Lights Up

Carnaval del Barrio

Triple Update?!?

Also, in this chapter and the next one...things are HAPPENING

Dia's POV

It's Carnaval time! That Fourth of July when everything happened, Abuela Claudia won the lotto, my dad was leaving for the DR, Aunt Nina had dropped out of college, Uncle Benny got fired, and Dani started the Carnaval del Barrio, there's been one once a month. The November Carnaval is today, and my mom told me I could invite friends if I wanted to, and they could stay the night since the Carnaval goes until super late. Almost everyone was busy, which is kind of suspicious, but whatever. "Apparently" Frances, Janis, Damien, Jack, and Crutchie were all doing something. Crutchie had a valid reason (his cousin is home from college this weekend so he couldn't come). So, in an unusual burst of courage, I invited Phillip, and he said sure . My dad was a little skeptical about a boy staying over, but my mom convinced him that it was ok, and that he could sleep in the living room.
The Carnaval is starting soon, Phillip should be here any minute, and I'm still getting dressed. Jeans, black sweater (wow, not red, I know), my Converse. I head outside to get a piragua and wait for everything to start. Everyone has pulled out their flags, and the street is lined with them. Someone set up picnic tables in the street, and Uncle Benny set up roadblocks further up and down the block. I'm not sure HOW he got a bunch of police roadblocks, but sometimes you don't ask questions with Uncle Benny. Soon enough, a familiar suburban pulls up to the roadblocks, and Phillip jumps out with a backpack. I wave, and he comes running over to me.

"Holy cow, Dia, this is amazing!"

"Yeah, it's pretty great. You can dump your bag behind the bodega counter, and then we'll go join the party."

So we drop his bag off at the bodega, get more piraguas (we can't have alcohol, might as well have snow cones, even though it's November), and head over to the group.
"Ok. I'm going to introduce you to people. They are A LOT. Please don't get intimidated and refuse to talk to me ever again."

"Gotcha. No getting intimidated. Let's go."

Let's start small. We walk over to where Uncle Sonny and Uncle Pete are sitting.

"Hey, Uncles plural. This is my friend Phillip. Phillip, this is my Uncle Sonny and my Uncle Pete."

"Nice to meet you, kid."

"It's nice to meet you sir."

"Nope. Drop the sir. Call me Pete."

"Alright, I'm gonna go find Aunt Nina. C'mon Phillip."

The next objective. Find Aunt Nina and Uncle Benny in all these people...there they are. I think Uncle Benny is trying to get the mics hooked up for when Dani makes people freestyle later like she always does.

"You already know Aunt Nina, but this is my Uncle Benny. Uncle Benny, this is Phillip."

"It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Sir? I like this one. Nice to meet you too, son. Heard a lot about you."

We all talk for a few minutes before I finally spot my mom and dad in the crowd. Philip and I head over to them.

"Hey, mom, dad. This is Phillip. Phillip, this is my mom and dad."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Phillip."

Phillip seems nervous all of a sudden. I honestly don't know why, considering it's just my dad, and he's like the least intimidating person in existence. There's a bit of an awkward conversation happening, then I spot the last two people I was looking for. The two I was the most worried about introducing Phillip to. Dani and Carla.

"Hey, I found the last few people I wanted you to meet."

I pull him aside before we get to them.
"Alright, Pip, I've got to warn you."

Did I just say that out loud? I called him that. Out loud.

"Ohmygosh I'm so sorry, your aunt calls you that and it just slipped and I'm so embarrassed ohmygosh-"

"Dia, relax. I don't care if you call me that. A lot of people do. My full name's just kinda awkward to say sometimes."

Alright so he doesn't care.

"Well, Dani and Carla are like my crazy cousins/aunts/second and third mothers. They're a lot. So I'm warning you in advance, be prepared for the crazy."

We walk over there, and I'm immediately ambushed.

"You've been so BUSY, chica. I haven't seen you in forever."

"Uh, Dani?"

"You really need to come down to the salon more often."

"Dani."

"It's like I never SEE you anymore."

"DANI!"

"Yes?"

"I want to introduce you and Carla to someone."

I gesture behind me, where Phillip is standing. He just waves awkwardly.

"This is Phillip. Pip, this is Dani and Carla."

"It's nice to meet both of you."

"It's nice to FINALLY meet you too, we've heard SO much about you!"

"Dani-"

"Ay, calm down chica. Hey pretty boy, you sing?"

Phillip looks thrown off.

"Uh, yeah, I can sing."

"Good."

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason."

I have a feeling I know the reason.

When it starts to get dark, Dani jumps up on a table and grabs a microphone.

"Alright, everyone. You know the drill. You get the mic, you SING. Then you pass it on."

Dani started off, then passed the mic around. Soon enough, Carla's passing the mic to me-wait. Oh no. She handed the mic to Phillip.

"Uh, Dia? What am I supposed to do?"

"Just make something up. No one here cares if it's good or not. You can sing, you can rap, just perform something."

"Uh, ok."

Then Dani yells from a few tables away.

"Stand UP!"

So Phillip stands up on the table and starts rapping. It's short and simple, but it makes everyone laugh.

"My name is Phillip
I am a poet
And I'm a little nervous though I don't show it
See I'm rapping on a table at a Carnaval
And I'm really really REALLY hoping that I don't fall
I'm here with this girl, she looks real pretty
Makes me glad that she's here with me
Uh...everyone else is talking about where they're from so here I go
See I'm part Caribbean and part Chinese
Though when people ask I just say I'm Latino to appease
Uh...These words are starting to get really hard to rhyme
So I'm gonna pass this off before I run out of time."

There's a bunch of clapping as he passes the mic to Uncle Pete and the game continues. He sits back down next to me.

"That was really good."

"Oh, uh, thanks."

"Did you...um...was I the girl?"

"Yeah, you were."

There's an awkward silence for a moment.

"Do you want to go up on my fire escape?"

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