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 El Sobador by ElSol

   Chapter 2

   "I need to study with Janet," I announced.

   Family dinners sucked.  Usually, my stepparents did everything they
could to avoid having a sit-down meal that included me.  My stepmother
liked the big meal cooking thing, so once a month we suffered through the
silence of pretending to be a family.

   I never knew my biological father.  My mother emigrated to the U.S. 
days after I was born and married my stepfather eight years later.  She
died within months of my sister's birth.  Six months later, my stepfather
remarried; a year later, they had twin boys.  My stepmother (I called her
Double-Step) treated my sister like her own, but...

   The Steps fulfilled their obligations and I tried to make it painless.
Sometimes, Double-Step's face flashed with guilt over the situation.  We
took comfort in the thought they could assuage any guilt with financial aid
for my college education which was less than two years away for me.

   "Of course," the Double-Step said.  "Do you need a ride?"

   "No, thank you." I got up and put my plate in the sink.  "I need some
exercise so I'll walk."

   I stepped behind my little sister.  She dropped her head back as far as
she could to let me kiss her on the forehead.

   "Story!" she insisted.

   I looked at the clock before nodding to her.  It didn't give me much
time out of the house, but I read to her every night that she wanted so I'd
deal with being in the house while the Double-Step felt familial.

   ----

   If I could be said to have a friend in high school, Janet Smith would be
it.  The relationship was based on being outsiders, a nobody and a lesbian.
Being a Senior, Janet's parole was months away.

   We didn't have to study.  She let me use her apartment as an escape when
I needed it as long as I did the same for her.  I can't say which one of us
had the crappier home life.  Janet's dad found a new family to love when
she was nine and her mom worked eighty hour weeks while spending any free
time adding notches to single men's bedposts.  Though her dad made
insincere offers every now and then, Janet chose to live with her mom.

   "I'm sorry," she whispered when she opened the door.

   "It's okay," I replied.  "I'll go to the library."

   If Janet had someone over, I was glad for her.  Her sophomore year,
she'd been caught in a broom closet with another girl during a student
conference.  Janet didn't deny or hide from the moment of her sexual
awareness.  It made her life lonely, though my classmates surprised me in
that it wasn't as bad as I would have thought.

   "Not that," she said, grabbing my backpack strap to drag me inside.  She
pressed against me, until she had my back pinned to the wall.  "It wasn't
my idea; I owe her."

   I never let myself think about Janet in THAT way.  Unfortunately, she
was shorter than me and very cute in a no makeup, dykey clothed way.  The
shortness mattered because her belly was pushing on my groin.

   "You need to step back, Janet," I said.  "Please!"

   She looked down between us before following the instruction, "Oh,
sorry!"

   "Who do you owe?" I asked.  When she looked down the hall, I adjusted my
lengthening penis to give it room in my jeans.

   "Can you really do the stuff Maggie says?" she asked.  "You didn't tell
me."

   "Maggie?"

   "Magdalena." She grabbed my arm and guided me towards her living room.
Janet did that--dragging me from place to place when she got excited.  Most
of the time it was to small venue concerts we shouldn't have been able to
get into.  Personally I liked the museum trips the best, even when I only
got to look at the stuff Janet found interesting.

   As I turned the corner, my stomach squeezed in on itself.  Bailey,
Magdalena, the Junior class President, and our Treasurer were sitting in
various places around the room.

   "Oh, fuck no!" I said, turning around to jet.  Janet grabbed my backpack
and held on for dear life.

   "It's nothing bad, Mateo." Bailey walked over to help Janet keep me in
the room.  "I promise."

   "Your boyfriend wants to kick my ass," I told her.

   "I want to kick your ass!" she replied.  "You don't fucking know how to
say hi?"

   She was pissed; she might have had good reason to be pissed.  None of
the girls in the room were going to be on my side of the reason so I didn't
bother to look at them for support.  A week passed since I massaged the
pain from Bailey's shoulder.  The high school nobody getting to touch the
most popular girl in school, in a public forum and in a private way, only
happens in movies.  Dumb movies!  I figured Bailey would regain her senses
after the fallout with the boyfriend settled and regret it so I ignored
her. As in, I didn't meet her eyes or give her a chance to diss me when we
passed each other in the hall.  It required wearing hoodies and keeping my
head down for a week, but the sacrifice seemed worthwhile so as not to take
a tumble farther down the social ladder.  Not that there's much room below
'nobody' except maybe the kid who has to be taken out of class and given a
year's supply of personal hygiene products along with a demonstration on
using them.  (I'm NOT kidding!)

