Chapter 1 Melodia

I fought back a yawn as my pencil scribbled away and Ms. Calloway kept talking about pyramids. Don’t get me wrong, pyramids are cool, but they weren’t cool enough to keep my attention for the whole class. At least she looked like she was having fun, with the way she was pointing all over the place and talking fast enough her words started to blur together a little.

It helped that Ms. Calloway had admitted what she was talking about wasn’t on the test. We had already finished everything in this chapter of the book. So instead of wasting the last ten or so minutes of class at the end of a Wednesday, she’d taken the chance to talk about things she thought were cool about what we were learning this week.

The bell rang, cutting off Ms. Calloway mid-sentence. She took a quick glance at the clock and I couldn’t help but follow. I was as surprised to learn class was over as she was. Time always felt like it passed by a little bit quicker in Ms. Calloway’s class.

“The homework for tonight is the end of chapter questions on page 72 of your book,” she quickly explained as the rest of the class gathered their stuff and started packing up to go to their next class. “It will be due in two days on Friday and it’ll be worth a good chunk of your grade for the unit, so don’t forget about it.”

By the time she was done explaining, half the class was already out the door. Tough luck for them, Ms. Calloway probably wasn’t even going to mention the homework tomorrow so they were on their own now. As for me, I stayed behind to hear the whole assignment. I was in no hurry to get to my next class, for multiple reasons.

Plus I felt like I owed it to her. Even if she didn’t know it, she was my favorite teacher. It wasn’t a huge honor, or one she would ever know about, it was one she had earned anyway. And all she had needed to do was announce there’d be zero group work in her class on the first day.

I got up from my seat as she finished explaining the homework as the rest of the ones who stayed to hear the whole thing did the same. We started streaming out of the room just as the first people from Ms. Calloway’s next class started to stream in. As soon as we were all out of the room, we all split and went our separate ways. They must have all had classes in different parts of the school.

Of course, that was just a guess. I couldn’t have known for sure, I had never spoken to any of them.

I walked the crowded halls of South Palm Middle School feeling as alone as ever. It wasn’t so bad, the isolation was actually pretty nice. Not having anyone try and talk to me was calming and the low hum of the crowd around me helped me relax. It wasn’t fun, but it sure as heck beat what I would have to deal with for the next hour.

I crawled through the doors of my math class, not in any way ready to deal with my most hated class. It wasn’t that I hated math… no, that was a lie, I hated math, but it wasn’t why I hated this class. No, the reason why I hated this class was sitting in her seat, right next to mine.

I sat down, gulped to myself, and kept my head down to avoid her eyes.

Anna wasn’t a bully, not really. In fact from the way she acted around everyone else, she must have been the friendliest and most outgoing person I had ever met. She greeted everyone with a big smile and a conversation ready to go.

That had been the problem. The first day of class she had washed over me like a tsunami. An endless torrent of friendly questions and jokes which left me drowning. And if there was one thing drowning people had trouble doing, it was probably having a conversation.

She kept trying over the course of the next few days, never once letting up her chipper verbal assault. And no matter how much I tried, she was way too intense for me to get a word in. After a week, I must have worn down her patience or just annoyed her, because she gave up trying to talk to me.

I thought at the time the nightmare was over. It had only just begun. I had tried to apologize, but every time our eyes met, she would give me this glare which would freeze my soul as well as my face. I didn’t do well under pressure and talking to someone who was mad at you was the worst kind of pressure.

So now I had to deal with this every day. I would get to class and Anna would give me a glare when I walked in. I would sit down in my seat and she’d glare at me and keep doing it from time to time over the course of the hour. My only options were to either sit down and ignore it until she stopped, or cut class and get a failing grade.

And I was already hovering close to a failing grade in this class. I’d rather deal with Anna every day for the rest of my life then let my mom learn I had cut class and failed it. Plus, I was pretty sure the ‘ignore her’ was finally working.

