His Name Was Tate

hey kid

"Sadly, in this town and in the rest of the world, there are some ignorant people who just refuse to understand or respect other people's belief or views." I looked at Becks with sad eyes because I knew exactly what she meant. Being black girl in America was hard enough. I couldn't imagine what Becks was going through.

Being a Latina, trans woman in small town such as this must be a struggle on its on. I needed to do something to cheer her up. Then I remembered something my dad said to me.

I locked my arms around hers and smiled at her. "My dad always told me, "god only gives challenges to those he knows can handle them", you may not know that you have the strength to over come it, but when you do it makes the victory ten times more sweet." I could tell she was still a little confused. "What I'm trying to say is that, though the world is filled with dickheads and jackasses, if you believe in who you are there is no one who can stop you." That came out so fucking corny. I hate it. She stared at me with a blank look. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

Out of nowhere she began laughing hysterically. "That was the cutest, and yet corniest thing I have ever heard. Gracias, mi amor. I needed the laugh." Well at least she smiled.

"Hey kid." Rebecca stiffened at the sound of the voice as if she knew who it was already. We turned and saw all three Mancini bays standing behind us. Rebeccas stature changed and she seemed more on guard, but she still left a smile on her face. "Hi, Tate. Hi, Timmothy." She said. Her voice sounded sweet. But was laced with venom.

The two boys awkwardly waved at her while Mike stood silent. Mikes smile slightly twitched a bit. "No hello for me. Is that really the way you treat your best friend."

The smile on her face got bigger. "Former-best friend. Anyways, what do you pendejos want, I gotta finish showing my new friend around." All three of there eyes turned to me and the staring was intense. They looked me up an down, as if they were inspecting me. I guess that's karma for how hard I was staring earlier.

"Your the new girl from the city right?" said Timmothy. He was very handsome. Strong jawline, white teeth, clear skin. Literally, the picture of perfection. He reached out his hand and reintroduced himself. "Well, hello my name is Timmothy, but you can call me Tim. This over here is Mike," he pointed over to Michael who was barely paying attention to him. Mike was to busy staring at a very irritated Becks. "And this is Tate." Tate's presence was almost like a shadow. He stayed quiet the entire time, until he was mentioned. He nodded his head toward me. I gave him a sheepish smile in response. I couldn't help but notice that his hair up close was a pretty dark brown, not black like originally thought.

"Would you stop staring at me? It's fucking rude!" She yelled toward Mike, pulling me out of my train of thought. His smirk spread wider. "So, Beck, that stunt you pulled with Thomas was pretty dangerous. You know the whole, exposing him to the entire class." He said. A smirk still on his face but his words didn't seem playful. She rolled her eyes. "What y'all worried?"

"Yes!" All three said in unison. "You know how he is." Tate said. Becks smile completely erased. "He isn't the only one in this school who has there opinion about me. He doesn't scare me. I can take care of myself." Her voice was was flat and monotoned, as if she had no emotions.

The boys seemed wounded by her words. Mike looked like he was going to say something but she cut him off before he could. "Anyway, me and my friend here are about to be late to our next class. So if you don't mind. Shoo." She grabbed me by my arm and began pulling away from the boys.

"It was nice to meet you all." I waved sheepishly as I was getting drug away. The way she talked about them earlier was like she never really knew them, as if she only heard about them through rumors. But clearly by there conversation and the way she talked to them. There is history there. But why did she act like she didn't know who they were at first?