   "Bailey, you're gorgeous." I stopped.  "I don't believe I said it that
so forget it.  Whatever the fuck you're doing here, my answer is 'No!'
Okay? I'm leaving."

   "My shoulder hurts again," she said as I turned around.  I puffed my
cheeks and blew the air out slowly.  "I shouldn't have done that to you in
the cafeteria.  Reggie cheated on me.  I was so pissed off and I just..."

   Facing her, I closed my eyes.  "Don't bother explaining--we're in high
school."

   "What is that supposed to mean?" the class President asked.

   "Jennifer, don't!" Bailey ordered.

   I had to wonder why Jennifer White and our Treasurer Susan Tint were
present.  I looked at Bailey and the other girls.  Bailey answered the
question, "I don't know you.  Janet says you're sweet, but with what Maggie
says you probably have to do I thought more girls would be better."

   Bailey stared hard at me, "Maggie says you're like a Hispanic witch
doctor."

   "It's curandero.  My grandmother used to do it, like you, with massage,"
Magdalena told me.  "You're really good.  How long have you been training?"

   "I don't think I was ever in training.  Anyway, I stopped going a while
ago," I said.  "Look Bailey, it was a one time thing.  I got lucky."

   Bailey studied my face for a few seconds.  "Bullshit!"

   Magdalena moved from her spot to the sofa nearest me.  Kneeling on it,
she joined in the study of my features.  "Abuelita said you had to be
training for a long time."

   "My mom took me to some old women who did the stuff.  I was baby when I
started, like still eating baby food age." I said.  "It stopped a few
months before she died because they were getting into herbal stuff and the
Jesus-thing.  She said I didn't need it.  Hell, I don't even speak
Spanish!"

   "Lo entiendes?" Magdalena asked.

   "Yes, I understand it," I replied.

   "So you can help with my shoulder?" Bailey asked.

   I sighed, "Fuck me!  I'll do it but don't tell anybody else, okay?"

   "Are you for real?" Susan asked.  "A witch doctor is such bullshit."

   "Massage therapy!" Magdelana said, biting each syllable off as she
glared at Susan.  "White people didn't invent everything.  It's been done
in Latin countries for centuries."

   "So you're not going to burn leaves and shit?" Jennifer asked.  "Like
dance around the room half-naked?"

   I almost laughed at the disappointed look on her face.

   "It's not like that," I said and then grimaced.  "Some of it is like
that without the dancing half-naked, but like I said, my mom stopped taking
me to the old women so I only know the hands-on part of it."

   "She must have insisted they not teach you the religious stuff,"
Magdalena said thoughtfully.

   "Boring!  Do you have premium channels?" Jennifer grabbed the TV remote.
I was losing my good impression of our Class President.

   "Will it distract you?" Bailey asked.

   "We could go into the other room," I replied.

   Bailey walked over to Jennifer and snatched the remote out of her hand.
"That would defeat the purpose of bringing the girls."

   "I'm not going to win," I whispered.  Janet must have heard me because
she covered her mouth to stifle a lÆ'augh.

   "Do you still have the massage oil sampler I gave you?" I asked her.

   "Did you give me that stuff because you were hoping..."

   "No!  Dammit!" I threw my backpack on the ground.  "You're gay; I get
it. It's a nice kit.  I figured girls, together, massage oil, maybe she
hadn't ever gotten massage."

   "Oh!" Janet's eyes lost focus.  "Does that work?"

   "I don't know," I said.  "You have a better chance with girls than I
do."

   "Excuse me." Bailey raised her hand.  "We're here for my shoulder.  I
don't want to interrupt but it's hurting a lot."

   "What are you talking about?" I said.  "Not more than before."

   "Yes, it is."

   "That's not right," I said.  "Nothing I did would make it worse."

   "Something she did could have." Magdelana plopped her ass down on the
sofa, crossed her arms, and gave Bailey an I-told-you-so look.  "Someone
thought she was fine and tried the same stunt that fucked her up to begin
with.  Didn't land it again!"

   "Cheerleaders!" Jennifer huffed.

   "Shut up, Jen!" Bailey dropped her best nasty look on Jennifer.  I got
the feeling this was something that played out many times with them.  Their
quick smiles when they looked away from each other confirmed it.

   "I need the coconut scented oil," I told Janet.  "Unless you've got any
orange scented in the apartment."

   "Why the coconut?" Bailey asked.

   "You're an orange," I replied.  "Like in the juice carton pictures. 
Bright, every part ready to burst with..."

   "I think he likes you," Jennifer told Bailey.

   Bailey kicked my backpack away when I reached down for it.  "Jen,
seriously, shut up!  I need his help."

