Read Online Crossing the Line by Malín Alegría - Free Book Online Page B

sensation. She’d received special treatment, voice and music classes, since she was eight years old and won a singing contest at the stock and trade show. But now, she was throwing it all away for a make-out session with Dex.
    At the end of her shift, Fabiola began to count her tips. Her mother came over and sat across from her. She took off one of her two-inch heels and began to massage her swollen feet.
    â€œWhat are you going to do with all that money you save?” her mother asked. “You never buy anything nice for yourself. Isn’t that the shirt you got for free at the rodeo last year?”
    â€œI don’t need anything, Mom,” Fabi said, sliding all the coins into her coin purse.
    â€œYou’re saving to run away from us, aren’t you?” Magda teased — but her eyes betrayed real worry behind her joke.
    â€œI wish! As if you guys would ever let me,” Fabi said, pretending to sound upset. She looked at the tattered coin purse. It held all her dreams. “I just want to see the world one day.” Her mother stared back with a bewildered expression, and Fabi added, “Haven’t you ever wanted to go to Venice? Or see the temples of Machu Picchu?”
    Instead of answering, Magda began to fidget with the fake white flowers on the table. Fabi watched out of the corner of her eye, pretending to play with the clasp of the coin purse.
    Finally, her mother looked down at her lap and said, “I don’t know where you get these crazy ideas. They must be from your dad’s side of the family.” The pained look on her mother’s face made Fabi feel terrible about what she’d said. She didn’t have the right words to explain this urge she had to run, run far away — and what could she say that wouldn’t make her mother feel like she wanted to run away from her ?
    So she changed the subject. “What’s up with Alexis?”
    Her mother seemed relieved. “Your sister is just in a hurry to grow up. She wants to go to some party this weekend. I told her no .” Magda looked at Fabi to read her reaction. “I don’t care. She can hate me all she wants. She’s only fourteen. You know how your sister gets. She can’t take no for an answer. With Chuy out, we need her help here. But for Alexis, everything is the end of the world .”
    Fabi smiled sympathetically. That was Alexis, all right.
    Â 
    On Saturday night, Fabiola left the restaurant early to help with Milo’s party. She pulled on her favorite pair of skinny jeans and a cute sequined top she’d bought with Georgia Rae last summer, but never wore. Then she opened the makeup tote box she got on her twelfth birthday. Most of the cosmetics were still sealed in their packaging — gifts from the Mary Kay and Avon representatives in the family. As she applied some lip liner she couldn’t help but feel butterflies in her stomach. It had been so long since she went out and didn’t have to be responsible for anyone. Her phone beeped, letting her know that Georgia Rae was outside and ready to go.
    They arrived at the party as the sun started to set, casting warm reddish-orange streaks in the sky. Her phone beeped again — the fifth text from Milo since she’d left. He was really anxious about this grilling business!
    The fancy house on the north side of the tracks was hidden behind a high wooden fence and ash trees. Fabi smelled smoke and heard a huge crash. The two girls raced straight from the truck toward the noise. Soon they found what the commotion was all about — from the back porch, flames licked the stucco roof of the redbrick ranch home. Milo was inside a cloud of smoke, unsuccessfully trying to douse the flames with a bucket of water.
    â€œGet away from there!” Fabi shouted, waving for Milo to move out of the way before he hurt himself. She turned off the flames on the gas burner. There was a shriveled piece of burnt meat on