Things got a lot better for Letty after that. She ended up spending the vast majority of her time at my house, and at the garage. She would go for weeks without ever going home. It was nice having her around. It wasn't at all like having another sister. Letty never felt like a sister. It was like having a friend down the hall. She gave me a hard time the same way Vince did. But, it was different. I thought about her a lot to try and figure out what it was that was different. Regardless of how much of my thoughts she consumed, I still could not get a handle on things. By the time summer rolled around, she had gotten just as good at working on cars as Vince. It was impressive, actually. She really had a knack for it.

Our talks did not stop completely. But, they were less frequent. This was partly due to the fact that her day-to-day life was much easier. Things would still happen, though, and I would wake up to her sleeping on my floor. When things went wrong, that was the first place she headed. I secretly loved this fact.

I tried to set my main focus on being a teenager. The year Vince and I were fifteen going on sixteen was a big year for both of us. Mainly, it was a big because we were in high school, about to start driving, and our relationships with the opposite sex were starting to enter a whole new realm of possibility.

"So, you coming to Lowry's party tonight?" Vince asked me after school one day. We were standing in the parking lot. School had just started- high school. Instead of taking the bus, I was riding with an older guy, Zack, I knew that frequently brought his car by the garage. He was pretty big into racing. He was the one that introduced me to the street scene in LA because when he would go he frequently took Vince and I along for the ride.

"Hell yeah, ain't shit else to do," I remarked.

"Heard that. Think Zack will get us beer?" Vince asked.

"Yeah, probably," I answered as Zack walked up.

"Sup guys," he said, walking up to join the group.

"Hangin' out," Vince said.

Just then Rachel, a very attractive girl in my grade, walked by. I had been eyeing her since school started, so about a week. A very entertaining aspect of high school was that there were more girls. Girls that had not gone to junior high school with me miraculously appeared out of nowhere. I appreciated the increase in population.

"Hey Dominic," she said, continuing to pass.

"Hey Rachel," I smiled, watching her as she made her way by.

Zack started laughing. "Gotta watch out for those freshman girls, man," he warned.

"Oh, I'm watching," I joked.

"Yeah, I see that. But, the key is to pretend like you don't care. When they approach you, that's when you can show a little bit of interest," he explained. "Aloof, that's what you want to be, Dom. Cool and distant."

This was probably the most interesting thing I'd heard all day. Zack got a lot of girls, most of which he picked up after races. Being young and with a limited income, Zack didn't race much. But, it was amazing the way the girls acted towards the drivers at the races. They literally did nothing and the girls flocked. It was quite interesting. And, for some reason, Zack had made Vince and I his pupils. But, I was much more willing to learn from Zack than from any of the idiots that taught at the high school.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said.

"Alright, it's hot as hell. You ready to roll?" he asked, pulling his keys from his pocket. Zack had a fast car but what made it more impressive than anyone else's was the appearance. He was really into decals and unique paint jobs. It was as if his car was his art project. He didn't know too much about fixing things up under the hood, but he knew a lot about fixing up the exterior. Any opportunity that Zack was given, he was drawing. This included the time he spent in class, after class, sitting around the garage waiting for his car, anytime. He had great ideas about what he wanted cars to look like. And, he was really talented. He carried around colored pencils the way some guys carried around a Glock. They were always on him and he would pull them out at any opportunity. He was drawing on anything that had free space.

"Yeah," I said. "Yo, Vince. I'll catch up with you later man."

"That's cool," Vince said. At this time, Vince was riding to school with this really hilarious guy named Troy Yates. Yates didn't know jack about cars, and had just recently turned sixteen. He was always life of the party, though. He was in a struggling band that was saving up money to make their first demo record so they could hit it big in the music industry. Yates dreamed big. He was the most full-throttle person I'd ever met. If he was going to do something, he was going to do it all the way. He never just drank, he got plastered. He didn't just skip school, he'd go down to Las Vegas and sneak into a strip club. He and Vince got along really well. I could see Yates's impulsivity starting to rub off on Vince.

Zack and I got into the car and he drove out of the school parking lot.

"So, what are you guys getting into tonight?" Zack asked.

"Probably headed to Lowry's party," I replied.

"Yeah, that's cool," he said.

"What are you doing? You working tonight?" I asked.

"Nope, off all weekend. I don't know, probably go by Kershaun's, too. I don't have the money to race tonight," he said as he shifted gears. Kershaun Lowry was one of Zack's good friends, and an emerging new talent in the street racing game. Kershaun had a lot of money poured into his car, no one really knew where he got it from. But, he was able to make quite the impression on the streets when he let loose.

"Yeah, bummer about last week. You weren't too far off," I told him. Zack had lost. He hadn't lost by much, but he lost. He usually won. He was really developing a name for himself in the street racing world, especially for having just started racing a little over a year ago and having to spend all the money he would win in a race to make improvements to his own car.

"What can I say? Losing is losing. It doesn't matter if you lose by an inch or a mile," he told me, looking over.

"Yeah, man, I hear ya," I replied. At the same time, winning was winning. And when I started racing, I planned on just winning. "You mind picking Vince and I up some beer on the way home?"

