I Don't Want to Lose You (11 page)

             
Within five minutes, Theo, Ralph, Sonya and Brenda were standing next to me.

             
“Girls, I'm sorry,” I said.

             
“Don't be,” said Sonya.  “We're still together for the picture.”

             
Theo stood in the spot next to me.  “Thank you for finding them,” I said appreciatively.

             
He shrugged his shoulders.  “Told you we would.”

             
Ralph was to his left and I was on his right with Sonya and Brenda to my right.  While it probably shouldn't have been a surprise, he held my hand the whole time that we stood there taking pictures. The length of the sleeves on the gowns made it hard for anyone else to tell.  I didn’t mind at all or care in the least that I was still on with Nathaniel. 

             
After we were done, everyone used the opportunity to take pictures with their friends.  I only got to take a few with Brenda and Sonya since my presence was required by Theo to be in every picture that he was taking with his friends.  Fortunately, I knew all of them and none of them were on my list so I didn't have a problem with smiling in any of the pictures.  In each one his arm was around me.  When Puppy wanted to take a picture of just the two of us, Theo wasn't having it.  So I stood in the middle with my arms around their backs to keep the peace.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

             
The school newspaper had been out for a couple of days and it listed the Senior Best and Worst winners that everyone voted on that were to be published in the school yearbook.  Since I was in there for female class cheapskate, I thought it would be unfair of me to write the article and the comments.  Next to my name it said, “Always sniffing out the deals in town.”  I wasn't mad because it was true.  I gave the assignment to another senior who was familiar with most of the people on the list and didn't find anything terribly offensive about the comments that he wrote.  Not everyone shared that opinion.

             
Theo was liked by almost everyone that I knew, except one.  Rosalind.  I think she couldn't stand him because he hated her and had no problem letting his disdain be known.  They were in Student Council together and it ticked him off even more that he had to see her face outside of shared classes.

             
I had a long day and didn't do so well on a test that I had called myself studying hard for.  I tried to, but I had been having headaches from lack of sleep trying to prepare for finals.  After school, I went to the school library to have a bit of peace and quiet until I was ready to walk home.  I laid my head down for about thirty minutes and then got up to go.  I could tell a Student Council meeting had just finished because I could see the members coming out of the classroom where they met.  When Rosalind came out, she saw me and came over to me.

             
“Why would you let something like that be said about me in the paper?” she asked.

             
“I don't know what you're talking about,” I answered.  I really didn't.  She won for the female teacher's pet and the comment said, “Will do anything for another treat.” 

             
“You're the editor. Didn't you read it?” she asked a little louder which hurt my head more.

             
“I read it and I was okay with it.  Everyone who made the worst list had similar quips made at them.  I was on there also but I'm not taking it seriously.”

             
“Monica,” she started, “I know we're not best friends but I thought you at least liked me enough to not have said something like that.”

             
“I didn't say it.  I didn't write the article.”

             
“I don't care.  I demand an apology be written in the next paper or I'm going to the principal.”

             
“Whatever you say.  I really don't care either.”

             
“Well, I'm serious and it had better get done.”  She turned around to walk away and there was Theo.

             
“Get out of here, dog,” he said to her as he did a shooing motion and walked over to me.  She walked away.  He put a concerned look on his face and asked, “Babe, you feel okay?”

             
“I had a horrible day. I have a headache and need to sleep and she didn't make it any better.”

             
“What happened?” he asked with a touch of anger.  I told him the conversation and, like a raging bull, he took off after her with nostrils flaring.

             
Uh oh
.

             
He was moving too fast for me to reach him before he got to her.  I was walking as fast as I could, which was about one mile per four hours, and I was saying “Theo, wait” over and over again but not loud enough for him to hear me obviously.  Just the sound of my own voice was making my ears hurt.  He stopped her from walking and I could tell he was going off and I didn't have to hear to know that he wasn't being nice in the slightest form.  She tried to get defensive and pointed her finger at him.  He shut that down real quick because her hand flew to her side after he said something.  I saw him point at me and then at himself.  I felt sorry for her.  I could only imagine the arsenal of names he had saved up specifically for her and she was being barraged with all of them.   I had heard him go off on her before when he was in a good mood so this was not going be pretty.  Even from afar, I had never seen him get so mad like that before.  As I got closer, I heard her call him a butt hole in Spanish and then walk away.  He yelled back, “Tu madre,” Spanish for “Yo momma.”

