CHAPTER THREE

Winter is one of my favorite seasons. However, it's March and the cold hasn't gone yet. Cane Creek Lake has to be arctic, but for Maurice is never too late to go fishing. It's Sunday! And it's fifty-two degrees.

Maurice doesn't seem to care about that. According to him, today's a great day to go fishing. And Connie agrees to go. So I text them and say I'll be going with them.

     Maurice texts: Imagine if u weren't going. U would b missing a lot.

     My text: Whatever.

     I haven't even bothered to check the time. It's 9:59AM. I can hear downstairs the TV on. It has to be my brother watching Gravity Falls at this time. Possibly eating breakfast, too. And I think I should go downstairs looking for some breakfast as well. So I get out of bed and walks towards the door.

"Could you change the channel, Anthony?" my mom asks my brother.

"Pero todavía estoy viendo," Anthony replies.

"Las noticias. I need to see what's going on around the world. The country."

Every Sunday is the same issue. My mom tries to watch the news, but my brother is watching his shows. He has a TV in his room, but it doesn't have cable; its main function is so that Anthony can play his video games.

I get to the living room. "Good morning, familia."

"Buenos días, hijo," mom says. "Come here" —she stands up from the couch— "What do you want for breakfast? I've cooked your favorite desayuno."

The table has two plates full of empanadas. Salvadorian empanadas. My favorite thing. What they are made of is what makes them great. The flavor is incomparable.

Though I want to start eating as fast as I can, I feel like it'd be disrespectful. Before touching them, I smile to my mom and say, "You didn't need to do this. Today is the only day you get off, and you spend it by waking up early?"

"You don't need to worry about that, son," she grabs my hand. "Actually, I wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?" I look up.

"Por el viernes."

Friday, of course.

I pause for a second. "You're fine, mom. There's nothing to worry about."

Getting mad at my mom is one thing that could never happen. She works six days a week for me and Anthony to have the opportunity to go to college. She's the strongest woman I've ever known. I'm glad I finally got a job so I can help her with paying rent.

Rafael, my baby brother, is on the floor playing with some dinosaurs toys. Suddenly, he begins to cry.

     "Let me check on this little gentleman," mom says, letting go of my hand. "Eat."

     There's a plate on the table already. I grab it and serve myself some empanadas. My mom has prepared coffee, however I don't feel like drinking it. I check the refrigerator and there's some orange juice. My favorite juice.

     "Hey, mom," I call out a few minutes after, "I'm going out. Connie and Maurice are going to the lake. To go fishing, they said."

     Mom comes back to the kitchen. "What time are you leaving?"

     "At eleven, they said."

     "Can I go?" Anthony asks behind my mom.

"Definitely no," I reply. "You don't even know how to swim."

"That's because you never take me out when—"

"I got no time to be taking care of you."

Anthony doesn't say a word. He just stares at me for a few seconds, and then, dramatically, he walks upstairs.

"You're really hard on him, you know," mom says. "He's your brother. You—"

"Mom, please."

"He's just a kid, Tadeo. He needs his brother."

"He needs his mom,"

Quickly, I realize of what I just said.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"I am not trying to make you feel bad, son," Mom says, taking a seat right in front of me. "But I work six days a week" —she makes a pause— "I don't get time for us. I don't have time to spend with my sons. I'm seeing my sons' life pass by, and there's nothing I can do—"

"Mom, there's nothing you need to do," I stand up and walk to sit next to her. "Thanks to all the hard work you've been making you're able to see your sons growing up. We have everything we could ever ask for. You've given that to us."

She smiles. Some tears roll down her cheeks. "Soy muy suertuda de tener semejante hijo."

I stand up and hug her. "Y yo de tener semejante mamá." I kiss her on the cheek.

Mom sees her phone's screen. "Look at the time," it's 10:26. "You better get ready."

I take a last bite. "Right."

My room is a completely mess right now. On my desk there are some books I made used of last night. I thought I could study a little bit for my algebra test I got tomorrow. There's this topic I didn't quite get. We just got to the unit seven called Rational Expression and Equations. It's not difficult at all, but I misunderstood something.

On my bed, my Chromebook and my backpack lie together. I have no clue of how I can sleep with notebooks on my bed. Hopefully my mom won't come to check my room out, because if she does, I'll have to clean up all this mess.

"ANTHONY!" I yell his name. "COME HERE!"

I empty my backpack out. I'll take some snacks and clothes with me.

"¿Qué quieres?" Anthony is at the door.

"So you're coming?" I ask, expecting him to know that I've decided to bring him with me to the lake.

"Coming to where?" He asks, dumbly.

"Cane Creek Lake," I pause. "So you're coming or not? My friends are on their way to here right now."

"No," he says. And the way he says it makes me feel a bit guilty.

"Why?"

"I don't want to drown, brother. I don't know how to swim."

Now he's just being dramatic.

"I'll teach you how to swim," I say, grinning.

"No, thanks," he closes the door as he leaves.

Such a drama queen.

     "Let me get this straight," says Connie, shutting her phone down. "The only parts of your body that can feel the cold weather are you chest and arms, right?"

     Now that's what I called a dumb question. I mean, I understand I'm wearing my favorite warm red hoodie, and then shorts, but it doesn't mean that my legs aren't freezing.

     "First of all," I say in order to defend myself. "I— I wanted to be— I don't know... Ready, you know."

     Connie stares at me like I'm an idiot. "Ready for what?"

     "To be able to swim."

     "Hell no, sir," Maurice says at front. "We ain't swimming."

     "We specifically said FISHING," says Tucker, who is sitting on the passenger seat next to Maurice who's driving today.

The distance left is about one mile.

"Today's a wonderful day!" Maurice shouts out.

Indubitably.

