Third Wheel

If You Want Proof Life Hates Me, Here

It all happened back when I was in my senior year of high school.

At the time, the only thing I wanted to focus on was my education, and getting that diploma so I could start making my move out of this darned town. Mom had already let me know that she was not in a good condition to work anymore, so I had also started working in retail (a foreshadowing of my lovely career in the domestic sector). Of course, all this stress was taking a toll on my mental health. It didn't help when Jason, who was supposed to be my brother forever and always, started "ingratiating" himself (as Mom put it) into the Sacred Heart community. Nobody in our house was supposed to pick up a Bible, and you'd expect a family of three to follow that rule pretty easily. But all of a sudden my brother was hanging out with all the middle class white Christian kids, I found myself fending off various kinds of people you might encounter while working at a Walmart, and my teachers decided to unload the most work I'd ever had to deal with in my entire life.

Basically, living hell.

That's when Jaime came in.

We weren't supposed to cross paths in a romantic way. I knew Jaime since freshman year, and on principle, I disapproved of him. I'd seen what happened to the girls who went home with him. I knew that any soul who dared to involve herself in his circle would have to deal with Rita, his on and off girlfriend. I'd spent one too many a night listening to Cara's phone calls about how he last broke her heart. Santiago was trouble, and therefore, someone to steer clear from.

The funny thing about cynical people, though, is that maybe we're a tad too cynical to survive. Perhaps normal people, who are used to making mistakes, already know how to be cynical – but just enough. People like me, however – if you manage to shake our worldview, we fall so much harder.

I had come back from my afternoon shift and was now waiting for Jason to finish basketball practice so we could drive home together. In the past, I wouldn't have minded being his chauffeur. Now, I found myself glaring at him through the gym windows, crossing my arms.

"Hey," I looked over and noticed Jaime grinning at me. He looked like he'd been running around the gym all afternoon. I wrinkled my nose and held my breath, deciding not to breathe in the smell of his sweat. "You're Jayce's sister?"

This only added to my negative impression of Jaime. I had been in the same class in the same small high school as him for almost four years, he should know my name. Or maybe I just knew his because he was more popular. "Snowy," I replied irritably.

He blinked. "That's your real name?"

"Yes," I gritted my teeth. I've heard about twenty people make fun of how, despite the fact that Jason and I were born to the same Cheyenne mother, he ended up with a normal name I got…Snowy. "Some people say it's because I resemble an owl," I drawled, saying a little more than I really should have.

At this point, though, Jaime stopped listening to me. He simply ran back into the gym without wiping away the layer of sweat on his brow. I watched as he seized the ball from Jason with his own callused brown hands and effortlessly dunked it into the hoop right in front of him, laughing raucously. I sighed and pushed a few locks of hair out of my eyes. For a fleeting second, I had almost wanted him to stay and converse with me. I shook my head, trying to remove the notion from my head. Now is not a good time to fall in love, I reminded myself. We're just about to go out the door. Into the world of independence, of grown adults, where none of this really matters anymore.

But as I watched Jason move around the rest of the basketball jocks, my eyes got heavier and heavier, until I realized I could only focus on one person at a time. For a while I tiredly followed Jason as he skitted from side to side, eager and lithe as a deer. But after a few moments, I lost track of him in the crowd of pale-skinned boys who surrounded him.

One person emerged from the crowd, jumped above their heads and executed a slam dunk with exuberance and ease. I found myself sleepily staring at the back of his head, watching the way he laughed and interacted with the rest of the team.

He's kind of hot, I suppose…

Wait.

Oh no.

And right that moment, as if he knew exactly what I had been thinking, Jaime Santiago turned around and grinned at me. He hi-fived Jason one last time, then started skating gracefully across the floor of the basketball court again.

I shook my head.

Oh, no.