Luis

She had fire alright. That night when I got home from Juan Rodriguez's I went to go fall asleep. It was around 2am so I was ready to hit the sack. As my head hit the pillow it hit something that wasn't so soft, a hard lump in my pillow. Reaching my hand into the case my fingers wrapped around something round and a bit crumbly.

A roll with a bite in the left corner and an equally large bite in the right.

Chickita, I thought with a laugh. Turning it over in my hand I feel something smooth under my fingers and in the dim light street light from outside my window I saw the words, "Came by your room, still not my type." Written on two pale strips of duct tape.

My mind is still on her roll note as the fifth period bell rings. It's Wednesday, math is easy but boring, and I'm ready for lunch. Helena Quarters got up from her seat in the front, red pony tail bouncing as she swings her bag over her shoulder. When she reaches the door she catches my eye and winks in the way Betty Boop would.

Over the top enough to be sexy.

"Damn man, Helena is one helluva girl if you know what I mean?" Mi amigo Keenan said, elbowing me in the side as I bend down to get my backpack.

"Yeah she's got a little something." I tell him, slinging the bag over my shoulder.

Keenan barks a laugh as our friend Juan comes up behind us, "Man, don't act like you two didn't get it on Saturday. She's got more than a little somethin'." He purrs.

"Yeah, she was good but I'm not looking for seconds. I need a challenge." I tell them as we walk out and down to the cafeteria, as a small brown haired bullet sails by, her shirt running up just a bit and her dark jeans squeezing her ass as she went by.

"Chickita, chikita!" I call after her loud enough to be heard, but no one pays attention. Its high school kids have better things to do with their lives, like text and do homework they never finished.

She doesn't stop moving but she turns around quick enough to flash me the finger and then continued on.

"A challenge like that?" Juan asks with a snort. "That's the girl staying with you isn't it?"

I nod, not saying what I'm acknowledging him as being correct in. Both are right obviously, but he doesn't need to know this. Once we're in the cafeteria noise is bouncing off the walls left and right. I look around, the past few days Marie has been eating lunch with some girls I know. They party sometimes, but they're a bit less hard core than me and my friends are.

Keenan takes a seat next to Sherrie. Her black skin in constant contrast to his blatant white. They've been hooking up a lot recently, though I don't know if they'll ever actually get together. Ducking a wad of paper that is being thrown at someone past me I take a seat next to him.

"Hey Loey Luis." Sherrie says, taking a break from talking to the girls next to her.

"Hola Sherrie." I nod, observing my fried beans to see if they are digestible or not. I'll eat them either way, but it's always good to know if they'll cause any internal damage. "Where's Marie at? She was hanging with you last I checked."

"Merry Marie?" Sherrie is into the coffee house poetry scene sometimes; her mom's an author so she tends to use alliteration and rhyming whenever she feels like it. From anyone else it would be weird, but after knowing her for a few years it made sense to me by now. Her dark eyes scan the cafeteria smoothly, "She's chilling over there with that dude."

I follow the direction her long, thin finger is pointing and see Marie sitting at a table with some guy I've never met talking to her. He's got long blonde hair pulled in a pony tail and a leather jacket on like he thinks he's a badass.

For now she's my challenge, no one else's.

So I pull my tray off the table and saunter over to Marie. She and the guy are talking quietly to each other, I can't tell what they're saying, but from the tense look of her shoulders she doesn't seem to like him very much.

"Yo gringo move over." I tell him loudly. He looks up at me, his face looking a good few years older than a normal high school students. Probably held back or something, it happens. "Did you not hear me?"

"I'm talking to the lady." He says lazily, turning back to Marie, "Besides she wants me here with her, we're old friends, don't you Marie." She flips her hair over her shoulder and ignores him.

"Marie do you want him here?" I ask staring right at her back. She's quiet for a bit but I can wait. Eventually she turns to face the guy and then me and says, "No, not really."

"Well," I say picking up his bag for him and holding it up, "Guess the senorita is done with you for now." He sees my eyes flash and he knows I mean business. I'm bigger than him by a little bit and we're in a public place. I'm willing to rumble anywhere but this guy doesn't look like an idiot.

He gets up and grabs his bag from me, I let the strap slide from my fingers and slide into his vacated seat. Marie is looking down at her iPod as if I'm not there. Strands of brown hair falling over her shoulder.

"You ain't going to eat?" I ask.

She glances at me and answers me with, "I don't want you here with me either."

"Of course you do. You're just too proud to say it." I tell her stretching my arms and relaxing into the seat, "And you're welcome by the way."

"I can handle myself."

"Sure you can. You're real intimidating chickita."

"You wish you knew what I was like when I'm being really intimidating."

"You're right." I laugh, "I do."

The voices echo around us as she rolls her eyes and ignores me. She's really good at that, rolling her eyes and ignoring me. But it's nothing I can't handle.

"So are you gonna?"

"Gonna what?"

"Eat." I tell her, gesturing to the empty table space in front of her.

After staring for a moment she says in a detached tone, "I don't like the food here." Should I believe her? I don't know, but I do know it's a chance for me to get her alone outside of this place and school. Pushing on the table I say, "Come on."

This gets her attention, "What?"

"I said come on." I tell her grabbing my back and slinging it over my shoulder, "We're going to get some real lunch."

She stares at me like I'm crazy for a minute and then laughs, "I'm not hungry then."

"You're siempre hungry chickita." I tell her, her own smile vanishing as mine appears, "I've been having dinner with you for the past five days after all."When she scowls at me I add with a laugh, "There's nothing wrong with a chick that eats."

Sometimes girls are ridiculous. Who cares whether they eat a lot or not?

When she doesn't say anything I extend my hand to her, "Come on."

Her autumn eyes look at me, she takes in my offer as she grasps my hand and I help her up. "We'll miss class."

"Afraid of skipping?" My lips twisting into smirk that ruffles her feathers enough to get my desired result.

Pulling her hand away from mine sharply she says, "No." Then she heads out to the parking lot behind the school, bouncing with every step like moving to a beat no one else can hear.

"Alright then." I say, mostly to myself, "Let's go."

Once we get to the door she stops short, of course I'm too close behind her and her back collides with my chest. She's small, if I put my arms around her she'd be completely folded into me. I wonder what it would be like to hold her like that…

What can I say, I like a girl who has spunk. "What's wrong?" I say down into her ear. She turns to face me, which only brings her closer so she takes a step back.

"This isn't a date." Her voice rings in my ear.

I don't really date, I haven't in a while, but I do hook up. Carlos has been teasing me all week about how it's taken me so long after living with this girl for a week. But I know what I'm doing. I've got to bide my time, make her want me too.

Plus I'm not that much of an asshole.

"Only if you want it to be." I tell her with a smile pushing the door open over her head. "Vamanos chickita, this man is hungry."