He says his family all eat from a communal dish. Isn't that neat? And he's tasted baklava. He even told me where you could by it, and Arab coffee, too. I really should buy some, and try it. I like some of my brother's friends. I would asked him to get this guy to date me, but his mother's white, his dad's from the Middle East. And he's too...guero, should we say? I like guys with darker hair and skin. Guys of Hispanic, Southern Europe or Middle Eastern descent. They're the most handsome. Especially because of their dark hair. And they look much better with boots and a hat."
Pietro stared at her.
"So, you like dark hair?"he asked.
"Of course."
Pietro ran his fingers through his hair. He had always been proud of his hair. Had always thought girls liked it. Only to find out that the only girl whom he wanted to pay attention to him, probably didn't because the color of his hair was too light! He wondered what he'd look like with dark hair.
I'll have to take a good look at that Fabian guy, Pietro thought to himself.
Pietro didn't get much of a chance to talk to Magdalena, as she was obviously dreaming about the guy she had told him. She even answered a few questions wrong, which apparently, shocked the teacher, but she didn't seem to mind.
"And I was so sure she liked the intellectual type!"exclaimed Pietro, shaking her head. "She seems so much a bookworm herself, I thought..."
"Do you know where this classroom is?"asked a guy, pointing to his schedule.
It was the same one Magdalena had mentioned earlier. He was accompanied by a friend. Both of them were tall, and even though the other one had brown hair, they were dressed almost the same. Pietro could tell that his clothes were expensive, especially the boots.
"Well, do you? We're new here."he said.
"We're not allowed to wear hats in the buildings."said Pietro.
They both took off their hats.
"Well, can you help us? Or we'll be late."
Pietro told them.
"Thanks. We owe you one."he said.
"Really appreciate it."
Pietro just nodded sourly.
"Stupid idiots."he said. "This calls for drastic action!"he decided, as he looked in the mirror later.
He'd always thought his looks were perfect, but apparently, he had judged wrong. That was probably the reason that he got no attention from Magdalena, despite all his efforts. If this one guy, with his looks could outdo him, than obviously, there was something wrong with him, and he would have to fix it. Fast.