it’s not like we’re chusma, only my grandma thinks it might make us look bad. The widow and daughter of a drug dealer, you know?” She lifted her hands, making air quotes. “Qué dirá la gente?” What people will think or say is all my grandmother ever worries about. She’s the one who’s been insisting for years we move away and get a fresh start somewhere where nobody knows us. She originally wanted us to go along with saying she was my mother and my mom and I were sisters and that my mom had never been married. Since my mom married so young and still looks young enough, we could pass as sisters. But my mom refused. The most she’d go along with was moving and saying she was just recently widowed after my dad got sick and died. But we did move out here because it was cheaper than living in the city.”
Their eyes met, and he took a deep breath when she smiled again, and the deep dimples made another appearance. “Thanks for holding those for me, Alejandro.” She reached out for the bag of beans.
Alej hadn’t even realized they were already just a few feet away from her house. “No worries.” He handed them to her. “And next week, if the girls give you the cold shoulder, you come hang with me.”
Anyone who may’ve heard the invitation would think it just that. That he’d worded it wrong and meant to say, you can come hang with me. But Alej had worded the phrase that way for a reason.
She smiled almost knowingly. He’d been spot on with his first impression about her. She was far more mature for her age than would be expected. Her sharing such a secret and explaining why it was one also confirmed something else he’d picked up about her. Isabella couldn’t care less that he or likely anyone else knew about her dad. She was that poised even at her young age. But she’d honor her grandmother’s wishes by at least trying to keep it on the downlow. Already there was so much to like about her than just how damn cute she was. But if she was going to hang out with the laid-back boys instead of the girls, it was him she’d be doing it with. He’d make sure of it.
Capítulo 2
Escuela Secundaria
Middle School
Isabella
Ever since the day Alejandro had walked Isabella home from the town’s mercantile that first week she’d arrived at the pueblo, they’d slowly become best friends. As expected, the girls did turn out to be drama. Isabella’s mom and grandma assured her a lot of girls were just sangronas with other girls. Her grandmother went as far as to say women were naturally catty to one another and in her experience in life you only ever really had one or two good friends and had to watch out for the others. Though Isabella saw plenty of them hanging out together in groups of more than two just fine.
Alejandro had a different theory. One he was adamant about. “They’re jealous.”
Isabella, who was now Isa to Alejandro, had laughed, a bit embarrassed when she first heard him declare it so matter-of-factly. “Of what?” she’d asked.
“Are you kidding me?” he’d retorted incredulously. “Look at you! Even way back when you first walked into the classroom, when you were a timid little fourth grader, you were beautiful and full of confidence. It’s what I loved about you from the moment we started hanging out. Those girls knew they’d never stand a chance against you when it came to vying for any boys’ attention.”
It reminded her of the one thing she and Alejandro had never discussed but both knew she was well aware of. In hindsight, Isabella knew now why those girls had been so eager to befriend her that first day. They’d been hoping to embarrass her by teasing her about the fact that Alejandro Moreno had said he was going to marry her.
After getting a better look at him and being caught in his intense eyes that first week, she’d been beyond flattered, not to mention excited. Only at that age she had no idea how to react to something like that. So, she’d done what her mom and grandma had always told her to do to avoid getting teased mercilessly. She’d pretended it was no big deal, as if she didn’t have the incredible urge to giggle nervously like the schoolgirl she’d been, along with them. The cutest boy