Chapter 1

 

Brooke Gonzalez sat up in her bed and pulled on her clothes. It was the second day of school and she needed to make an entrance. Yesterday didn’t go well; first, Brooke’s friend Amber broke her mom’s favorite cheetah print heels on the edge of a locker (I know, what the hell?), and then Tess slipped on the waxed floor in her flats and fell on her butt. Brooke stayed perfect and strutted in the halls, trying to ignore the fatality of her friends.

  “Brooke, Vatina is coming up with your breakfast.” Mrs. Gonzalez said through Brooke’s door. 

  “Ugh,” Brooke groaned back through the door. “Ugh, whatever.”

  “Brooke, your eggs and whole wheat pancakes!” Vat came inside.

  “Knock, Vat!” Brooke screeched at her face.

  “Sorry, Brooke.” Vat bowed quickly and left.

  “Whatever.” Brooke rolled her eyes. She ate one bite them shoved the plate onto the floor, ignoring the mess.

  She brushed her teeth then pulled on her flip-flops.

  “’Morning, Brooke.” her mother said in her Spanish-accent.

  “’Morning,” Brooke said dully. “I seriously don’t approve of the school bus. We deserve to have a high-class double-decker. I simply don’t understand why Dad can’t drive me school either.”

  “Brooke, there’s no need to even go to school in a bus! You can just walk on the dirt-road! So bus, or no bus, your choice, pequeño estimado.” Mrs. Gonzalez said.

  “Mom, please don’t call me little dear. I’m not little any more.” Brooke groaned and grabbed her book-bag.

  “Hmm…¿Joven mujer? Mi hija? Can I call you any of those?” Brooke’s mother asked.

  “How about Brooke?” Brooke asked and stepped out of the door.

  “¡Adiós, el caramelo!” Mrs. Gonzalez called.

  “Mom, you did not just call me caramel! Ugh, oh well, bye.” Brooke blew a kiss to her mother and strutted onto the bus.

  The bus driver politely tipped his hat at Brooke then shut the doors.

  “Move!” Brooke barked at a classmate she didn’t like.

  “Good morning?” the kid moved to the next seat behind.

  “Yeah, whatever. I so care.” Brooke was amazed how her accent sounded so California-ish instead of Mexican. Brooke didn’t even live in California. She lived in New Mexico, where the dirt roads and little one stories houses were. Brooke was considered rich, with a cozy two-story house, one maid, and a single mother. Amber and Tess had big one-stories.

  “Brooke!” Amber squealed.

  “Amber, hey.” Brooke smiled politely at her friend. Amber got too excited over things.

  “You look great. Nice jeans.” Amber toned her voice down a bit and settled down next to her friend.

  “Well of course they look nice, they’re on me, duh!” Brooke rolled her eyes.

  “My bad!” Amber sarcastically hit herself in the head.

  “Whatever,” Brooke yawned. She turned her super dark brown haired head to the window to see her friend Tess walking out of her house quickly to catch the bus. “Omigod, Tess is wearing her tennis shoes again!”

  “God, does she have to be such a tom-boy?” Amber agreed.

  “I don’t know, but I’ll scold her for that.” Brooke glared as the doors opened. They needed to make a good entrance looking as beautiful as possible, yet casual. Tennis shoes were way too casual.

  “Hey guys.” Tess fell down on the seat across from Brooke’s and Amber’s.

  “Tess, I can’t believe you wore tennis shoes. You could have at least worn fancy Vans!” Brooke said.

  “I couldn’t find my Vans. My madre mala made me wear these ‘cause we were in such a hurry. I was lucky to even be ready to catch the bus.” Tess was known for using insults in Spanish as she just did, calling her mother evil.

  Brooke rolled her eyes and then threw a you-better-look-nicer-next time look at Tess.

  “Well, sorry for having strict parents.” Tess brought up her book-bag and began searching in it.

  “You’d think strict parents would have their kids dress nicely, don’t you think?” Amber put in.

  “Shut up, Amber.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Girls, calm down. Don’t make your cheeks all read before we make our entrance.” Brooke wiped her palms on her typical blue jeans.

