It was the summer before I started my senior year. I turned 18 in May and was getting ready for school. I was doing everything that a tall, skinny, blonde hair, blue eyed girl living in Minnesota does. I lived in a small town about forty-five minutes outside of Minneapolis. I spent that summer going to lots of parties and I spent a lot of time with my boyfriend. He had just graduated high school and was getting ready to go off to college. We did a lot of kissing and petting, but I never went all the way with him. Finally, in August, right before he left for school, he convinced me to go all the way. It was very awkward and did not feel good at all. It hurt more than I thought and after he came, he got mad at me for getting blood on his bed. Needless to say, it was not a memorable experience. After that, I couldn't wait for school to start. He left for college a week before I had to return. We both decided to stay in a relationship, but we both knew that we were free to do what we wanted.
When school started, I had a pretty easy schedule. Most of my credits were already done and I had a lot of filler courses. In one of these classes, I was a Teacher's Assistant for Mrs. Bean. She taught a DSL class, which was a class for people who spoke English as a secondary language. I must have been a very naïve white girl because I did not realize how many Hispanic students went to our school. There was about twelve boys and girls in there, and they hardly spoke any English. That day, they were welcoming a new student who had just moved here from Arizona. Her name was Maria. She was short and had very black hair. She was real quiet and seemed kind of shy. Mrs. Bean asked me to show her around the school. As we walked, I didn't say much because I didn't know any Spanish.
"Where are the restrooms?" Maria said.
I was very surprised. She spoke very good English.
"You speak English!" I said.
"So do you." she responded.
"Sorry. I figured you didn't speak English since you came from down there."
"Arizona!?!" she said.
"Why wouldn't I speak English since I came from Arizona? It is in the United States you know!"
I started to get the feeling that I offended her.
"I am really sorry. Why don't we start over? My name is Sophie."
"I'm Maria. Sorry, it has just been a real culture shock moving here. I mean Arizona is like the hottest, driest desert and my parents sent me to Minnesota!" she said.
"You're parents didn't come here with you?" I asked, not knowing that I was asking a touchy question.
"Let's just say that I'm not here on my terms. Anyway, you mind if we get back to class? I just want to sit down."
For some reason, I felt right then and there that she needed a friend and I would try to be her friend.
Over the next few weeks, I got to know her pretty well. She got into some trouble back home with attendance at her last school, and her parents decided to send her here with her older brother, Marcos. She talked about him a lot. She was 18 and he was 31. I thought it was amazing that she had such an older brother.
"Not really." She said. "My mother was real young when she had him. I am the youngest of five. He was 13 when I was born. By the time that he left for college, I was only five years old."
"So what is your brother doing way up here?"
"He met his wife in Arizona. She is from here and when he got her pregnant, they decided to move here to be close to her family. They've been here for about five years now." She said.
"Wow, does that mean that you're an Aunt?"
"It sure does. They have five year old twin girls and a 2 year old son." She said.
"Wow!" I exclaimed. "Do you ever baby-sit for him?"
"Yeah, but only if he pays me. His wife doesn't trust me very much so she only lets me do it for a few hours at a time. In fact, I am supposed to watch them when I get home from school for about an hour. He works in a restaurant so he works a lot of nights, and she works in an office during the day. Do you want to come over after school and help me?" She asked.
"Sure." I replied, not knowing that this decision was going to change the course of my life forever.
After school was over, we walked to her brother's house. It was about three miles from school. Quite honestly, I was expecting a small house, but it was a little bigger than mine. I was embarrassed at my stereo typing thought. We walked in and immediately her nieces and nephew came running at her.
"Hey auntie how was school?" they screamed.
"Good. Where's your dad?" She responded.
"Upstairs getting ready for work." They said.
"Okay, go downstairs to your room and play, I'll be right there. C'mon Sophie, you can meet my brother and put your stuff in my room."
