Letters by Undefined (christmas read aloud txt) 📕

 I sat down at a desk and looked at the kids around me. This was retarded I thought. I was in this club where we wrote letters to "buddies" in Europe. 
 Who makes a club like that?
 I wanted to be in auto-shop but I guess girls just aren't fit for that. Pathetic. 
 " Okay everyone! You have already been assigned a buddy and Liz will pass out the first letters. A picture of them should be inside the envelope. I want you to write back and send a picture of yourself. It must be appropriate! And please be nice to them." Mrs. Ballord was such a weird teacher. Always happy and smiling. Everyone knew her husband was cheating on her so she had to know too. Yet she smiled like her world was perfect. 
 I grabbed my envelope and ripped it open. Out fell a picture. It was a boy with long hair and black clothes. Great I got the gothic boy. 
 I looked at the letter. He didn't seem so enthusiastic either. He talked about his guitar and how he liked heavy metal. His name was Timothy. 
 " Okay, now everyone I want you to try and become friends with your buddy. We are writing to them because they need a friend. I want no rude letters because if they get one I will find out. Okay? Now your letter is due in a three days. Your dismissed." she said happily. 
 I stood and walked out. Jose waited by the door. 
 " So how was the club?" he asked. 
 " Shit! I have to write to some loser from Europe!" I yelled not caring if others heard. 
 He laughed. " Lets go." 
 I sat down in his beat up truck and turned the radio on. Jose drove away from the school and we headed to his house. 
 Jose had been my friend since I was a kid. Our parents always said that we would get married but I don't think we would. He was cute and I was pretty but we never had feelings for each other. We were too close. 
 Now a senior in high school we would get quiet a lot. We both knew we would be separating. He was a smart kid and I was a slacker. He would go to UC Davis to be a doctor and I would stay in Stockton and become a bum. 
 Life was great. 
 Jose would argue with me about how I should go into modeling. I was tall enough and he said I was pretty enough. Models, to me, are life sized Barbie dolls. I hate Barbie dolls. 
 He pulled up to his house and his little brother ran up to him. Jose scooped him up and twirled him around. " What do you think your doing, running around?" he smiled at little Francisco. 
 He smiled and laughed as Jose tickled his stomach. He jumped down and ran to me. I picked him up and rested him on my hip. Francisco rested his head on my shoulder and we walked in. 
 " Mamma, I'm home. Maria is with me." Jose yelled. 
 " Oh good good. Maria, I made your favorite. Tamales!" she smiled pulling me into a hug. 
 " Ah, thank you, mamma." I smiled back. I set Francisco on the couch and followed Jose to his room. 
 I plopped down on his bed and looked at the letter again. " I can't believe they took me out of auto-shop and put me in this crappy club. How do I know he's not a rapist?" I said. 
 " Why don't you ask him?" Jose smiled. 
 " I will." I said. I grabbed a piece of paper and began to write. 
 Dear Timothy,
       Look I really don't want to be doing this and from the looks of your letter you don't either. So I have one question for you. Are you a rapist? If so tell me now before I get too close to you. If not well then hi. I'm Maria Lopez. I like to work on cars and I listen to rap. My best friend is a guy named Jose. I like Tamales and chocolate. Im not all for heavy metal, well actually I've never even heard it before. It's cool that you can play the guitar. I play nothing. So, Timothy, I guess we are stuck writing annoying letters to eachother so get use to me. 
                                   From,
                                  Maria

 I read it aloud to Jose and he laughed at me. 
 " I can't believe you actually asked him of he was a rapist." 
 " Hey, I gotta know these things." I said. Jose shook his head. I stood and walked over to him. He stared at his calculus homework thinking over the problems in his head. 
 " I think it equals two." I said. 
 " Yeah we'll your thinking isn't the best." he laughed. 
 " What is that suppose to mean?" 
 " It means your still in Algebra two so yeah that says it all." 
 " That hurt me. That hurt me really deep inside." I said, placing my hand over my heart. 
 " Sure it did." Jose laughed. 
 " Whatever." I huffed. 
 Francisco walked in and with a shy smile announced that dinner was ready. I walked into the small dinning room and sat down. Hot tamales, beans, and rice were on the table. Jose sat down next to me. We prayed silently to ourselves and began to eat. 
 I always thought of them as my family. Now they really were. My parents were now dead. A fight had broke out near our house and one of the men took out a gun. At that same moment my parents walked out of the house to get me, because I was playing on the lawn. Shots were fired and I was left an orphan at the age of eleven. 
 I even had a scar on my arm as proof. 