  Amber and Tess both rolled their eyes at the same time. Brooke was always harsh and mean, but her weak side was imperfection. Brooke needed everything perfect and beautiful, and if it wasn’t, it would be held on Brooke for the rest of the year.

  “We’re almost there.” Brooke pointed out.

  “Don’t get so worked up about that stuff. It’s stupid. Everyone knows we dominate and they obey us,” Tess said.

  “Yeah, and you’re always perfect anyway.” Amber threw in.

  “Thanks, guys, you’re right. Those losers won’t ever get the chance to dominate until were gone.” Brooke nodded.

  “No problem.” Amber shook her head.

  “Well, it’s time for your ‘big entrance.’ ” Tess put quotes around ‘big entrance.’

  “Ha, ha,” Brooke smiled sarcastically. “Okay, girls. Let’s dominate!”

  “The Domination has arrived.” Tess and Amber nod.


Chapter 2

 

Tess, Brooke, and Amber jump off the bus, straighten their clothes, then start strutting to the double doors that entered into the middle school.

  Here we go! Don’t be nervous, Tess. You’ve done this so many times it’s stupid, more stupid than it was when it started. Tess thought. Her dark skin and black eyes shone as the sun bounced off.

  “Girls, let’s go!” Brooke started walking faster.

  “Chill, Brooke, we’ll get there before we die.” Tess said.

  “You’re going to die if you don’t do what I say.” Brooke growled.

  “Sorry, My Queen.” Tess said in a fake and high baby voice.

  Brooke muttered something to Amber, but Tess showed no interest. She didn’t give a darn what Brooke thought, and Tess knew that Brooke just used her ‘cause how pretty and talented Tess was with a pencil and paper. Tess had posters up all around the school, and was famous for being top yearbook editor.

  “Let’s do this.” Amber said.

  “Can we do it already and stop saying we’re going to?” Tess snapped.

  “Shut up, Tess. No one asked the female dog to speak.” Brooke said.

  “I’m not a beep, Brooke. I’m a human being with feelings.” Tess replied.

  “Aw, she has feelings. Aw, she sounds like The Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. How sweet.” Brooke smiled gleefully.

  “Brooke, shut up. We’re at the doors.” Tess slapped Brooke lightly.

  “I’m not an idiot.”

  “Maybe you are.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Maybe I don’t.” Tess retorted, and Brooke replied just as cruelly.

  When the friends step across the threshold, they breathe in the scent of their middle school halls. It smelled like new shoes and magazine pages.

  Some girls chortled at Brooke in Spanish, and Tess translated for her friends: “Buenas tardes, Brooke. Bienvenido. ¿Oye, Tess, está bien su extremo?”

  “Good afternoon, Brooke. Welcome back. Hey, Tess, is your butt okay?” Tess said to her friends quietly.

  “Whatever, dogs.” Brooke spat.

  The girls chortled and then began speaking to each other in rapid Spanish.

  “Beeps.” Tess rolled her eyes as if she’d seen them all.

  “Is your butt okay?” Amber joked.

  “Oh, shut up.” Tess mumbled and hid her smile.

  To the girls’ pleasure, everyone was marveling at their muscular soccer legs, perfect clothes, and good facial appearances.

  “Buenas tardes, girls.” a teacher that Tess didn’t remember hurried by.

  Brooke totally ignored the teacher and just walked forward as if no one was there.

  Tess and Amber quietly said, “Move.” to everyone in their way, and Brooke would give her icy stare to whoever didn’t.

  Overall, the girls did well. Much better than yesterday, and was better than last year, which was simply perfect. I guess you can go over perfect. Well, Brooke sure can.

  Tess settled down in class and the day ticked by, the girls going to separate classes, eating different foods, and thinking different thoughts.

 

When Tess arrived home she was greeted by her mother.

  “Bienvenido a casa, el bebé. ¿Cómo fue su día?” Mrs. Russo spoke in rapid Spanish.

  Welcome home, baby. How was your day? Tess translated in her head. “Fine, thanks, Mom.”

   “Bueno. Su bienvenida. Los platos están listos, así que va seco ellos por favor. El papá volviendo a casa para cenar, así que mira su mejor, mis jóvenes uno.’’ Mrs. Russo grinned.

