Down to the Bone Read Online Free

alive, he’d die. Tell me who that degenerada girl writing you those X-rated texts is!”
    The buildings thin out around us as we speed through the school district. My mom makes a left turn. She leaves behind squat structures and drives into a well-manicured neighborhood filled with three-story mansions. The villas lose their usual grasp on me and give way to a dark blur where nothing makes sense. I’ve lost Mami’s trust. My life is changing as quickly as the landscapes flashing by.
    I stare out the window, still mute. I can’t tell on Marlena. That will start World War III.
    The rest of the ride is silent. We get home and walk into my mom’s dark, hairspray-smelling room. She pulls up the shades and the light blinds me. I cover my eyes with my forearm.
    “So that’s what you’ve been doing every day after school before I get home from work, eh?” Mami shakes her head in disgust. “Dios mío.” Tears stream down her face. “I’ve never been so humiliated and embarrassed in all my life. I heard details about you being with another girl. Can you understand how disturbed and devastated I feel?”
    “I’m so sorry. They shouldn’t have read them to you or in front of the class. That’s not right.” Reading those texts should be against the law. Who does that? They wanted to purposely ruin my life. I can’t do the same and destroy Marlena’s life. I won’t.
    My mom loved Marlena from the first day they met. She sensed Marlena was “decent.” When Marlena told my mother she’d like to elope with her boyfriend because her parents wouldn’t allow her to be with him, my mom reassured her, “Be patient and stay being the good girl you are. Eventually, I’m sure your parents will open their hearts to him.” Mami had no idea Marlena was talking about me. I don’t feel too good about having fooled her, but what else could I do?
    I stand by the bed and look down at my two-tone shoes. No way will I fight back. She’ll slap the brain juice right out of my head.
    She picks up her loose hair, twists it into a bun at the back of her head, and sticks bobby pins deep into it. “I was going to surprise you with a used, sturdy car today for having made such good grades this year. I wanted to drive you to the dealership after school and let you pick it. I’ll be putting the loan money right back into the bank if you don’t tell me who the girl is. Which of your school friends is it—Soli, Olivia, Aracelys or CC?”
    Damn. I really need a car.
    I keep quiet. Marlena goes to La Caridad del Cobre High. What a lucky break that my mother and Torturous Teachers still believe it’s someone from my school. Mami might never figure out who the “Evil Culprit” is.
    There’s a huge silence. Abruptly, we hear Pedri’s school bus leaving him in front of the house. My mother walks into the living room. Pedri opens the door and runs to her for a hug. “Go to your room and stay until I’m done with your sister.”
    He obeys.
    She barges in. “So you’re still not talking, eh? That despicable girl gets to finish high school in your school, and you get thrown out?”
    Her heels clickety-clack something loud in my ears as she paces the room, back and forth, back and forth. My head feels like it’s about to combust and crack open.
    “Until you tell me who you’ve been having sex with in my house, you won’t be allowed to leave here, bring friends over, talk on your cell, text or tweet anyone or use your iPad or laptop.” Her voice rises in a frightening tone. “I just got married with Jaime. Tomorrow we begin our honeymoon, the first vacation I’ve had in six years, and you do this to me now? He better never find out. I’ve just started my life again after your father died. Don’t you dare ruin my chances of a happy life with him.”
    She snatches my cell from my book bag and tries to find out the number of the girl who sent the texts. Marlena’s digits and info is set on private. She erases all my e-mails and storms