Girl Z: My Life As A Teenage Zombie (7 page)

I sipped the juice and shook my head. No way, I could tell her about my weak moment. “Carm, quit apologizing. You'll have to get used to it. Besides, I'm sicker than I think when I get a taste for a bunch of broccoli.”

She laughed and crunched on a green stalk. “Yeah, I know you hate the stuff. But it's pretty good.”

“Enjoy. You know, I'm tired of talking about me. Let's talk about something else for a while. Hear from Jesse yet?”

Her face got all serious while she tried to act like the dreamy guy she'd been crushing on all summer didn't matter. “No, well, kind of. He texted and said he'd see me in school. He was still at his grandma's.”

“That's good. I'm glad you're still talking. I thought he'd never ask you out.”

She shrugged again. “Well, he didn't.” “Not yet? I thought he would for sure. He likes you.”

“I know. I like him, too. We were going to go see a movie, but he's kind of distracted. I don't know if we'll have much time to see each other anyway. I heard his family's really upset. His brother, Gabe…” She stopped.

We locked eyes. “I know. He's like me, you mean.”

“Yeah. His parents went crazy over it. They kicked him out. Jesse's grandmother told him to come stay with her.” Her voice quieted. “Jesse might move there, too. You know, for a while, to help him out.”

My eyebrow raised a notch at the news. “Hey, you holding out on me? Thought you didn't talk to him?”

“He told me before he left, before you got sick. We haven't talked much since, only a couple texts here and there.”

Wow, I realized my friend had been dealing with a lot while all the attention was on me.

“Cuz, I feel awful. I haven't been there for you. You doing okay with it?”

“I'm all right, Bec. It's not your fault. Maybe me and Jesse aren't meant to be. We'll see. I'm just glad you're here now, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. Me, too.”

Our bonding moment ended when my aunt called us downstairs so we could leave for Carm's house. My hoodie shading my face, I rushed after my cousin and jumped in the car's back seat with her. After being cooped up inside for what felt like forever, I was excited about our little trip. How pathetic was I?

I watched the houses go by.
Tia's
friend Amelia Miller, who lived in the house at the corner, looked up from watering her flowerpots and waved. She'd already called and welcomed me home, the only person who had.

“I see Mrs. Miller planted some new stuff in her garden. Those pink flowers are nice.”

“She's trying out a new variety of Zinnias,” Tia shared, a happy lilt in her voice. “She said she'll bring some over for us later, unless…”

I raised my head at the hesitation I heard. The little I saw of my aunt's reflection in the rearview mirror showed worry lines across her forehead. “
Tia,
don't worry, I'm fine. Mrs. Miller is a nice lady. I just don't want to scare her.”

My aunt's eyes crinkled as she chuckled. “Honey, you won't scare anyone, and certainly not Amelia. She's known you since you were a baby and as a nurse, she understands. You don't have to worry about her. She's a tough old bird.”

We coasted to a stop for the red light, my signal to pull my hoodie out further. I hid my hands in my lap when a car stopped next to us. The urge to peek too strong to resist, I peered out the window and watched the little boy in the other car's backseat lean closer to his car window. He stuck out his tongue and began pointing at me. Carm's quick grasp of my wrist stopped me from doing the same.

“Spoilsport,” I muttered, and glanced away when the driver stared at us in alarm.

“Never mind him,” she whispered. “No one else has paid much attention.”

Yet,
I thought
.
The not-knowing-what-to-expect was making me crazy.

The car next to us turned right as we shot ahead and around the corner. I adjusted the hood and zipped the front as the car stopped at the curb.

“Girls, lock the door after you go in.” Tia said. “I'll be back in at least fifteen minutes. I only have to pick up a few things at the market. I'll call you when I leave the store.”

“
Tia,
take your time. We have to get Carm's books and her clothes for school. It's going to take us a while.”

“Aunt Imelda, you can have my key to let yourself in.” Carm held out her bunch of keys. “I'll get the other key out of the flowerpot. Then you won't have to wait for us.”

“
Muy bueno,
Carm.
Sí,
this will work perfectly. I'll have a cup of tea when I get back, but be ready to leave in a half-hour, all right? I don't want to be here all day and I think we should make sure we get home before dark.”

