Signal to Noise(68)

“Out with Sebastian Soto again?”

“Oh my God,” Meche muttered under her breath.

“Do you two have to meet every single day? You go to school together. Then you spend every moment outside school together. What is going on?”

“Nothing!” Meche yelled. “God, is your life so boring you have to invent this drama to keep you entertained? No wonder dad dumped you!”

The slap came as a bit of a surprise. This was a new level of theatrics. Meche rubbed her cheek, knitting her eyebrows together angrily.

Her mother gave her a long, cold stare and slammed her bedroom door shut. Meche put on the headphones and gritted her teeth.





SEBASTIAN DID NOT understand how Principal Estrada knew they had been behind the public humiliation levied upon her during the school assembly, but she knew. That killer instinct which helped her pounce on teenagers trying to smoke in the bathrooms must have also prepared her to recognize the undeniable stench of a hex. Whatever it was, she was onto them and a confrontation was imminent.

Just after recess on Friday, when Sebastian, Daniela and Meche were preparing to drag their feet to Biology class, Estrada appeared, blocking their way, just like the robot in the bad B-movie from the 50s he had been watching on the TV the night before.

“Mr. Soto, I’ve had enough of that hair of yours. You are getting a haircut.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Over the weekend. I promise.”

“No, Mr. Soto,” the principal said. “Right now.”

Estrada grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the office. Meche raised her voice in protest.

“You can’t do that.”

“Watch yourself, Miss Vega, unless you want to be in detention for the rest of the school year.”

Estrada walked with quick steps, her heels clicking upon the pavement and down the hallway towards her offices. She told him to sit down and Sebastian just stared at the woman.

“You’d like to be expelled, Mr. Soto?”

He could imagine his mother’s face if that happened. She’d have one son who had impregnated his girlfriend and was dropping out of university, plus another one kicked out of school. It would be too terrible to bear. If his father found out... well, that would be an epic beating. Just because his dad didn’t live with them anymore didn’t mean he wouldn’t make a special guest appearance to kick the crap out of Sebastian.

Between the humiliation of the haircut and the dicey outcome at home, he picked humiliation and sat still as Estrada took out a pair of scissors and unceremoniously chopped off his long hair.

“Now people can see your face,” Estrada said. Like she’d done him a favour.

Sebastian saw his faint reflection in a glass display case and quietly disagreed.

He hurried out of the principal’s office, only to hear Daniela and Meche calling for him. He ignored them and hurried towards the west wall. There he climbed one of the trees, stood on the wall and lowered himself onto the other side.

Sebastian held on to the straps of his backpack and began walking, head down.

“Hey!”

He did not bother looking back nor did he quicken his pace and soon Meche was at his side, brushing leaves from her uniform and glancing at him.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “We’ve got Bio.”

“I don’t. I’m going home.”

“It doesn’t look so bad,” she said, sounding like she was about to laugh.

Sebastian stopped. He looked down at her, wanting to kick her.

“Really?” he said. “Because I have the feeling it looks like a donkey chomped on my head.”

Meche sighed and stepped on his toes, then stood on her tiptoes in order to reach him. Her fingers brushed his hair.

“You’re still cute.”

“I think ‘still’ and ‘cute’ are incompatible in that sentence.”

“Then you’re such an ugly motherf*cker that no one will notice the difference, so stop crying like a baby,” she said, her hand slipping down and away.

Sebastian caught it and frowned.

“You’re serious?”

“The baby part or the motherf*cker?”

“The cute.”

“Not if you’re going to get weird about that. Can you let go?”

“Sure.”

He released her hand. Meche stepped down and pulled at her sweater’s sleeves, hiking them up. Then she took out her Walkman, tugging at the headphones and he spoke quickly, before she could shield herself with songs.

“Thanks. I never thought you thought... I’m... like, okay looking.”

“Gee, should I fax you a notice about it? Forget it,” she said, looking uncomfortable.

Sebastian nodded. Later, in the factory, Meche played music and he sat on the floor by the couch, one knee drawn up. He watched her as she grabbed some albums, read the liner notes and stood by the record player.

Sebastian pulled himself up and hovered by Meche, feigning an interest in the record she was examining.

“What... which one is this?” he asked.

“Sarah Vaughan. Body and Soul. It’s jazz.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“It never rings a bell for you,” she said, chuckling. “Look, you’ll know this one. It’s Nat King Cole.”