Even as the bell rang and the teacher got started, I didn’t feel her eyes on me at all. It had been like this all week so far. Not a single glare, huff, or anything else. The few times I dared to look at her face, she looked like she was thinking about something else. Something more important which was definitely not math. It looked like I had survived our little war by having her move on from me.

I should have been happy I wouldn’t have to deal with her again. But for as much as Anna hated me, she was one of the only people in this school who paid any attention to me. And now that she was moving on…

“I’m more alone than ever,” I muttered to myself in the near empty room as the last of the class packed up and left. Even the teacher was getting his stuff together to leave and go somewhere else. He paused halfway through to look up at me.

“Melodia, what are you still doing here? Get out of here kid, school’s done for the day. Go home or go play with your friends, I need to lock this place up.”

“Okay,” It was always easier talking to teachers, especially the nice ones. Even if they sometimes said things which made me want to roll my eyes and scream my head off. I gave him a quick nod and grabbed my own stuff before leaving the room and starting my journey home.

I took everything I had to not scoff as I left the school. Had he really told me to ‘go play with my friends’? As if the girl known as Melodia Sonata Gomez Suarez ever hung out with her friends after school. In fact she didn’t have any friends at all.

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And why would she? Who would want to be friends with the mousy little Hispanic girl with the long hair which went over her eyes sitting over in the corner of the room? Did you know if you went up and tried to talk to her, you have a nine in ten chance of her freezing up and not saying anything at all? Better to leave her by herself as she walked the streets to get home.

Even my own name was a joke. The end result of my dad losing a bet with a musically obsessed friend. Melodia wasn’t even a real Hispanic name, just the Spanish word for Melody, the name my dad’s friend had actually wanted to give me. At least Dad managed to put his foot down on that part.

“I wish I had some friends,” the words left my lips just as I passed by a small alley. Almost as though the universe was responding to my wish, a loud crashing sound came from inside.

I glanced around at the mostly empty street around me. The few people who were around were mostly minding their own business, even after a sound as loud as that one. I thought maybe I had imagined it only for a second crash to come out of the alley again. Still no response from the rest of the people on the street.

A third crash was all I needed to make my decision. I steeled my nerves and started walking into the alley to investigate what was going on.

The alley itself wasn’t too narrow, more than enough space for me to get through without having to touch the walls. I slowly crept through the gray, windowless corridor, stopping to hide behind each trash can. The closer I got, the more crashing I heard. As I got even closer, flashes of light started appearing at the other end of the alley.

I poked my head out and found myself surprised by what I found. On the other side of the gray and trash filled alley was a small courtyard and another, much nicer entrance on the other side. And standing right in the center of the courtyard, staring right at the top of a building was the last person I wanted to see.

I tried to back away only for my foot to kick a can, the metal impact echoing around the alley. Anna’s head quickly turned to me, her eyes narrowing as soon as they fell on me. She started marching towards me as I found myself unable to move. My face locked up as she got uncomfortably close and looked me in the eye. I fought my urge to gulp as I felt her eyes drilling into me.

“Did you see?”

‘Did I see?’ See what? What was I not supposed to see which was so important you need to do this to me? Was she talking about whatever it was that made those lights and sounds? Well I didn’t see anything, so maybe I could get her to back off. I took a few seconds to collect myself before managing to get the words I needed.

“Heard noises,” It wasn’t a lot, but maybe it would be enough to get her to leave me alone. Just to be safe, let’s add on the part about the lights.

“Well I guess that’s fine,” she cut me off before I could say anything. She turned her back to me and started leaving the courtyard. I was about to leave when she started talking while still walking away. “But maybe next time, don’t walk toward loud noises.”

I gulped as Anna walked out of the courtyard and left me by myself. As soon as she was gone, I felt my knees start to shake as I slowly sank to the ground.

