CHAPTER 22: (E)X Marks the Spot

As soon as the bell rang, little kids with big-ass backpacks came rushing out of the rusty gates.

I sat on the hood of dad's car. We had to bust out the old station wagon since mine was still at the repair shop. My pickup would look like a fucking Jag compared to this shit bucket. The poop brown paint was chipping off and about 90% of it was covered in rust. All four side windows were broken and the backseat had a hole on the floor!

But, hey! It got me from A to B. Sure, I had to swing Lally by and from school but it was better than walking.

My little sister's blonde mane stood out on high pigtails (which I oh-so-masterfully did this morning). In the sea of rushing soccer moms and homeward grade schoolers, Lally seemed to have been stuck in slow-mo. She was walking, taking her time. Only when I shifted my head to the side did I figure out why. She was talking to a boy!

My protective brotherly instincts kicked in and I hopped off the hood.

"Leilani!" I called, and her head whipped towards me.

She flashed me her gap-toothed smile and dragged her friend along with her. Lally skipped towards our car.

"Trevor, this is my new friend," she introduced, pointing at the curly-haired boy. She turned to him and said, "This is my big brother."

"'Ello," the little kid greeted. Unlike most kids, this one definitely wasn't shy. His back was straight and his chin was up. The only off thing about him was his accent.

"His name's Paolo," my little sister piped up. She gestured for me to lean closer with her pointer finger, eyeing the surroundings. When I did, she whispered, "He's a alien."

"An alien?" I queried.

Lally nodded vigorously. "He speaks alien language." She turned to Paolo and nudged him. "Go on, Paolo. Show him whatcha got. Talk alien."

Paolo only looked at her weirdly. "Non capisco. Non parlo molto bene inglese."

"See?!" Lally squealed.

I laughed. "I don't think he's an alien, Lally. Maybe a foreigner. Definitely not an alien."

"How do you know?" she huffed.

"He's not green. Aliens have to be green," I deadpanned. Kids are stupid. They'll believe everything.

"Ohhh."

While Lally was letting that sink in her brain, I turned to Paolo. "Hello," I greeted back, no longer feeling too overprotective. "My name is Trevor," I said, holding a hand out.

"Trevor," he repeated, shaking my hand.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Do you speak English?"

"Un poco. Little," he said, gesturing with his thumb and pointer finger.

"You're from another country, aren't you?"

Paolo processed this for a moment. "Si! Other country."

"Oh, so you're Spanish? Espanyol?" I asked.

"No, no, no," he quickly dismissed. "I am It--"

"Paolo!" Suddenly, a familiar stranger came up to us. He looked a lot like Paolo, but that wasn't the only reason why he looked familiar. I swear I've seen that curly patch of hair before. "La mamma is aspetta." Then, he turned to my sister and said, "Thank you for walking with my brother again, Lally."

"You're welcome!" Lally beamed.

Paolo tugged on my hand. And when I looked at him, he said, "Nice to meet you, Trevor."

His big brother soon escorted him away, giving me a small smile as they walked. That smile. Now, I'm certain I've seen him before. But where?

"Ciao, patatina," Paolo called before they got to their fancy-looking car.

My sister giggled at that.

As we climbed up the old rust bucket, I asked her, "What did he just call you?"

"Patatina," she replied, putting her seatbelt on.

Focusing on getting dad's car out of parallel parking, I mindlessly asked, "Oh, yeah? What's that mean?"

"Little potato."

I tried to snort back laughter, but it was too late. I straight out guffawed. So that's the new classmate she threw tater tots at. "Since when did you speak alien?"

"I don't," she said with narrowed eyes. "His big brother told me what it meant."

"He looks familiar," I commented. "Do we know him?"

"Maybe. They moved here last September."

"I didn't catch his name. What was it?"

"Paolo."

"No. The older brother."

"Oh! I shoulda introduced you to him, too," Lally said, smiling at the thought. "He's really nice and smart. His name is Diego."

My foot jerked and stomped on the brakes. It was a pretty haphazard thing to do, what with the snowy roads an all, but it was impulsive. Lally whipped forward but was luckily caught by the seatbelt.