"No problem," he said, turning into a gas station. Apparently Zack's younger cousin was a computer whiz. He was around Mia's age, from what I gathered, but unlike Mia used his intelligence for only malevolence. He made Zack a fake id that was yet to be rejected anywhere in the greater Los Angeles area. Zack had been trying to convert his cousin over from false identification cards to cars. He wanted him to develop a system where Zack could place his images for different cars on the computer and tweak them electronically.

"Thanks dude," I said, handing him some money as he got out of the car.

He went in the store and came walking out with a case of Corona and a case of Bud Light. He handed me the change for my beer and put his own case in the back.

"You and your American beer," I joked.

"Watch your mouth. America's the home of the '62 Plymouth Sport Fury- solid muscle," he retorted completely pulling this comparison out of left field. This was Zack's dream car.
"Touché," I replied. I had to hand it to him for his taste: 413 cubic inch V-8, 13.5 compression, 415 horsepower, 470 foot pounds of torque. This was the first stock car to make the quarter mile in less than twelve seconds. I could understand why he wanted one. But, American beer was a different story.

Hey pulled up to the house. The garage was closed this weekend because my dad was starting to race in the stock car circuit. This was his second race. So, far, he had done very well. This weekend he was in Virginia.

"Alright, man, thanks for the lift," I said. I realized that I had left my book bag and any schoolbooks at school. It was no big deal. Instead, it gave me a reason not to do any homework over the weekend. So, I grabbed the only really important thing, the case of beer.

"Sure thing. Hit me up if you guys need a ride tonight," he said.

"Cool," I said, closing the door. I walked up into the house. Mia was sitting on the couch doing her homework.

"Hey Dominic," she said as I closed the door behind me.

"Hey Mia," I said, walking into the kitchen. I put the beer in the refrigerator and then went and joined her on the couch. "So, Mi, what are you getting into tonight?"

"Probably going to go out and get wasted and pick up some guys," she joked.

"That's my girl," I joked. I would never have let her do this.

"You're such a good influence," she remarked.

"You know I'm kidding," I told her.

"I know. No, actually, I think I'm going to hang out with Letty," she said. I was stunned.

"Really?" I asked. This sounded just as farfetched as the first statement. She and Letty got along just fine, but they really didn't hang out. Letty was still with Vince and I most of the time, and always at the garage. Granted, she did not come with us to parties, she was thirteen. But, she wasn't extremely buddy-buddy with Mia.

"Yeah, why do you look so surprised?" she asked, putting her pencil down.

"Just didn't know you guys hung out that much," I said.

"Well, we're going to tonight," she replied.

"Alright," I said, dropping the subject. Letty was hanging out with my little sister. I guess that made sense. They were only a grade apart in school. Mia was in junior high with Letty now. I wondered if Mia was going to turn her prissy. I really hoped not. That would have been a bummer. That was a huge part of Letty's appeal, in my opinion.

I went over to the fridge and got a beer. I needed a drink after this statement. I felt off center.

The front door opened and someone walked in. I glanced around the wall and saw Vince approaching.

"Long time no see, brother," I yelled in.

"You drinkin' already?" he asked, walking in the kitchen.

"Just got some bad news," I said, opening the fridge up and grabbing a beer for him.

"What's up?" he asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Letty and Mia are hanging out tonight," I told him somberly.

Vince just started laughing, "That's awesome."

I looked at him totally baffled. I wasn't really upset but 'awesome' was definitely not the word I would have used to describe the situation. I might say 'strange'.

"What? It's funny," he stated.

"Um, yeah, I guess," I said, not thinking it was funny, but humoring him.

"They're just totally opposite," he remarked.

I just shrugged, "Whatever. Hey, come help me with the basement."

Since Dad was closing up shop when he went to the races, I had taken on clearing out the basement. There were two rooms and a bathroom in the basement that we never used. I felt like it could potentially be a really good hangout spot. Of course, after Letty took the extra bedroom, we started pilling all of our crap in the basement. It had turned into quite a chore to clear it all out.

"I don't want to do work," Vince complained as soon as we got down there.

"Just put some shit in boxes," I said, throwing him an empty box that contained car parts once upon a time.

We cleared a fairly good sized area. Or, rather, I cleared a rather good sized area and Vince watched. He would occasionally and begrudgingly put an item in the box. By the time we stopped, he had filled up the one box I had thrown him.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"It's only like six," I replied. I had no idea, it was a complete guess.

We went back upstairs and Letty and Mia were sitting on the couch. They were talking about school. That surprised me a bit, for Letty. Granted, she wasn't really talking about her classes, more the people in them. But, she never really talked about school with me.

"Hey ladies," Vince said, walking in to join them. I grabbed another beer out of the fridge before making my way into the den.

"Hey V," Letty said, not really acknowledging either of us.

"Nah, Mi, we're not watching this," I said, looking at the television showing reruns of Dallas.

"I was in here first," she said, holding tight to the remote control.

"Come on, Vince, let's go down to Hector's," I said, chugging my beer. I didn't want to carry it down the street.