  Good. You’re welcome. The dishes are ready, so go dry them please. Daddy’s coming home for dinner, so look your best, my young one. “Yes, of course,” Tess nodded. Tess’s dad was divorced, but he dropped in every month or so. “And Mom?”

  “Sí?” Mrs. Russo looked up.

  “You can talk in English.” Tess smiled.

  “Oh, sorry dear. I thought it made you feel at home like Mexico does,” Mrs. Russo blushed deeply and brought her hand to her chest. “Forgive me.”

  “It’s okay, Mom, chill. You’ve committed no crime.” Tess kissed her mother on the cheek and then ran off to dry off the wet dishes.

 

When Tess finished her duty, she dragged her book-bag across the carpet to the living room where her little brothers were playing.

  “Buenas tardes, hijos.” Tess said in Spanish. Junior and Carlos were supposed to grow up learning Spanish, but somehow they got around to learning English, too.

  “Buenas tardes.” they said in unison.

  “Be quiet ‘cause I’m doing my homework.” Tess said quickly before Carlos pressed the button on a fire truck for the siren.

  “Sí.” they said again together.

  Tess laughed then started on her arithmetic. The whole time she was thinking about Brooke and Amber. Tess was more of the nicer ones of the girls. She didn’t mean any harm to the other kids at school, but Brooke’s reputation made Tess’s, so Tess just looked like another mean girl. It was like being trapped in a mean girl’s body. Tess thought “The Domination” for the group’s name was pathetic and stupid, which made sense because Amber was the one who chose. Amber’s brain was filled with cobwebs and bubble gum. A.k.a. nothing.

  Tess pitied Amber because she wasn’t smart enough to stand up for herself, and always had to take the blame for Brooke’s mess ups, which made Brooke even more perfect.

  It’s a cruel world, Tess thought. Cruel because people like Brooke live in it. Uncivilized people like Brooke.

  “Tess!” Carlos screeched.

  “¿Qué?” Tess jumped and looked at her brother.

  “¡Usted aplasta nuestro juguete del estrujón!” Junior exclaimed.

  Crushing your squeeze toy? What squeeze— “Oh. Sorry.” Tess said in English. She dropped the squeeze toy that she found in her hand. She was apparently ‘crushing’ it, or that’s what Junior said.

  “Gracias.” Carlos thanked Tess calmly and began squeezing it, making sure it was okay.

  “You guys are too loud. I’m going to my room.” Tess stood up and dragged her book-bag down the hall and to the right where her room’s door was. Tess’s room was medium sized and it had one window, a huge bookshelf, a tall dresser, a closet, and a twin-size bed. Those were the main things that you noticed immediately. Tess also had a big jewelry box filled gold jewelry from her mother and grandma.

  Just as the girl was about to settle down in her chair by her desk, Tess’s phone beeped wildly.

  It was from Brooke:

 

Brooke: Tess, did U finish your homework yet?

 

Just asking for answers. Tess would give her right ones and wrong ones. More wrong than right so Brooke would get a D.

 

Tess: Yeah. Here, lemme give U the answers.

Brooke: Thanks. Mom will kill me if I fail the class.

Tess: Sure thing.

 

So Tess gave her ‘friend’ mostly wrong answers on the homework, and as she did, Tess marked the right ones on her paper. Just at the last few questions, Tess’s mom called, “Mi’jita! Daddy’s here!”

 

Tess: Gotta go. Figure the last three out yourself. My dad’s here.

 

And Tess shut her phone quickly, blocking the next messages that came from Brooke.

  “Daddy!” Tess squealed and jumped into her father’s arms.

  “¡Pastel de Cherry!” Mr. Russo hugged his daughter. He called Tess ‘cherry pie’ because when Tess was a baby, her cheeks were as red as cherries, and Tess’s favorite food had always been pie.

  “Papá,” Junior and Carlos ran out of the living room and to their father.

  “¡Mis hijos! Los que yo no he visto en para siempre.” Mr. Russo grinned as he lifted the two brothers up in his strong arms.

  “How are you, Rico?” Mrs. Maria Russo asked.

  “Fine.” Mr. Rico Russo nodded and set down the boys.

  Tess picked up Carlos, the younger of the two, and walked into the kitchen. “Carlos is hungry, Ma.”