 I sat in the back waiting for the letters to be passed back. I wanted to know what his response was. A letter was given to me and I ripped it open. 
 Dear Maria,
       No I'm not a rapist but maybe I should ask the same about you. I really don't want to be doing this either so I guess we are going to have to get use to eachother. Is your friend Jose really your boyfriend? If so well then he is very lucky. Sorry if that sounded weird but your very pretty. Sorry if that sounded weird too. If you want next time I could send a cd with the letter so you can hear some heavy metal. I haven't really heard rap though. Well nice to meet you Maria. 
                                          From,
                                         Timothy

 I laughed to myself. This fool was tripping over himself because of me. Maybe this class wasn't going to be so bad after all. 

 Dear Timothy,
       Well I'm not a rapist either. Atleast I don't think so. So whats it like where you live? Over here it's dangerous. Fights, robberies, and other things that probably don't happen anywhere else. I'd really appreciate it if you sent me a CD. I'm sending a rap cd with this letter. It's Eminem Recovery. I think it's one of his best CDs at the moment. That's what I think. 
 Thank you for the complement. You don't have to be sorry for saying that though. It's nice of you. I guess your cute too. Not really my type but hey I could always get a new one. 
 Jose is not my boyfriend. He's like my brother. I've known him since I was little and now I live with him and his family. Yes, I'm an orphan. But don't pity me. I hate it when people do that. I have no siblings. But I do have uncles, aunts, cousins, and so on. 
 I really don't talk to them except one of my cousins. Her name is Rosalina. I call her Rose though. She is I think fifteen now so almost our age. She's a smart kid. I seriously think that she will be famous though. She has the look and is really kind. Her voice is beautiful. When she isn't even trying she sounds like an angel. I guess I think of her as my little sister. Do you have siblings? Well since I'm rambling on I'll stop here. 
                                                    From,
                                                    Maria

I grabbed the CD and wrapped it in bubble wrap and black tissue paper. I taped it to the letter and put it in my backpack. 
 " Hurry up Jose!" I yelled and walked out the door. 
 " Wait!" he yelled back. 
 I sat down in the truck and waited for Jose. He was on the phone with some girl that had an interest for him. Blah! 
 I saw him smiling as he talked on the phone. A surge of anger flowed me as he smiled and laughed. 
 Wait a minute Maria! That's Jose! Why am I feeling this way? I shook my head and looked down at my lap. It was probably just protective feelings. He was like my brother. 
 Nothing more. 
 But maybe he was. No! My god did this happen to every girl? He opened the door and sat down. 
 " Why is it your talking to a girl that you go to school with before we go to school? Why don't you just wait until we get to school to talk to her?" I asked as he pulled out of the gravel driveway. 
 " Why are you asking these questions? Are you jealous?" he smiled a devilish smile. 
 I felt my face get red. " Oh you? Please." I said pushing him slightly. 
 " Hey I'm driving, essa." he smiled at me. 
 I couldn't help but smile back at his wanna be cholo voice. 
 When we parked Kelli, the girl who liked Jose, ran over and hugged Jose. She gave me a weird look and then dragged Jose away. Jose smiled down at her and left me alone. 
 I stomped away with an anger I was still questioning. Michael walked up to me in silence. This kid was about the most annoying kid ever. He was sophomore and would never leave me alone. 
 We had the same math class and always seemed to be sitting next to eachother. I hated it. 
 " Hi." he said quietly. 
 " What do you want?" I asked. 
 " Why are you mad?" 
 " I'm not mad!" I yelled. 
 " Yeah so why are you mad?" he asked again smiling at my silly attitude. 
 " Cause your talking to me." I snapped. 
 " That was harsh." he mumbled as he hung his head. 
 I looked at him with pity in my eyes. Yeah he was annoying but he was sweet. Never hurt me and he was kind of cute. It was probably just because he had muscles. I was a sucker for a guy with muscles. 
 "