The crew drove around town quietly, needing to get some air and having the need for riding. Bishop looked at Taza as Coco passed them speeding.
"What the hell is he doing?"
"I guess he's eager to test out his new ride," said Taza laughing.
"If he keeps driving that fast, the only thing he'll test out is a speeding ticket," replied EZ.
They watched as Coco turned into a street and disappeared, revving the engine of his new bike.
"I'll go bring these to your room," said Isabella as she crossed paths with Sam who was heading back to the car.
"Just put them on the bed, I'll arrange everything myself."
"Glad to see you actually thought I'd do it for you," she answered jokingly.
He ambled toward the car, took a box out from the back passenger seat, then went around to open the trunk. As he did, his soccer ball, rolled out of it, down the driveway and out into the street.
"Shit," said Samuel as he put the box down and headed down the driveway. As he reached the ball in the middle of the street, he heard an engine roaring his way and looked up, eyes wide open.
Isabella who was coming down the stairs, heard tires screeching, then the sound of metal bending and scraping. She ran the remainder of the steps and looked out toward the street the minute she was out the door. Sitting agog in the middle of it was Sam holding his soccer ball. Not far from him, a motorcycle, and a biker, slowly getting on his hands and knees. She rushed across the lawn and squatted when she was in front of Samuel.
"Oh my God, Sam are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he replied as he turned his head to look at the biker.
"What happened?"
"Ball rolled out on the street, the guy was driving really fast, I saw him too late to move out of the way."
Isabella stood up straight and walked over with a threatening step as the biker stood.
"Are you fucking crazy! There are kids living on this street!"
"Whoa chica, take it easy, no one got hurt," replied the biker in a very accented and somewhat high-pitched voice.
"Chica? I don't know you, show some respect. And no, I won't take it easy. You could have killed my son."
"Well, what was he doing in the middle of the fucking road?"
"So, it's his fault now?"
She turned her head just quickly enough to see more bikers arrive as she heard their engines.
"If you can't drive like you're supposed to or even manage to stay on your bike, then sell it and buy a freaking car!"
"What is going on here?" she heard a man's suave voice say from behind her.
When the man reached her height, she looked at him. He was about 5'7", regular built, dark brown hair and matching color eyes, a mustache, and the equivalent of a four-day stubbled graying beard. He looked Mexican, if not at least Latino, with his middle-colored skin tone. She narrowed her eyes in on his cut.
"Well, Presidente," she said in a perfect Spanish accent, "your patch here almost killed my son."
The man turned around and looked at the teenage boy who EZ and Angel were helping back on his feet. He then looked at Coco then back at the woman who was angry for obvious and valid reasons.
"I'm terribly sorry. It's not in our habit to not respect the road code. Coco here, got a little carried away, he should have known better, especially in this residential area where kids often end up playing in the streets. I can promise you it won't happen again." He then turned to Coco. "Right Coco?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry. Hope the kid is alright."
"Is the kid, OK?" asked Bishop turning back toward the rest of his crew.
"All good," replied EZ.
"Great," replied Bishop as he eyed the woman who was still glaring at Coco. "I'll make sure to handle this on my end."
Isabella rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you will."
Bishop gently grabbed her arm as she attempted to turn away and head back toward her son. Her menacing eyes darted at him. "I get it, you don't know me, but if I tell you I'll handle it, I will. I'm a man of my word."
Seeing her nod, he let go of her arm and watched as she walked away.
"Mom, I'm fine," said Samuel seeing his mom head over to him and the rest of the bikers, some who had their backs turned to her. Angel turned around upon hearing the woman's footsteps near them.
Angel blinked a couple of times upon seeing her. "Isabella?"
"Angel?" replied Isabella, disbelief in her voice.
EZ turned around just as Isabella reached Angel.
"What are you doing here?" he asked still in shock.
"My mother is ill," replied Isabella not sure how she had managed to line up those four words as she kept staring at Angel.
"Está todo bien?"
Isabella finally broke the eye contact with Angel and looked at the front porch. "Si mamá. Nada de qué preocuparse. Estaremos ahí mismo."
Margaret returned inside and Isabella had no longer an excuse to look away from Angel. "I need to go. Come on Sam," she said as headed toward the house after giving Angel and EZ one last look.
The entire crew stood there as Angel and EZ watched the mother and son reach the front door and disappear inside.
"Riz, go check out Coco's bike with him and see if he can still use it. If not, we'll have to get the van," said Bishop.
He stood next to Angel. "Who was that?" he asked quite interested.
"Isabella Hernandez. We grew up together. I haven't seen her since she left for college."
"Looks like she's all grown up," said Taza jokingly.
"I like her," said Bishop, "she doesn't seem like the kind of woman to take shit from nobody. Takes guts to talk to a biker crew like she did. I respect that."
"Bike is not too banged up, Coco can ride it, but we'll have to check it out thoroughly when we get back."
"Alright, then let's get out of here. And you", he said pointing to Coco, "behave."
EZ walked over to Angel who seemed to be putting his helmet on in slow motion, his eyes still riveted on the house. "Are you alright?"
"What? Yeah, I just wasn't expecting to see her, is all. Now come on, let's go," he said as he mounted his bike, finally setting his eyes on something else, and turned on the ignition.
"Did you know those guys?" asked Sam as he watched his mom take the clothes out from her suitcase and place them in the wardrobe of her teenage room.
"Only two of them."
"The ones that helped me up?"
"Yeah."
"Who are they?"
"Angel and Ezekiel Reyes. We grew up together. They lived further down the street."
"Must be weird running into people you knew when you were my age."
"Yeah," replied Isabella somewhat lost in her thoughts as she took another unused hanger. "It's like they are still your age in my mind. When in the end we're the same age. It's crazy."
"So, they weren't bikers when you lived here?"
"No. You're quite curious," she said trying to change the subject.
"They seemed nice," said Sam shrugging, "it's actually kind of cool to see the kind of friends you used to hang out with."
"Well, they were different back then. Why don't you go take care of your things, that way we can go out to dinner?"
"What about the rest of the stuff in the car?"
"I'll do it when I'm done here."
"OK. Call me when it's time to go."
When he walked out of the room, she sat down on the edge of the bed. Coming back to Santo Padre was one thing, knowing she'd need to help her mother was another, but she had never expected to run into Angel…the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. She looked around the room and her eyes stopped on the bookcase in the corner of the room, next to the window. She scanned it and realized that all the books she had read in high school were still there, as well as her yearbooks. She stood and walked over, grabbing a yearbook in particular. She caressed the cover with the palm of her hand before opening it, almost as if it could transport her even further back than just opening it. She flipped the pages and stopped when she reached the one, she had been looking for. She stared at it for a few moments, before sighing, closing the book back up and putting it back in its rightful place. All of that, now seemed to be from another lifetime. She didn't know if she should feel nostalgic about it or not.
