Free The Book of Unknown Americans: A novel by Cristina Henríquez Page A

Garrett tossed the sunglasses up in a high arc over her head and let them land on thewet pavement. Maribel bent down to get them, and Garrett crowded up behind her, settling his hands on her hips, drawing her against him.
    “Hey!” I yelled.
    Garrett whipped his head around like he’d forgotten that I was there.
    “Leave her alone,” I said.
    “Fuck you.”
    “She hasn’t done anything to you.”
    Garrett narrowed his eyes to slits and sauntered toward me, nudging his skateboard along with the toe of his shoe. My heart was thudding so hard it felt like it was taking up my whole chest, but at least I’d gotten him away from Maribel. Over his shoulder, I saw her stand and put her sunglasses back on, pushing them up the bridge of her nose with her finger.
    “What are you? Her fucking fairy godmother?” Garrett said. He was right in front of me now, a head taller and at least thirty pounds heavier. I should’ve just stayed out of it, I thought. Why, why, why didn’t I just stay out of it?
    “No,” I managed to say.
    “You wanna be a hero?”
    I shook my head.
    “Because I was just talking to her,” Garrett said. “That’s all.”
    But that wasn’t all, and both of us knew it. “I saw you,” I said.
    Garrett grabbed the collar of my shirt and twisted it into his fist, pulling me close. “Saw what, shitface?”
    I didn’t dare look in his eyes.
    “Couldn’t hear you,” Garrett said, squeezing my collar until it felt like a noose around my neck.
    “Nothing,” I managed to get out.
    It was probably only a matter of seconds, but it felt like a full minute passed, maybe more, before Garrett finally let me go, sending me stumbling back onto my ass.
    “That’s what I thought,” he said. “Fucking none of your business.”
    He kicked a spray of pebbles in my direction, then turned around and looked at Maribel, who was still standing basically in the same place she’d been the whole time. “I’m not done with you,” he called to her.
    He picked up his skateboard and started walking out toward the road, through the gravel.
    I brushed myself off and walked over to Maribel. “Are you okay?” I asked.
    She nodded.
    “Don’t pay attention to him,” I said. “He’s a jerk.”
    And then we were just standing there, and the rain was still drizzling like static, and I didn’t know what to do next.
    “Are you going home now?” I finally asked after a traffic jam of silence.
    “I’m waiting for my mom.”
    I looked up and down the length of the building, but besides Maribel and me, no one was around. “Where is she?” I asked.
    “Who?”
    “Your mom.”
    “She meets me at the bus.”
    “Do you think she’s in your apartment?”
    Maribel shook her head. “I’m meeting her here.”
    What was I supposed to do? I didn’t really want to stand out in the rain with her for who knew how long. Maybe Micho or Benny would walk out and one of them could keep her company. After another minute, though, it was still just her and me, so Isaid, “Well, let’s wait on the fire escape at least. It’s covered, so we can get out of the rain.”
    As soon as we sat on the metal fire escape landing, Maribel slid her backpack off and pulled out a green notebook. She snapped the cap off a pen and started writing, hunched over the paper.
    “What’s that?” I asked.
    “My notebook.”
    “You’re doing homework now?”
    “I’m writing.”
    “About what?”
    She shrugged. “The doctors told me to write.”
    “Like, stories?”
    She didn’t answer.
    “I just finished the new Percy Jackson book,
The Titan’s Curse.
Have you heard of it?”
    Again, nothing. I couldn’t even tell if she was listening to me, but for some reason now I wanted her to. I wanted her to pay attention to me.
    “I write sometimes,” I went on. “Like, I might write, ‘Note to self: Do not touch a habanero pepper, even if your best friend dares you to.’ ”
    Unexpectedly, she smiled. “Habaneros are hot,” she said. It was