“And I was so close to having her leave me alone,” I growled as I punched the cement floor. I winced as my knuckles hit the hard ground. Now I had to deal with her being angry with me again. I was this close to getting her to not pay attention to me anymore.

I let myself calm down a little before getting back to my feet and walking the rest of the way home. I left the alley the way I came and reached my destination after only a few more minutes, a normal two story house at the very edge of a tiny suburb. It was home, and there was no better place to be.

“Ya llege,” I announced I’d arrived in Spanish as I walked in through the front door.

“Welcome home my lovely little girl,” I heard in Spanish as my mom rushed out to sweep me up in a hug. There was a bit of an unspoken rule around the house to only ever speak in Spanish unless we had non-Spanish speaking guests over. We spoke it so often, I was starting to worry my English was starting to suffer.

“Hi Mom,” I greeted back as I managed to get out of her grip. “Are there any snacks today?”

“Well I was at the supermarket and saw something we might have for dessert,” she lifted a single finger. “You can have one now with a glass of milk.”

“Thank you,” I rushed to the kitchen to find the treat I had been expecting. Sitting on the counter was a plastic box filled with alfajores. I washed my hands in the sink and quickly ate one of the sweet treats before getting to work.

I had a policy of finishing all of my homework the day it was given. It made sure the work never had the chance to pile up and kept me from forgetting about any of it. Plus sometimes the stars would align and none of my classes would assign new work. Those free days were rare, but they were always great when they came around.

In fact today had almost been one of them. Aside from the history homework for Ms. Calloway, I only had one other bit of homework. So I was able to get it all done by the time I heard the front door opening again.

“I’m home,” I heard my older brother Arturo announce only to get scooped in the same hug Mom got with me. I waited for him to escape and make his way to the dining room where I was waiting for him.

“Hey Arturo,” I greeted as he took a seat and started taking out his own books.

“Hey Melodia, you need any help with anything?” He asked even as she got started on his own homework.

“No I’m fine,” I shook my head as I eyed the impressive amount of books and papers on his part of the table. “Are you sure you don’t need it?”

“I’ll be fine on my own. Plus I think I’ll be done faster than you think,” he smirked as he got to work. I couldn’t help but be impressed with myself for finishing all my homework before he even got home.

Arturo went to South Palm High, right across the street from the middle school with the matching name. They both started and ended school half an hour after us, and my brother tended to stop by the convenience store on the way back to get something to eat or drink. That usually gave me roughly an hour before he got home.

With Dad still a few hours away, Arturo working on his homework, and Mom finishing up dinner, I had the house to myself. I packed up my things and sat down in the living room to watch some TV with the volume turned down low.

He ended up joining me a little while later. I raised an eyebrow as he sat next to me. He did the same thing I did with his homework, so how had he finished so quickly? He noticed my look and shrugged.

“Like I said, faster than you think,” he explained as he settled in to watch whatever it was I was watching. After a few minutes, I got bored with the cartoon we were watching and switched to something else. I went through the TV guide until he pointed out a movie with a big monster on it.

“Oh that’s a good one,” I shrugged my shoulders and played it while leaning back. A little while later, Mom emerged from the kitchen and sat down with us on the couch. We spent the next few hours watching a giant squid terrorize a small town only to be stopped a bunch of people on a boat. It was fun and Arturo and I laughed whenever the special effects looked bad, which was pretty often.

A few hours later, we heard the door open again. The two of us looked at each other with knowing smiles and waited for what happened every day. Mom, ready for her part, got out of her chair and started walking towards the door.

“I’m home,” we heard Dad announce as Mom headed right to him. Her feet got a little louder as she got closer. We heard him laugh before letting out a shout. “If it isn’t the most beautiful woman in the world!”

A second later and Mom answered back with what she always said.

“Well, if it isn’t the most handsome man in the world!” The two of us rolled our eyes at their nightly ritual even as we got up to greet him ourselves.

We ended up getting pulled into a bone crushing hug before heading to eat dinner.