We hurried up the steps. I waved once after Carm grabbed the extra key and we stepped into the dimly lit entrance hall. I watched
Tia
drive off, then slammed and locked the front door, anxious to check out Carm's new wardrobe. My cousin was such a
fashionista
, I knew she still had a few things she'd worn only once or twice and gotten tired of. Seeing we were still the same size, I knew she wouldn't mind letting me borrow some stuff since I didn't have the chance to go shopping.

Our moods sober, I followed Carm into the kitchen where she glanced at the little black answering machine on the wall. The red digital zero mocked us. I gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Hey, maybe they've been out of range or it's been too dangerous to call. I'm sure we'll hear from them soon.”

She took her time answering, her voice sounding dejected. “I sure hope so. C'mon, let's go upstairs.”

We took the stairs two at a time to her room on the second floor. “Wow.” My gaze fell on the pile of clothes hiding what I knew should be the bed. “Where do you sleep?”

“Funny, cuz. I pulled out some stuff I didn't want to wear anymore. I knew you'd ask. I'm sure you don't want to wear the same hoodie and jeans all week.”

“
Gracias,
cuz. Ooh, I like the purple hoodie,
muy bonita!
You don't want it?”

“Take it. I bought a new blue one.” She tossed the sweatshirt at me and then stopped, her head tilted.

“Hey, cuz? You make me think of that old spotted dog with the tilted head, you know the one sitting next to that big horn?”

Now Carm gave me a blank stare, no idea what I was talking about. “Oh, you mean the Dalmation and the Victrola?” she asked.

“My
Abuela
has the statue on the shelf in her bedroom. She'll show you next—” She stopped again.

“What is it?”

“Did you hear that?”

I listened, stared at her like she was crazy, and went back to checking out her awesome clothes. “I didn't hear anything.”

“Oh, never mind.” She went to the closet. “Guess it was nothing.”

Carm pulled out a few more things like the
cutest
plaid skirt with a red lining and some green leggings. I squealed to see the yellow and black skirt with the black tulle underskirt sticking out. I'd so loved it the one and only time she'd worn it.

“Yours,” Carm mumbled, disappearing inside the closet. “Here, grab this.”

I shuddered seeing the ugly olive backpack she handed over. I grabbed it and set it aside. The last time I'd seen it…

“Hey, cuz, you okay? You're kind of green.”

My eyes met hers. Well, they both did once she tapped my arm. “How can you tell? Never mind, I-I'll be fine. I've felt so much like my old self, sometimes I forget, you know?”

Her gaze was just as serious. “It still doesn't seem real. But it is.” She exhaled and stared at me. “You know, cuz, I have a funny feeling.”

Uh-oh. Her words made me forget about the clothes and everything else.

I gazed at her and couldn't help but shiver. Great. What a time for Carm to go into Fortune Teller mode.

Every now and then Carm got a hunch, a kind of premonition or something. It didn't happen often, maybe once or twice a year, but when it did, I knew to pay attention.

She'd warned me last year about staying away from this guy who'd moved a few houses down from me. He was a couple years older, but he seemed okay. He was kind of cute, too. Then he got arrested for drugs. I was sitting on my porch and he'd dared wink at me as the cops took him away. So much for my taste in guys.

Odd. So far during this whole ordeal, Carm's psychic antenna hadn't tuned in once. Not even a flash or a blip. Her picking up on something now freaked me out. “Carm?”

She threw an uneasy glance my way and began tossing some clothes into a box. “Bec, c'mon, help me. Leave the rest. I'm only taking a few things. I just have this feeling I won't be back in school for long. I don't think we'll be hanging around here much longer, either.”

I bit my lip and began replacing her pairs of flats with sturdier hiking boots. She paused for a minute, then traded some of her skirts for jeans and hoodies. I gasped when we both reached for her flannel jacket.

“We'll pack your stuff when we get back. Then I think we better talk to our aunt.”

I stared at her, uneasy about the direction in which we were suddenly headed. “You think it'll be soon?”

“Yeah.” She showed me the goosebumps up and down her arm. “Real soon.”