   "You can get a massage at the gym," Susan said.

   "I did," Bailey said.  "Mateo didn't do a real massage.  He rubbed my
shoulder for a few seconds and then pressed down on the spot that hurts.  I
tried the same thing.  I mean, it wasn't that hard to do it but I got
nothing."

   "Sounds more real than the guy at the gym," Magdelana said to no one in
particular.  "I guess since Mateo doesn't use chemicals it's just witchy
stuff like a midwife."

   "I don't think it's the same thing," I told Magdalena.  "Technically
speaking, women were having babies before we had huts called hospitals."

   "Here it is," Janet said, handing me the small bottle of massage oil.

   "If she's an orange, why are you going to use coconut?" Jennifer asked
me.

   "You're not any one thing," I answered.  "Unless you're really fucking
shallow."

   "She is a cheerleader."

   "Push your top and bra strap off the shoulder," I told Bailey.

   She pursed her lips, "But you said my shoulder wasn't the problem."

   The girls stared at me expectantly.  I think Jennifer wanted to see some
half-naked dancing.

   "It's not but..."

   "My neck and back," Bailey said.  "So fix them."

   "Your neck and back are out of alignment, by themselves and with each
other," I said.  "It's not going to be a massage.  I have to adjust you."
Æ' "You sound like a chiropractor," Susan said.

   "I thought you were a sobador," Magdalena said looking at me.  "I guess
a huesero makes more sense."

   "What the fuck are you talking about?" Susan asked.

   "I think it sounds cool," Jennifer said.  "You're kind of cute, Mateo.
Does the neck and back thing call for the half-naked dancing?"

   I gave each girl a hard look, "Yes, I've been trained in traditional
Meso-American healing practices.  No, I don't know any of the ritual or
herbal stuff.  No, I've never heard of anybody having to dance half-naked
or fully naked as a part of it.  Yes, I trained as a masseuse and
bone-setter; Magdalena used the Spanish words for them."

   "But my neck and back aren't broken," Bailey said.

   "The words don't translate well," Magdalena told her.  "They're titles."

   "What's Meso-American?" Jennifer asked.

   I looked towards the door.

   "Okay!" Bailey said to me.  "So you can help me.  Will it be permanent?"

   "Probably," I said.  "It might take a realignment and later on to
massage the affected areas a couple of times.  I won't know without
touching you again and that takes..."

   "My clothes off," Bailey finished for me.

   "You said there was no naked stuff." Jennifer sat up straight.  Janet
looked like it would take wild horses to drag her out of the room.

   "It's not just to see me naked, right?" Bailey asked me.  I'd never seen
her unsure of herself.

   "You don't have to be naked." My dick didn't like me very much at that
moment.

   "My grandmother always had people get naked or at least mostly naked,"
Magdalena said.

   "I need skin to skin contact," I told them.  "The bra won't be in the
way unless it's directly on top of the spot on her back I have to fix."

   "Down to panties too, right?" Jennifer asked.

   "No!" I replied too quickly.  Some of those smiles that guys don't
understand passed between them.

   "Are we going to do this or not?" I asked.  "You, girls, ambushed me.  I
can go read in the library or something."

   "What if I'm not wearing a bra?" Bailey asked.

   "I'm kidding, Mateo," she said when I took a step away from her. 
Pulling up the yellow shirt, she flashed the matching bra at me.  "See,
we're good."

   Unlike Janet, I couldn't watch Bailey take off her shirt.  I put the
massage oil down on a table and stared at the floor.

   "Okay, I'm ready," Bailey said, walking up to stand in front of me.

   "Turn around," I said as clinically as I could.

   She turned around.  Trying to be clinical didn't help me; mostly because
a sixteen year old male can't be clinical with the hottest girl in school
standing with her back to him while only wearing a very thin, yellow bra.
She was wearing jeans but the top part of her being half-naked got all my
attention.

   I put my hand on her back and let that distract me from who I was
touching.  My fingers were at the small of her back.  When you train at
such a young age, what you do can become instinct.  I traced two fingertips
up Bailey's spine until I was three inches from the bra strap.  I followed
the wrongness in her body to the right of her spine.  It wasn't much but
combined with the neck problem it threw off her muscle balance.  Some
muscles had to work harder than others and some worked less thus weakening
them slowly.

   Taking a deep breath, I put the other hand on her back and walked both
sets of fingers up Bailey's back to her neck.  The problem there screamed
so loudly I was surprised Bailey didn't know the real source of her pain.
The work I needed to do here would scare her.  I'd have to do it first or
she'd balk.

