Palo Alto Stories

We sat there, and then I said, “Why did you get kicked out of school?”

“Because I broke all the windows in this asshole’s car.”

“Why did you do that?”

“This motherfucker, Brian Simpson, threw some eggs at me.”

“Why?” I was very interested.

“Whatever. On the Sunday before, I was walking, and I saw this car drive by. Someone said something, and then I saw the car turn around . . .”

“Where?” I said.

He looked at me fu

“You didn’t go to first period?”

“No, I—no, I skipped first period.” He seemed like he was laughing at me a little bit. But not in a bad way. “I just went at lunch, to fuck up his car. I smashed every window with a bat. They kicked me out for that.”

“So now where do you go?”

“I went to this continuation school, Shoreline, but I got kicked out because I was the only white dude with all these black and Mexican dudes from East Palo Alto. They thought they could fuck with me, but they couldn’t. They kicked me out for fighting. Now I go to this school for idiots and I’m with the realretards.”

He was so. So dirty, and just moving in front of me, and cute. I was in love with him, especially because he was talking to me.

“I bet you’re smart,” he said. It was the best moment of my life.

Then this guy came up to him. He looked part Latino.

“What’s up, little bitch?” the Latino guy said to Ro

“Fuck you,” said Ro

Katie Hesher came out of the kitchen. She looked upset. She said, “Ro

“Come outside, little bitch,” said the older guy to Ro

“Ro

“Don’t get hurt,” I said. He didn’t hear me. Everything was fast and scary. I sat there for a minute on the couch. Everyone else was pushing to get outside, after Ro

I got up and squeezed onto the porch with all the people. Mist was on the front lawn. The whole party was out there. Ro

Then everyone was fighting. It wasn’t just Ro

Then a bunch of the fighters were ru

A car drove up very fast. It was a white SUV. There was a person on the hood. The car stopped abruptly and the person fell off into the street. Then the SUV backed up and drove away. Everyone on the lawn ran to the body. I did too. It was Ro

The white SUV was driving back. It swerved up onto the sidewalk, toward the group around Ro

Girls were screaming, and then I knew that it was me who was screaming. I couldn’t see anything for a while. The SUV was gone. I walked to the middle of the lawn to see. Boris was at Ro

About half of the people walked or ran to their cars and drove off. I saw Katie Hesher crying on the porch with some people comforting her. Some of the neighbors were coming out in sweatpants and slippers. A neighbor woman in a fla

There were about five police cars, and then ten, and an ambulance, and a fire truck. All the flashing lights lit up the trees, and they turned the misty rain red, just above the cars. The paramedics were calm. They checked Ro

Then the police were asking for statements. I was one of the people they talked to. A heavy policewoman with regular clothes and brown hair in a bun asked me questions. She had a tough exterior, but she was gentle with me. I told her everything about the car, and about how the fight had started. I told her about when Ro

I said no.

Did I know him pretty well? No, but.

“But what?” she asked.

“Well, he told me I was smart. I mean, I think he liked me.” She looked at me like she didn’t understand what I was saying. Then she thanked me, and said she would call if she needed more information.

She never called. The Latino guy, Richard Alvaro, was arrested. Ro

I worked at Lockheed for the rest of the summer. I didn’t draw anymore. My parents could tell I was sad, but I couldn’t tell them why. I couldn’t even tell Jamie. I didn’t do much but watch the moon. It floated there, on the films, reverberant. I began picturing Ro

American History

Then the other day in tenth-grade American History, Mr. Hurston was teaching us about slavery and we had to act out a mock debate between the slave states and the free states. I played Mississippi, and I had to pretend that I wanted slavery to remain legal. Me and the other four slave state guys sat on one side of the room and faced the five kids from the free states. The rest of the class watched us with dull stares.