Before the New Moon

October 10, 2002

 The sound of sneakers on the court and enthusiastic yells from the players was overpowering and maximized by the echo in the gym.

"!Mia!" Natalia yelled from behind me, running up and setting the ball and signaling for me to run up and spike it.

"Good job Natalia!" The coach yelled from the court side.

The spike was well done but the girls from the older team blocked it easily. I heard the coach yell at me to work on my jumps, but I was too tired to acknowledge it. The ball fell at our feet and the loud whistle from the coach signaled the end of the practice match. The older girls cheered and high fived while the younger team shared a collective groan. This was the third mock match we'd done against the high school team, and the third loss.

"Alright girls, gather round!" Our coach said he stood tall, hands on his hips and an impassive look on his face. The older girls coach did the same, she gathered her team and began passing around water bottles. I stared at the high school team longingly. This was my last year of middle school and next year I'd have to try out again if I wanted to keep playing volleyball.

"Eleonor!" The coach's voice brought me back to the present. "You need to get your head out of the clouds if you want any chance at making the high school team!"

"Yes sir! Sorry." Natalia gave me a sympathetic look and the meeting continued. I never understood why Mister Diaz was a teacher, he didn't seem to like it very much. Most of the time at least.

He didn't seem to like most students, like myself, and he seemed to change personalities when parents were around. But there were some students he did like, like Natalia, but that wasn't unexpected since everyone liked her.

Natalia has been my friend since the beginning of middle school, much to everyone's surprise I'm sure. Natalia is cool and sociable, she's bubbly and always the center of attention. Whenever she said something, people listen to her. It also doesn't hurt that she's one of the prettiest girls in school. She's short and skinny with pretty pale skin and light brown hair, she also has green eyes that get her a lot of compliments. She and I couldn't look more different.

I look down at myself, tall and with brown skin and big curly hair and wonder if the coach is nicer to Natalia because she's pretty. It would make more sense if he was nicer because she's a good player, but she's not even the best player on the team, that's Alondra, and he's pretty mean to her too.

Practice ended and both teams practically ran for the doors.

Natalia and I walked to the bus stop, where she once again told me she had a last minute change of plans.

"Hey, I know we were going to Plaza but something came up." She seemed apologetic but all I could do was sigh in annoyance. This has been happening more and more frequently, and she can never tell me what it is she's doing that demands so much attention.

"I thought you needed a pair of jeans for tomorrow." I prodded.

"I do, but this is important! Can't you just get them for me?" She pleaded, taking out some money from her bag and handing it to me. I rolled my eyes and took the money, she'd done this before and it was pointless to try and talk her out of it.

"Fine, but I'm using the change to buy myself food!" She grinned and hugged me.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She took out her phone and looked at a message she'd gotten, "I have to go, I'll see you tomorrow!"

And with that, she walked further down the avenue where she got into a red car I couldn't make out and drove away.

I sighed again and leaned against the bus stop. That was probably her 'secret boyfriend'. He was ably a secret to her parents apparently, she'd told everyone in our class that he was a high school senior in another school or something but wouldn't give any more details. She'd bring jewelry and other gifts he'd given her to school to prove he was real. Everyone was jealous of her, but I thought it made sense, if anyone was gonna have a high school boyfriend it was gonna be Natalia.

Natalia could do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. I think that's why she and I became friends in the first place. Our situations were a bit different, but we could both pretty much do anything we wanted with minimal adult supervision. Natalia's parents genuinely didn't seem to care about what she did so long as she didn't fail a year, get arrested or come home pregnant. And my mom was too busy with her job to supervise too closely, so as long as I told her where I was going, there weren't any problems.

The bus finally arrived, and as I got on it I stared in the direction where Natalia had been, and wondered why I'd never met her secret boyfriend. I wasn't gonna tell her parents about him, so why all the secrecy?