Hector was a year younger, in the ninth grade. His family had recently moved a few blocks down the road. He was really interested in cars. Instead of fixing them, his father sold used cars. But Hector was just as knowledgeable about what went on under the hood of a car as he was about how much a car should sell for. Plus, he had a lot of brothers and cousins that were always hanging around his house drinking and playing basketball so it was an entertaining place to escape to when need be.

"You want to come Letty?" I asked as Vince followed me towards the door. But, then he made a sidetrack to the kitchen.

"Nah, I'm good," she said. Rejected. Letty always came with us down to Hector's house. In fact, she and Hector got along really well. They found it extremely funny to talk about Vince and I in Spanish so we didn't know what they were saying.

"You'd rather watch Dallas?" I mocked, but in reality I was somewhat hurt that she was choosing to stay with Mia.

"No not really I just don't feel like going anywhere," she said.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, trying not to let on too much concern as Vince came back into the room.

"Yeah. It's just hot outside and I want to lay here," she said lackadaisically.

"Alright then, check ya later," I said walking out the door.

When we got outside, Vince showed me what he had gone back into the kitchen for. He had a couple of beers in his cargo shorts. I laughed. But, then became distracted. Why hadn't Letty wanted to come? Did I do something to piss her off? She didn't seem mad. Letty wasn't one to hide her anger. If she was mad, she would let you know it. I guess I should expect that she would get closer to Mia, what with them going to the same school. Still, it sort of made me sad. I didn't want Letty to make herself scarce. She was fun to have around. She was the only person that I found it virtually impossible to become angry with. All she had to do was smile or make some asinine comment and any anger I felt was quickly dissolved.

Vince and I hung out with Hector and a couple of his older cousins for a few hours. They were drinking so we were able to freely partake of some alcohol. Of course, they were more of the Dos Equis kind of guys. This was not really my style. But, at the time, I wasn't that picky.

Around nine o'clock Vince and I went back to the house. Mia and Letty were still watching television. Vince decided to call Yates to see about going to the party. He was always a fun guy to go with, not such a reliable person to go home with. But, getting there was the main issue. Yates came by the house to pick us up. We had a beer with him and then loaded up in the car. By the time we made it to the party, it was really starting to pick up. I got out of the car and grabbed the beer. I saw Rachel. This was going to be a fun night.

I took Zack's advice and just sort of stood back with Vince and Yates. We drank a little bit more and I was really starting to feel it at this point. Of course, Yates had brought liquor and was not drinking so much as taking shots. He got Vince going, but I decided in order to be aloof, I needed to be conscious, so I abstained. We made small talk with random other individuals that we knew at the party.

"Zack attack, what's up man?" I asked, as Zack walked up to join the three of us.

"Chilling. Trying to hold it together," he said clenching his jaw.

"What's going on?" I asked him. He was usually a pretty easygoing guy so I figured he had to be pretty upset about something to be so tense.

"Fuckin' prick Lance Tran, don't know if you know him. His younger cousin Johnny's in your grade. He's talking shit at Wesley's earlier. Couldn't take it any longer and we got into it," he said shaking out his bloody knuckles.

"Damn, Zack. Did you win at least?" I questioned. At this point, I noticed that he looked a little scruffier than usual and a little cut up.

"Course," he smiled. "Family can't fight for shit, they just talk it."

"Well, have a beer. It makes everything better," I said, handing him a Corona.

"You and your Mexican beer," he laughed.

"Dom, Rachel's over there," Vince pointed.

"Yeah, I saw her," I said. I didn't want to approach her, though. I was doing my homework.

I stood around with the guys for a little bit longer, sipping on my beer, watching Yates and Vince take shots. Zack told the whole story about his fight. I kept an eye on Rachel. She was drinking something in a Solo cup and talking with her girlfriends. Vince walked away to go to the bathroom, leaving an opening in our group circle. I was mid conversation with Zack when I saw Rachel walk up.

Zack put his hand on drunken Yates's shoulder, pulling him away, and they walked off. But, that was not before Zack whispered, "cool and distant."

"Hey Dom," she said, somewhat intoxicated- always a good sign.

"Hey," I said, trying to walk the line between ignoring her but not totally pissing her off. This was not an easy line. I kept scanning the crowd as if I was looking for somebody but moved in a little bit closer to her.

"Are you having fun?" she asked, stepping into me.

"Yeah, you?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's a good party. They have this red drink in the kitchen. I think I'm enjoying it too much," she said touching my stomach.

"Impossible," I said, placing my hand on the small of her back.

"Do you know a lot of people here?" she asked, noticing that I was still looking around.

"Um, decent amount," I responded. This was kind of true. They were mainly Kershaun's friends and some other random people from the high school. Kershaun's group hung around the street races. Of course, thanks to Zack, most of the older people that I knew fit this criteria.

"Well, I don't really know a lot of people. But, I know you," she said, placing her other hand on my stomach.

"Well we should get to know each other better," I sad, moving my fingers up under the bottom of her shirt to stroke the small of her bare back.

She smiled and kissed me. Wow, that had been incredibly easy. In junior high, doing even the smallest things with girls always seemed like more of a challenge. It required a lot more talking and typically seeing each other in more than one social setting. So far, I liked high school.

TBC

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AJ