Short story
2:30 p.m. - 2007-12-13

OK...Here is my story that was deleted from Helium.com:

In fifth grade, Berta was probably the most shy girl in her clique. She had a group of friends that had remained the same throughout elementary school. They all shared the same classes year after year, and knew practically everything about each other. Berta, Barbara, and Monica were Mexican American. Kathy and Holly were Caucasian, and Sheila was half Puerto Rican and Caucasian.

There was a group of boys that were their counterparts. They, too, had been friends throughout elementary school, and were the boys that all the girls liked. Jose was Mexican American (and also happened to be Berta's cousin), Tim and Tommy were African American, Ray and Scott were Caucasian. At lunch time these two groups of boys and girls always hung around together. The girls learning to flirt with the boys...the boys showing off by taking turns doing pull-ups on the monkey bars, or racing to see who was the fastest. The winner of these mini-man competitions was almost always Ray, followed closely by Jose, then Tommy.

Naturally, all the girls targeted these three and tried to get their attention. Well, almost all the girls. Berta pretty much sat back and watched all this flirting with fascination. She wished she could be like the other girls. She wished she wouldn't freeze up anytime one of the boys spoke to her. She wanted to laugh at them, make fun of them, run away from them like the other girls did. But she knew better. Coming from a very traditional Mexican family, she was brought up to believe that this kind of behavior was not proper. Good girls do not act like that with boys. If her mother ever thought Berta was teasing a boy just to have him chase her, that would have been her behind!

One day, the class asked the teacher if they could stay in for recess. They did not want to go outside to "play" with the other "little" kids. They wanted to stay in the classroom, play board games, and listen to the 45's they had brought from home. Berta and her friends quickly moved their desks to form a circle, and Sheila pulled out a deck of playing cards. The girls were trying to teach Berta how to play Spades. They had been at it for two weeks, but she just couldn't get the hang of it. Barb would get exasperated with her, and would begin talking to her like she was stupid, at which point Berta would quit playing. Barb was more or less the leader of the group, and tended to be pretty bossy at times. She never backed off in an argument, and was ready to fight anyone who made her mad.

The boys had been standing across the room watching them, yelling things out to the girls to distract them from their game. Suddenly they became very quiet. Berta noticed the change in the noise level, and when she turned around to see what was going on, Scott was standing directly behind her. She gave a small yelp, and jumped in her chair. The other girls looked up, giggling.

"Hey, Berta...Ray wants to know if you'll go with him."

Berta looked at Scott puzzled, "Go where with him?"

The girls behind her started laughing. "Oh my God, Berta," Barbara said. "You DO know that Ray is asking you to be his girlfriend, right?"

WHAT? This was all Berta could hear resonating in her mind. Why would he ask her to be his girlfriend. He has never spoken to her before, except the occasional demand to get out of his way. Then the thought of her mom came into her head. If her mom EVER found out...if she even suspected that she LIKED a boy, that would be the end of Berta being able to sit down...EVER!

As she looked at her friends, she could feel the heat rising in her face. She could feel her mouth moving, but no sound was coming out. She thought she was going to cry. Berta realized that her friends were talking to her, but she could not hear anything they were saying over the sound of her frantically beating heart.

"...better say 'Yes' girl!"

"...so cute! Don't be scared!"

"...might kiss you!"

They were all talking at her excitedly. She didn't know what to do. Scott was standing there, and she looked past him at Ray who looked as if he was losing his patience. Jose looked at Berta. He knew what her mom was like. He knew the consequences. He shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head back and forth. Great, he wasn't going to be any help.

"Well," Scott said irritably.

"Um-mm, yeah...I mean, yes. I'll go with him," Berta answered shakily.

Scott smiled and turned and nodded at Ray. The guys started congratulating him, all except for Jose. He looked at Berta in shock, like she was crazy. Meanwhile, the girls were all squealing in excitement, and started giving Berta pointers on how to kiss. Berta freaked out. What was she doing? She can't hold a boys hand let alone KISS HIM!

She did not need to worry about anything, because Ray pretty much ignored her for the next three days. She almost forgot that she was his girlfriend. Then the day came when she had to face the music. The class was outside for lunch recess. As usual the girls were all standing together talking when the boys came up to them. Berta immediately quit talking. She noticed that Ray seemed to be making his way around the circle of kids to position himself next to her. Her mind started screaming in panic. What was she going to do?

Suddenly, there he was. Everyone kept talking, but all were watching them expectantly. Berta did not like this. She did not like being the center of attention. She did not want witnesses to her sin of having a boyfriend. She was terrified that her mother would pull into the parking lot unexpectedly. They lived only two streets away from the school! While all these thoughts raced through her mind, Ray suddenly grabbed her hand. She quickly looked at him, and with panic and fear racing through her heart, she instinctively pulled her hand out of his.

Everyone stopped talking, and looked on in shock. Ray's face turned bright red, as he looked at Berta in anger and disgust. What he said next forever changed the fabric of their friendships.

"I didn't want to hold hands with a dirty spic, anyways. You might give me lice," he yelled in her face. He turned on his heel and began walking away. The rest of the group just looked after him, not knowing what to do.

Ray stopped and looked at the rest of the boys. "Come on! What are you doing?"

Jose took a couple of steps towards Ray, stopped and then said the only thing he could think of, "Man, fuck you!" Jose turned and walked in the opposite direction. After a few seconds, Tim and Tommy followed Jose. Scott was the only one that followed Ray.

The girls stood there looking at each other. Berta started to cry, and she looked up at Barb. Barb was angry, so angry she was shaking. She grabbed Berta's hand and walked her over to a nearby tree where they both sat down. Sheila soon followed. Holly and Monica walked in a different direction, and left Kathy standing there not knowing what to do. Five minutes passed and Kathy joined Berta, Barb, and Sheila under the tree.

No one said a word. With one phrase, Ray had popped the bubble of innocence that they had all lived in. They played at being friends for years to come, but the fundamental core of pure friendship disappeared that day in the schoolyard, never to be recaptured.

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