Building My Life

Chapter 34 - It’s Hard to Maintain a Con

The school bell rang, and the doorman opened the olive-green main gate. Hundreds of uniformed students poured out as if they were being released from a Soviet prison.

Among them was Pamela, though she lacked her usual spark and confidence. She was in a desperate hurry to escape the probing questions she knew Melissa and Jenny would inevitably ask.

Meanwhile, back in Happiness Slum, Josias was buying a bag of bread and some cookies at the bakery on Main Street. He felt a simple, honest pride in paying for them with his own hard-earned money. As he stepped outside, he spotted Pamela walking briskly, her head bowed in shame. He was curious to know what had happened.

“Pamela!”

Melissa’s shout caught Josias’s attention. With a sly smile, he stepped back inside the bakery’s shadow and watched Pamela hurry past. Right behind her, Melissa and Jenny were running like marathoners after their dejected friend.

Josias slipped out of the bakery and hid behind a streetlamp, eavesdropping on the exchange.

“What happened, Pamela? Why on earth did you try to cheat on the math test?” Melissa asked point-blank.

Josias’s eyes widened, and he clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Exactly! You studied with us, and you studied alone later!” Jenny complained. “It was so embarrassing, watching you try to sneak a look at Cléber’s answers.”

“Oh, girls... my mind just went blank,” Pamela replied evasively.

“Your grade is what’s going to be ‘blank’!” Melissa accused harshly. “The teacher tore up your exam right in front of everyone; the whole class burst out laughing. You’re going to have to retake it!”

“Stop throwing it in my face!” Pamela tried to push past, but Melissa stopped her by grabbing her backpack.

“Come back here! You’ve been acting weird since early this morning. Do you want to tell us what’s really going on?”

That was the one question Pamela couldn’t answer. She stared at her two friends, her eyes wide and her lips trembling. She looked as though she were having a stroke, paralyzed by sheer terror.

Instead of clearing the air or even making up a halfway decent excuse, Pamela made the worst possible choice: she bolted, running away without a word.

“Pamela, come back here, you crazy girl!” Jenny yelled, as several neighbors turned to watch the scene.

Seeing that Pamela wasn’t coming back, Jenny and Melissa shrugged and headed toward the bakery. Josias stepped out from behind the pole, pretending he was just arriving home and hadn’t heard a single word.

Melissa beamed the moment she saw him. “Josias! Look at you, buying your own bread!”

“And since when has that been a cause for celebration?” Jenny asked, taking a jab at him.

“Good afternoon, Melissa.” Josias ignored Jenny completely. “How was your class?”

“I think I’m getting a 10.0 on the math test. I studied hard.”

“I’m rooting for your success. I’d better get to my room; it’s been an exhausting day.”

“We’ll talk later,” Melissa said, smiling as she bid him goodbye.

‘We’ll talk later’ was the code Josias had been waiting for. It meant he should call her tonight. He smiled and watched the two girls walk away.

As he returned to Teodoro’s building, he felt a wave of satisfaction. Pamela’s failure felt like karma, divine punishment arriving at a gallop. That’s what she gets for being so sordid, he thought. If she really wanted to help Melissa find a decent boyfriend, why was she hiding her visits to him?

One of Pamela’s phrases echoed in his mind: “She doesn’t even dream that I’d demean myself by coming here to talk to you.” She was acting behind Melissa’s back.

Later, sitting on his balcony eating cookies and watching the slum fade into twilight, a “mental snap” hit him: an idea that seemed like the only logical answer.

Was Pamela actually in love with him? Was she trying to keep Melissa away so she could have him for herself?

“Probably so,” Teodoro replied in the kitchen later that evening. Josias was wearing his new tank top and shorts.

“That’s ridiculous and absurd,” Josias said, shaking his head. “I want nothing to do with that girl. I can sense she isn’t a good person.”

“Then you’re going to have to make that clear to her,” Teodoro said, taking his plate to the sink.

“I never gave her any reason to think we could date,” Josias said, visibly concerned. “On the contrary, our first conversation was incredibly unpleasant.”

“Unfortunately, some people prefer to hide their true feelings behind a mask,” Teodoro answered.

Josias disagreed. In his mind, if you love someone, you say it. If you hate someone, you make it clear. He couldn’t wrap his head around Pamela’s imbalance.

After finishing his dinner and washing his plate, Josias asked Teodoro for permission to use the phone. Smiling encouragingly, Teodoro agreed, already knowing exactly who Josias intended to call.

In the small room that served as Teodoro’s office, there was a desk with a landline phone. Josias pulled out the chair, sat down, and took the scrap of paper from his pocket. He carefully dialed the number.

On the other end, Mr. Campos jumped slightly when the phone rang. He picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”

On the other end, Josias froze, startled by the stern voice of his potential future father-in-law.