Free Sweet 16 to Life by Kimberly Reid Page A

first time, so I thought everything must have worked out.”
    â€œHow could it work out? The INS fairies let his parents back into the country and they lived happily ever after? The immigration laws magically changed? You say I want to be the center of everything, but you should check yourself, Chanti.”
    While I may concede his point, how is this conversation going any better than the one he came to apologize for?
    â€œYou could have just reminded me that was the real reason you had to break up with me instead of saying your parents think I’m dangerous.”
    â€œIt was kind of a big deal, at least to me and my family. I didn’t think you’d forget it. You remember every little detail about your investigations, but can’t remember a huge one about me.”
    Ouch.
    Marco continues, “Anyway, I kinda regret I told you in the first place. It was a slip. The fewer people know David’s undocumented, going to school when he was supposed to be deported, the better. Besides, if I’d reminded you, would you have dropped the whole Bethanie and Cole investigation? Would you stop trying to track down this guy you think is an arsonist?”
    I’m quiet, trying to think of a way to tell him he’s right, but not because I don’t care about him.
    Before I come up with the right words, Marco turns to leave and I hear him say, “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Chapter 11
    I nstead of heading home after the bus drops me off, I make a stop at the Center Street bodega to check if MJ is lying about her new boyfriend or not. If she wasn’t lying about never missing school, she should be in class right now and Eddie should be working the cash register.
    The day started out cold, but the sun has made the afternoon warm enough to bring people out, including Crazy Moses, who is standing outside the bodega leaning against his shopping cart/home, money cup in hand. I have to tell him twice that I’m not working at TasteeTreets anymore and can’t give him free coffee like I used to. I actually had to pay for it with my employee discount, but I always told him it was free. Moses didn’t get the Crazy added on to his name for no reason. Half-priced coffee was a small price to pay to keep things peaceful during my shift at the register whenever he was there. Now I can’t afford to subsidize him.
    Moses being here tips me off that Eddie’s father isn’t working today. Mr. Perez would never let Moses hang around his door harassing his customers like that. Eddie doesn’t care. He’s just killing time while he figures out what’s next. He was recently kicked out of college for being a slacker and never showing up for class, and his father is making him work in the bodega to earn his keep. Eddie couldn’t care less about his father’s store and is probably the last person to be trusted with it, but MJ made me promise to stay out of their family business. She’s got a point—I have my own father issues to deal with. But that doesn’t mean I’m staying out of MJ’s business when doing so could mean letting my friend get herself into a world of trouble.
    â€œTamale girl,” Eddie says when I walk into the store, like he’s announcing the queen.
    â€œIt’s Chanti,” I say.
    â€œYeah, I know—MJ’s friend. But you usually only come in on Freebie Friday for the buy-one-get-one tamales.”
    It’s true, and apparently I’ve got an easy-to-mark pattern even though Eddie hasn’t been working in the bodega very long. I need to work on that—not a good trait for a detective, even one who isn’t really a detective. Now I’ll have to buy something to keep my cover. Good thing I took Lana’s twenty off the table this morning, not that I plan on spending more than I have to. There’s an extra-cheese-and-pepperoni pizza calling my name right now.
    â€œI come in other times, like