Yikes. I grabbed the box and jumped when someone yelled outside. “What was that?” I asked and rushed toward the window. Carm grabbed me just before I got there and pulled me down onto the window seat.

“Bec, wait! Don't look. See, I did hear something before. It sure doesn't sound very nice.”

I listened and quickly understood what she meant. A man yelled and then another joined in. Several voices boomed—
dangerous voices.

More curses, attached to the word
freak,
made me cringe. I bit my lip and took in the carpet, mentally counting the dirty spots. “Carm, they're talking about me.”

“Maybe it's somebody else,” she whispered back. “You don't know…”

“Yes, I do. How'd they know I was here? What do they want?”

Carefully, Carm shifted her weight and slowly pulled the corner edge of the curtain for a look. “I don't know, hurry up and take a peek. Don't move the curtain.”

Stunned, I peered at the scene on the sidewalk in front of the house. A couple grizzled, old men in worn flannel shirts waved their fists and shouted in our direction. Two younger men in scruffy clothes, their bearded faces angry, eyes hard, glared at the windows. Several older women, bags at their sides like they'd just come from the market, stood with arms crossed, their prim, disapproving expressions aimed not at the men, but at us. A few kids stood with their bikes and watched.

The women bothered me the most. “Cuz,” I whispered, “this is getting scary. All those women have to do is say the right thing and it could push those men into doing something. We have to get out of here.”

“How? We have to wait for
Tia
.”

We both gasped to see a familiar car drive slowly down the street and then pass the house. “Uh-oh, there's her car. Good thing she saw those people and kept driving by. What're we going—?”

The phone's blare cut her off. I ran out to the hall to pick it up. “Hello?
Tia,
we saw you go by. Yes, yes, we're ready. We'll meet you out back.”

Hanging up the phone, I ran into the living room, grabbed some of the bags, and slung the overstuffed backpack over my shoulder with a grunt. “Get your stuff.
Tia's
going to pick us up by the alley.”

The sound of glass breaking made us both yelp in fear. Stunned, we stared at each other, and at the brick lying several inches from my feet.

“Carm, hurry! We've gotta get out of here. Grab the box, run!”

Frantic, the box in her arms, my arms bulging with bags and other stuff, we ran to the kitchen and flew out the back door as my aunt's car pulled up in the alley. The yelling and pounding on the front door had us scrambling over each other in our haste to escape.

Carm yanked the car door open and tossed everything in back. She grabbed some of the bags from me. The rest toppled onto the floor and seat in my haste.

The sounds from out front grew louder. “Hurry,
Tia,
hurry. They're going to get inside! They're crazy!”

Carm's sharp poke at my arm and the subsequent dizzy feeling—my eye again, I cursed—only pushed my panic button. I was wound-up, ready to fight. My aunt's calm, take charge tone helped me settle down.

Tia
flicked the door locks and eased the car slowly toward the street. “Girls, don't worry, everything's under control. Becca, deep breath. Good, again. I called the
policia
. They should be here any minute.”

The shriek of sirens coming our way made us all feel safer. She pulled over near the corner, leaned her head back for a moment, and sighed with relief. “
Bueno.
You girls stay in the car while I go talk to the police. Becca, you better scrunch down so no one can see you. Just in case. Cover up with the blanket. Lock the door. I'll be right back.”

The sight of someone running at the end of the street made me gasp and scooch down more until I was barely visible under the blanket. Peeking out, I saw
Tia
talking with one of the police officers in front of the house, the mob having since scattered.

“Carm?”

“Yeah?”

“Will things get any better?”

She gave my hand a squeeze. “I sure hope so, cuz, I really, really do.”

So did I, but deep down inside, I wasn't so sure they would.

The excitement over and arrangements made to board up the window, we drove home in silence, none of us ready yet to talk about what had happened.

Having Carm stay at my house for more than one or two nights straight was the one good thing to happen in all this mess. It made me happier than I'd felt in a long time. Being an only child had some advantages, mostly selfish, of course, but there were times I missed having a sister or brother to share stuff with. Now especially, having Carm around made things a bunch easier. At least I'd thought so until she started moving her stuff into my already cramped little room.