Cursis Melodías ° isaac garcia

viii. Shower Wars

❛ Me hacía temer que me dejaras . . . ❜

❛ It made me afraid that you would leave me . . . ❜

When morning came, Eunice woke up from the first ring of her alarm. She was in the shower by 6:30 sharp and out by 6:44 with a minute to spare. When she exited the bathroom, she tried to move with haste so no one could catch her in her post-shower state. It wasn't her best look. She was almost in the clear when the voice of Cole stopped her.

"What's with the grandma fit?" he asked, eyeing her choice of clothes. Eunice turned to face his smirk then glanced down at the oversized muu muu she's had since her last visit to El Salvador.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, deciding to fight fire with cluelessness.

The boy only shrugged then stalked into the bathroom to not waste his sacred fifteen minutes.

After blow drying her hair, Eunice put large sections of it into velcro curlers to give it more volume. As she waited for the curlers to work their magic, she moved onto the rest of her morning routine. She was almost done with her makeup when Jackie came in from her run, sweat highlighting every part of her perfect facial structure.

Eunice could almost get upset over how unfair her life was. Why was it that when she went on jogs it looked like her first time running but when Jackie did it she looked like a Lululemon catalog model?

"Gosh, I gotta shower," Jackie expressed, slipping out of her athletic clothes and into her bathrobe.

"Good luck," Eunice commented. She glanced down at the muu muu she still wore and let out a sigh.

To Jackie there were perfect stamina and bathrobes. To Eunice there were grandma lungs that matched her grandma muu muu.

"What would I need luck for? It's a shower," Jackie asked rhetorically then left the room, leaving the door open behind her.

Eunice tuned out the beginning of the inevitable conflict that occurred out in the hallway as Jackie pleaded for a chance to shower. She only tuned back in when she heard Isaac's voice echo through the walls.

"Hey, has anybody seen my leather jacket?" he called out with frustration laced in his voice.

"Uh, yeah it's in your closet," Lee replied.

"Like on a hanger? Why is it in there?" Isaac asked. Eunice smiled at his boyish behavior. She then caught herself in the mirror and let her face drop. Why was she laughing at his 'boyish behavior'?

She zoned out as she began removing the curlers from her hair and the voices in her head debated this topic. Isaac and Lee's argument sounded distant until the slams of their doors brought Eunice back to earth. She refocused on the scene happening in the hall.

"Hey guys, come on, I need to use the shower too," Jackie argued.

"You can try the one downstairs, there shouldn't be anyone down there," Jordan finally suggested.

"Thanks," Jackie said, her footstep fading away. Eunice couldn't help but find this all too suspicious. She stood up with one last curler remaining on the edge of her front hairline and peeked into the hall. She watched as the three boys wore matching smirks, Isaac specifically shaking his head in laughter.

"What did you guys do?" Eunice called out making them all avert their gazes towards her.

Isaac straightened up and sent the girl a look. "Eunice, we talked about this," he warned, switching to Spanish, making the girl curse herself for feeling a flutter in her chest.

She squinted her eyes at him, knowing she wasn't allowed to say anything if she wanted to keep her 6:30 showers. Whatever they were up to though, she was sure it'd come back to bite her.

"Haha, Eunice nice hair!" Jordan teased, running up to her with his camera at the ready.

Realizing the curler was still planted on her head and her nightgown was still draped over her body, she rushed back into the room. "Jordan," Eunice started. "Should we start a negotiation so you can delete that?"

When Eunice had finally finished her billion step morning routine, she made her way downstairs with her book bag in hand and stomach ready for breakfast. About to reach the bottom step, she stopped when she caught sight of Isaac as he reached up to knock on the first floor bathroom door. 

"Everything okay in there, Jackie?" Isaac asked, taking a calm bite of bread. Eunice could tell just from his tone that it wasn't a genuine question.

"Isaac, can you go get Katherine?" Jackie asked in a panic.

"Um, no, I don't think so," Isaac laughed. He then glanced up and right at Eunice who stared back at him in disbelief.

"Why?" Jackie pressed.

Isaac debated answering as he took in Eunice's dismay. He then sighed, coming clean for the girl on the steps. "Because, there's a bet that you'd rather skip school than, you know, go with bleached hair," he explained. Jackie let out a furious groan and switched the water back on.

Eunice went to walk past Isaac, unable to look at him any longer. He quickly caught her arm in his hand. "Hold on, Eu," he tried.

"It's Eunice, not Eu," she snapped. "And I thought the whole point of your 'family guidelines' was for you all to able to rely on each other. Do you really think I'd be fine with you messing with my sister?" she argued.

"It's not-"

"It's not what? If you're gonna be an asshole at least own up to it, Isaac. Find someone else to manipulate in Spanish," Eunice concluded. She then pulled her hand away from his grip and followed after Jackie who had dashed up the stairs, hiding her hair with a towel.

Jordan zoomed in on the boy who stood there in utter confusion.

    Why did he feel this way? The only admiration he felt towards the girl lasted a second when he compared her to a butterfly. He had buried those thoughts to prevent this feeling. Why was this feeling cocooning inside of him? Why was there a caterpillar growing wings in his chest?