   "Face me." Bailey turned around.  She looked up at me; we were standing
so close together I could feel the warmth of her breath.

   "Against me," I said.  "I need to feel your problem from this side."

   It was a lie, but one that would distract her.

   "A little tighter," I said.  Bailey pressed her chest and belly against
my body.

   I wrapped my arms around her neck.  After widening my stance, I hugged
Bailey tighter and pressed my fingertips against her neck.  She must have
figured it out at the last second.  Her hands grabbed my side and she tried
to push me away.  I lifted, straightening her neck, and pressed hard with
two fingers to force her neck back to normal.  In the moment between
deciding to apply pressure and applying it, I sent the heat of my body into
hers.  It was the part that mattered the most.

   Bailey's hands relaxed against my body.  She gasped, louder and deeper
than in the cafeteria.

   "It's okay, Bailey," I whispered into her ear.  "I have you."

   I sent more of my heat into her body.  Touching her neck with all my
fingertips, I increased the flow.

   "Oh my God!" Bailey cried out softly.  She pushed against my crotch and
rubbed.  That was new!  I couldn't let her go; her neck was drinking in the
heat.  Her muscles were adjusting back to before the distribution of work
had been thrown off.

   It was an uncomfortable pair of minutes for me.

   "Is that it?" Jennifer asked finally.

   "One more thing," I said, letting Bailey go and stepping back.  "Turn
around."

   Bailey's eyes were out of focus.  Her mind was somewhere else and happy
to be there.  Thankfully, her body followed my instruction.  Setting her
back right required less work, especially with her body so relaxed.  Having
already used the hug method on Bailey, I decided to use it again instead of
getting her to lie down so I could do her back with just my hands and
fingers.  I hugged Bailey into me, wrapping my arms around her until I
could rest each hand on the opposite sides of her rib cage.  She didn't
protest this time, letting me lift and twist her.

   She gasped again.  Sliding my hands below her breastbone, I sent the
heat into her body again.  This part would have been easier with her lying
down, but the extra couple of minutes needed were worth it since Bailey was
obviously not comfortable with me or else she wouldn't have brought the
other girls.

   "Okay, we're done," I said into her ear.

   "You're hard," Bailey told me, standing up on her toes and pressing her
ass against the penis doing an impression of oak tree trunk.  "Give it a
few more minutes."

   "Yeah but..."

   "You're a boy," Bailey said.  "That stuff makes you embarrassed and
there's a few cute girls who are going to see, and can I say, 'Wow!  I
thought Reggie was big!'"

   "You're not helping," I whispered.

   Bailey was still pushing her ass back.  She settled down on her feet
before replying "You're a nice guy, Mateo.  Janet is right, you're sweet."

   The humor in her voice told me Janet had spilled her guts about my most
hated adjectives.  Nice and sweet--Bleh!!!

   Five minutes later, I had my backpack on and was thinking about heading
home to start story time early.

   "Are you going to have to massage me?" Bailey asked.  "I won't bring the
girls."

   "Massage definitely requires some nudity," Jennifer said.  "Someone
should be there to protect you."

   "I'll do it!" Janet volunteered a bit too quickly.

   "No," I said to break the uncomfortable silence.  "You probably would
have been okay if you hadn't tried to do that thing Magdalena was talking
about."

   "You can say hi to me in school," Bailey said as I turned to walk out.
"To all of us, we're not that bad or bad at all."

   I stopped and looked at her.  "No, thanks.  I don't need your boyfriend
kicking my ass."

   "He's not my boyfriend anymore."

   "That makes it worse, Bailey."

   "It's bullshit, girl," Jennifer said to Bailey.  "He doesn't want
anything to do with us."

   I nodded after a few seconds, "Since you're all here, I guess it means
Janet could do better.  I like being alone.  I'm not interested in sports
or being in college application enhancing extracurricular activities or
singing in a group or doing anything in a group."

   I looked at Bailey; the hard-on thing had been kind of her.  I didn't
think I owed her, but I was also being an asshole about not wanting
anything more to do with her.

   "There's evil in your..." I gestured with a hand to her right breast and
then to her left breast.  "You should get it checked out."

   The shock on Bailey's face is something I will never forget.  The fear
also!

   "That's taking this shit too far!" Susan exclaimed.  "Evil!  Really? 
What the fuck?  I thought your mom dragged you away before they could get
you into the religious crazy of being a witch doctor."

   "It's going to kill her," I said, keeping my eyes on Bailey.  "What else
would you call it?"

   Their silence gave me enough time to make a getaway.  At least, my
sister was greatly appreciative of a two story night.