Page 113 of Pride High 2: Orange
“Both of them,” Silvia said, pulling the fuzzy pink earmuffs away to reveal the earrings he had also given her. They were little golden horseshoes that she kept hoping Keisha would notice.
“I’ve got your present on too,” he said, turning his hip toward her so she could see the metal chain that draped from his belt to the new wallet in his back pocket. “I think it looks rad.”
“It really does,” she agreed. “And it goes with your jacket.”
“Hey guys?” Mindy asked while shivering. “Can we move this closer to the fire?”
“Yeah, of course!” Omar said, leading the way. “We’ve got a whole pile of blankets to wrap yourself in. The cooler is stocked with cans of Coke and bottles of orange juice. Have a couple sips and then come see me. I’m the bartender.” He pulled a flask out of his jacket and shook it. “A little vodka will warm you up.”
“Where’d you get that?” Silvia asked.
“I borrowed it from my parents. Without them knowing.”
“Won’t you get in trouble?”
“I’m already on their shit list,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. They probably won’t notice.”
“Hey girl!” Whitney cried from not far away.
“Hey!” Mindy said, going to join her.
“Is that Cameron and his boyfriend?” Keisha asked while looking in their direction. “I’ve been dying to see them in action.”
That left them alone. Silvia strolled with Omar to the cooler. “Why are you on your parents’ shit list?” she asked.
“Eh. My grades weren’t great this semester. I didn’t fail anything, but I barely scraped by in most classes. Although I did get an A in journalism. Not that they seem to care.”
“What about our business finances class?”
“I got a C,” he said.
“Omar! I helped you study for the big test!”
“I know. I’m an idiot.”
“You’re really not. You knew most of the answers.”
He shrugged. “I just get nervous. Hey! You can really help me out next year because I’ll be taking Spanish.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! I want to be able to communicate better with your parents. And it’ll be like a secret language that only you and I know.”
“And millions of other people in this country,” Silvia pointed out.
“Oh right. I still think it will be cool.” He used a foot to open the cooler, which was packed with snow. “What’ll it be?”
“A virgin cola,” she said.
“You don’t drink?”
“I do sometimes, with my parents. They let me have a glass of wine on special occasions.”
“This is a special occasion.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to get in trouble. Because of them. Imagine if they had to pick me up from the police station.”
“Gotcha,” Omar said. “That makes sense.”