"What the heck?!" my little sister shouted.

"Where is Diego from?" I questioned, gripping the steering wheel so hard, I was surprised I didn't break it.

She was even more surprised with my question than with the sudden brakes. "I forgot," Lally answered.

"Was it Italy?" I hurriedly asked, already at the edge of my seat. The hunch was already there. From the moment I saw the dude, I knew there was something about him. Now, I know why he looked so familiar! He was the guy from the diary writer's drawings. The guy she liked to sketch so often. The motherfucking ex.

It all started clicking. The diary mentioned how Diego had a little brother who transferred school here. Paolo. Also, the accent and the foreign look. It was all goddamn clicking!

And I felt small.

Paolo's older brother was -- I'm not gay, but it's the perfect adjective -- godlike. Unlike me, he was built leaner. I may have been taller but he was certainly more buff. And the dude spoke two languages: English and Italian! How am I supposed to compete with that?

Suddenly, I didn't want it click! Please, God, let there be another Italian guy named Diego in this town! But Lally's eyes were already twinkling with familiarity. "Yeah! Italy!"

Shit.

×××××

London, Louie and I followed a Lamborghini to the park. A fucking Lamborghini! Not only was Diego better looking and smarter than me, he was also loaded. Why in hell's name did my mystery girl settle with me, when she had all that?

After getting some more info from my baby sister, I left her at Ms. Peski's place and went straight to Louie's. Lally told me Diego took her and Paolo to the park once. She said Diego liked it there.

The three of us got out of the car after seeing Diego get out of his. He wore a beanie over his curly hair and was clad in an Adidas jumpsuit like some sort of Russian. All he needed to do was squat! He pulled a duffel bag from the passenger seat and locked it with that fancy key holder.

"Be cool," Louie reminded us. "We don't wanna look suspicious. We're just strolling through the park. We're not following anybody."

"Got it," I replied.

And then all three of us walked in the straightest, stiffest line I have ever seen. Talk about suspicious! We looked like the frickin' Black Parade! We might as well be wearing eyeliners.

"This is not cool at all," London whispered, but even she couldn't stop.

Diego then made a turn and strayed from the pavement, into the grassy area. He raised a hand and called, "Hey!"

His friends all turned towards Diego's direction. London, Louie and I jumped behind the bushes to avoid being seen.

But too late!

One of his friends already saw us. That's when we realized, Diego's friends were our friends!

"Isn't that Kaye?" Donnie asked.

Louie squinted. "It is!"

By that time, Diego had already reached his posse. There were four other people out on the field. And I knew every one of them.

As Donnie mentioned, Kaye was there (much to my surprise and discomfort). Beside her was her best friend, Sage Dewirth. In front of them were two brunets, a boy and a girl, whom Diego were chatting with. They were Dax Upton, the dude who threw the party a few days ago, and Gwen Bellingham, one of the notches on my bedpost and former suspects of my mystery game. Or was she?

It was Dax who saw us. He pointed at our direction and all heads whipped our way.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath.

"Hey!" Dax called, beckoning us over to the field. Louie was the first one to jump out of the bush, followed by London. I didn't wanna look like a pussy, so I jumped out, too.

"We're here to find the ex!" I whisper-yelled at Louie. "Not to mingle."

She shrugged. "What if the ex is here?"

I stopped and scanned the girl of the gang. Kaye Montgomery, Sage Dewirth, and Gwen Bellingham. Two out of three were once on my list. But it couldn't be!

Louie and Dax were teammates, so when Lou approached, it was all smiles and pats in the back. London, being Miss Congeniality and shit, hit it off with the girls right away. Me? Oh, I was standing.

"Diego, this is Louie Steffenson, our basketball team captain," Dax introduced him to the foreigner. "That fine lady over there is his sister, London," he said, pointing to Donnie who smiled back. "And this is Trenton."

"It's Trevor," I corrected. And since I was the one closest to Diego, he reached his hand out to me.

"Lally's older brother," he acknowledged.

I shook his hand. "And you're Paolo's."

"You guys know each other?" piped Sage.

"We met a few hours ago," Diego answered.