Tucker seems thrilled to be here with us. He's graduating this year, so I assume he's enjoying his last months in Weddington. He has this smile that just seems naturally sweet. It's like there's no pain in his life. His brown eyes are lighten. And for just a moment, I think of Tyler. My guy has this gray eyes difficult to describe. It's not like his eyes kept themselves always in one color. There were times were his eyes color would change to blue, and then there'd be this black creeping in around the edges.

Tucker's haircut is quite a bit similar like Tyler's. They both had got the same haircut; a feathered hairstyle. The only difference between them is that Tucker's is a little bit longer and smooth. On the other hand, Tyler's is short and curly.

The lake has the splendid green color when we get there. The only thing I want to do at the moment is run and jump into it. However, I know the water is freezing.

Maurice and Tucker are getting some stuff from the car. Pretty sure they've brought some fishing rods, obviously, and also some food. And something that is never missing—

"BEERS!" Maurice exclaims. "Yes, sir."

"We're not getting drunk today, Maurice," I state. "There's schoool—"

"Who cares about school?" Maurice interrupts, holding a beer in his hands.

"Clearly, there's nothing you need to worry about, Sullivan," Connie says. "I mean, you're taking all regulars. You've got no A.P. class—"

     "Just so you know," Maurice says, taking a sip of his beer. "I'm taking three honors classes this year."

     "You must be exhausted," Connie says, sarcastically.

     Taking three honors classes is something. I mean, for Maurice, it is, because he's in the soccer team. This guy is lacking of time to live his life.

     "The A.P. kids believe they are everything just because—"

     "No, Maurice," Connie interrupts quickly. "We don't believe we are better than—"

     "What about if we just start fishing?" Tucker Fisherman asks. Definitely saving the day.

Sullivan and Fisherman carry the stuff to the fishing platform.

"Let's go, boys!" Maurice says, enthusiastically.

Connie begins to walk behind them. But I stop her by grabbing her hand. "I wanted to talk to you," I say, slightly shaky.

"What is it?" she asks.

It's been three days since Tyler and I broke up. I've been trying to be strong and pretend nothing is bothering me, but it's not precisely accurate. There's this feeling of fear attacking me. Overnight, that feeling it's like someone was stroking me. The sensation is odd.

"I just thought you had questions about Tyler and—"

"Are you sure you're ready to talk about it?" Connie asks, showing no emotion on her face. "I don't want you to do something you—"

"I'll be fine," I confirm, firmly. "I need to erase that perfect Tyler I have in my brain."

"Let's find a place where we can sit and talk calmly."

I nod. We walk towards the fishing platform. The guys are already there fishing. They're mocking.

"Sit here," Connie points out as she sits on the sand. And I do the same thing.

There's a silence for a few seconds. I think Connie is thinking what could be appropriate to ask at this moment. A minute after, she finally finds something to ask.

"Can I ask why did y'all break up?" she asks, looking at the lake, possibly attempting not to see me.

     Unfortunately, that's a completely mystery for me. Tyler never gave me a real explanation why he was breaking up with me.

"Tyler said things were no longer the same," I say, staring at the small portion of sand around in some parts on the shore of the lake.

I'm trying to maintain myself strong. I don't want to begin crying at this moment. The guys are in front of us, and every other minute they look back to us.

"Everything okay there?!" Maurice asks slightly loud.

I nod.

"I don't want to sound—"

"No," I say to let her know she can ask and say anything. "Say it."

"Don't you think he has fallen for—"

     "He was trying to keep everything subtlety," I interrupt. "I didn't ask him that."

     "Have you all talked?"

"We haven't talked since we broke up."

     "Oh," Connie moves her body closer to mine. Now I can feel her cold left arm touching my right arm. Suddenly, she puts her arms around me again. This hug feels warmer than the one she gave me the day part of me went off.

     "I won't ask anything else," she says, softly as keeps hugging me. "I love you, my boy."

     "Y'all are getting romantic back there, huh?" Maurice asks aloud.

       Here's the thing, I would never think of Connie as someone I could be more than friends with. I certainly think she wouldn't think of me as someone she wants to make out with either.

     Connie quits hugging me. "Okay, this is going to sound really ridiculous, but.... I— I was thinking you could get Grin— Grindr."

     I laugh out loud. "You're kidding, right?"

     She puts her Connie's serious face. "I am not."

     I stop laughing, and my serious face can be noted as well. "You know I can't do that, don't you?"

     "Why not?"

     Last time I tried downloading Grindr was completely awful. I signed up. Put down all my information.... Lord, when I got on the app, at least fifty profiles appeared. God, I want to throw up right now. These fifty people had weird nicknames such as daddy bear, or dtf. At that point, my knowledge related to that stuff was insignificant.

     I even uploaded a picture of myself. Though I put a fake birthday, because only guys over eighteen-year old can have the app. That's the reason why I can't download the app. Last time I did, I got reported and they banned me. I swore I wouldn't be getting that app never again.

     "Perhaps this time you can find someone from Weddington High," Connie says, grinning. "You'll need someone for junior prom."

     "We're sophomores, Connie," I say, staring at her stupidly. "We can't go."

     "Well, if you get invited by a junior student, then you'd be allow to go," she informs me.

     "Well, we don't have junior friends,"

     We've got Maurice, but he certainly will be taking a girl with him. Last year, he got invited by some very hot junior girl whose name was Tamara McDonald. She moved this year to Texas. I got jealous of him, to be honest.

     "I'll get someone who will invite me," Connie says with a cunning expression. "There's this guy in my A.P. Biology class who I think he's low-key into me. And he's an eleventh grader."

I remain silent for a couple of seconds as I think about the possible option of getting Grindr tonight. Totally, I'm sixteen now. Last time I was close to turn fourteen.

After all, it's just an app. What could possibly happen?