             
He turned to me and said, “No apology is necessary to that thing over there.  Give me your backpack.  I'll walk you home.”

             
“I can go by myself.  I'll be fine”

             
He shook his head.  “No, I'm heading that way anyway.  I'm going to Octavio's house and he's just a couple of streets over from you.”  He took my backpack. “I want to make sure you get home all right.”             

             
We walked slowly in silence until I asked, “What did you say to her?”

             
“Don't worry about it, babe.  It was just some damage control.  You don't need to be involved in the nasty side of politics,” he answered.

             
“That's one of the reasons why I don't like it.”

             
When we got to the driveway of my house, he gave me my backpack and said, “Get some sleep.”  He kissed my hand.  “Sweet dreams.”  He smiled and kept walking.

             
The next day while I was walking from one class to another, Rosalind came up to me and said, “I'm not allowed to speak to you anymore according to Teodoro.”

             
“What?”

             
“If I had known you were going to stick him on me, I wouldn't have said anything at all,” she answered.

             
“I didn't stick him on you.  I just told him what you said and he took off.”

             
“Well, he said that if I want to enjoy the rest of this school year that I had better not say more than 'hi' and 'bye' to you with a smile on my face and anything else I need to say should go through him.”

             
“Say what?”  I was truly puzzled by this threat he had made to her.  It didn't sound like him although it looked like he was saying something close to that when he was giving her a piece of his mind.

             
“Are you two together?” she asked.

             
“Nope,” I responded, somewhat disappointed that we weren't with the way he had stuck up for me.

             
“You could have fooled me.”  She gave me a fake smile and said bye before walking away.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

              It was Grad Night at Disneyland.  Nathaniel wasn't interested in coming with me.  Unlike with other things, I wasn't going to let his disinterest in going or having collegiate things to do get in the way of my going.  My girls and I were determined to make it an unforgettable night.  We looked good, all dressed up.  I was wearing a black pantsuit.

             
Everybody gathered at the school parking lot all dressed up and we got on the same bus to make sure that we stayed together.  Excitement was in the air.  Despite the fact that I had been to Disneyland more times than my two hands could count, this was different.  This was to celebrate all that we did to get to this point with only one step left- graduation.  Then there would be freedom from this guarded prison of a high school and a future of whatever we made it out to be.

             
The three of us took pictures as soon as we got in and started trying to figure out what side of the park we were going to head to first.  We decided that we would start with the Matahorn.  As we were in line, Theo and his buddies were walking by.

             
“Hey you guys,” Brenda called out.  They all stopped and came over to us.

             
“We just got off of this ride.  It's a long line but it goes pretty fast,” Ralph said.

             
“We're headed over to Thunder Mountain now,” Puppy said.

             
Theo walked over to me.  “You look nice.”

             
“Thanks. You look dapper yourself.”  He did even in a dress shirt and tie and dress pants.

             
He looked around.  “Where's Nathaniel?”

             
“He didn't come so I don't know where he is.”

             
Ralph tapped Theo on the shoulder.  “Dude, let's go.”

             
“You guys can go,” he told them. “I'm going to get on this ride with them and we'll catch up to you later.”

             
“Are you sure?  Didn't you just get off?” I asked. 

             
“I'm positive,” he said to me.  “We'll see you,” he said to his group.  He made his way over the rope to stand by me.  And by me is where he stood for the rest of the night. 

             
I had to admit it was nice being with him on that ride.  Sonya and Brenda sat in the front and he and I sat in the back with me in between his legs.  He wrapped his arms around my waist and put his head on my shoulder while I hung on for dear life to the handlebars on the side.  When the ride was over, he stepped out before me and gave me his hand to help me exit.