Dax clapped his hand, bringing the attention back to him. "It's great that you guys are here. We're playing football with the girls but there are five of us at the moment." Football? In this kind of weather? These people must either be crazy about kicking balls or just borderline crazy. "We're pretty odd. You guys mind evening us up?"

Louie and I looked at each other. Then, he shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Trevor doesn't mind. How about you, Don?"

"I'll play," London answered.

"Great!" Dax said, nodding his head with zeal. "Four against four. Louie and Diego, you wanna be captains?"

"Sure!" they both replied.

And as backyard football rules went, the captains picked their teammates. Diego picked Dax first as predictable as Louie picking me first.

"London," Diego uttered, shocking both my best friend and me. He had this look on his eyes as London shyly walked over to his side.

I looked at Louie and he had his lips pursed. I could tell he was mildly pissed. It was his habit to do that with his mouth when he got irritated. But, he shrugged it off like a good team captain.

"Kaye," Louie chose.

Diego was left to pick between Sage and Gwen. Whoever's left was on our side. But before Diego could say his pick, Gwen raised his hand. "Pick me!" she chirped with urgency. "I don't want to be on Trevor's team."

All eyes laid on me. I let out an awkward laugh. I've forgotten about that thing with Gwen. How I ratted her out to her little elite circle.

But the awkwardness of the moment vanished with Diego's decision to let Gwen join his team.

We huddled.

Louie relegated me to the role of a goalkeeper. "I trust you with the goal," he reasoned. More like bullshitted. I knew the real reason. Kaye was co-captain of the girl's football team and even Sage was more athletic than me. I was the goalee because I was the weakest link.

I was cool with it. As long as I got to keep my distance from Kaye, I was good.

Yeah, that wound hadn't healed yet.

There was no net on the goal. It was only bars forming a rectangle. Awkwardly, I stood at the mouth of it while the captains met on centerfield. Sage was stretching in front of me. I stretched, too, not wanting to look like an amateur.

"So what was that deal with Gwen?" asked Sage. I couldn't say I'm surprised. She wasn't known as the school gossip for nothing.

"Same old, same old." I shrugged.

Her eyes widened. "You slept with Gwen?"

"Why does everyone seem to find that so shocking?"

Sage shook out of her surprised state and laughed. "It's just that Gwen has high standards for guys. I didn't think she'd settle with you."

"Thank you, Sage!" I cooed. "That's a real confidence booster."

"I didn't mean it like that," she paused, "Oh, yeah. I did."

I rolled my eyes while she laughed. Yup. Just what I needed: a kick while I'm down. But when Sage noticed I wasn't amused, she stopped. "Gwen's known to have high standards. It's what makes her Gwen. She's really picky, especially with guys. Before you told me, I actually believed that the only guy she'd be willing to sleep with was Diego."

Time stopped. My heart skipped a beat -- in a non-arrhythmic way. Gwen? And Diego? Gwen is Diego's ex?!

Looking wistful, Sage was about to walk away. I stopped her, grabbing her arm. She flinched. "Wait, wait! What made you say that? Did Gwen and Diego have a thing?"

Sage frowned. "I'm not really sure. I do know Gwen had a huge crush on Diego. But that was before--"

"Sage!" our team captain called. "Come on, game's starting."

She nodded and ran towards him, leaving me flabbergasted out of my mind.

Gwen Bellingham is my mystery girl? I couldn't wrap my head around it! I did sleep with her on the time period the diary girl lost her virginity. And she did have thing for Diego! But something was off. Something in my gut told me it couldn't have been Gwen.

Or was I just in denial?

While this all processed in my head, the game started. But the field seemed to blur. All I could think of was Gwen. The thought preoccupied my mind so much that I only saw the players as distorted shadows whizzing across my view. And the ball as a hazy sphere just whirling and whirling and whirling... towards me!

Instincts kicked in, jolting me to put my hands up in cover. But I was too slow. The ball only grazed the in-betweens of my hands before bam! Straight in the face.

And everything was black.

At least I blocked the ball.  

(I feel like communicating through gifs because I have no words to explain this shit. . .)