Angel Marquez-The Angel Blossoms chapter 4

by

Paula Dillon

Angel and her roommates continue their education and get to know each other better. Natsuko shows who is boss at table tennis and makes new friends. The girls are a big hit at the children’s hospital. Madeline wows the kids, Angel delights them and the kids have a grand ole time.

Saturday Angel and her roommates joined many of the students that were stuck on campus for the weekend. The Athletic Director, Coach Deborah Smith, got the students in the Student Union at nine and announced a Ping-Pong tournament. Sixteen students signed up for the tourney. The prize was a stack of movies and the use of the popcorn machine, for the weekend.

Madeline wasn’t playing, but she volunteered to be an official score keeper and flip scorecards.

Angel had played a little and she was a ‘middle of the road’ type player. Her style was that of a blocker. She selected one of the hard sandpaper paddles, which she used to just block the balls back across the net. She figured that she would be beaten after a round or two. She was a very frustrating defensive style player.

Luck of the draw found Angel up against Cindy Martin. Cindy was pretty good and won the first game, eleven to six. Angel began to find her rhythm in the second game and Cindy began to get frustrated by Angel’s style. Angel won the second game, twelve to ten. In the third game, Cindy was frazzled by Angel’s blocking style and lost it completely, eleven to five.

Everyone was surprised by Natsuko. She chose one of the pips down butterfly paddles and held it in a penholder style. The girls that were watching were amazed to see her play. She crushed her first opponent eleven to one, and eleven to two. Natsuko was up on the balls of her feet, gliding back and forth, as her opponent tried to win a point. Natsuko just smashed any ball that crossed over the net back at the poor girl. The hall echoed with the staccato of her “Hia!”, as she connected with the ball. The three points she lost in her two games, was her actually missing the table.

When Natsuko won the second game, Emily Davis, her opponent, just stood there staring at Natsuko blankly, shell shocked. Emily knew that she probably didn’t have a chance, but she didn’t think she would be beaten so badly in the first round. What surprised Emily even more, was the fact that Natsuko came over to her, gave the girl a big hug and apologized for beating her so badly.

Angel fell in the second round. She was up against Anita McDonald, a nearly six-foot senior, who was very athletic. Angel gave a good show, as she lost eleven to eight and eleven to six. She didn’t feel badly. Angel knew that Anita and her roommate Natsuko, would probably play for the title.

Natsuko played Renee Stoddard the second round. Renee was also an athlete and highly favored. They were the last two to finish the second round, as they played three long games, with many long volleys. Each point was highly contested and it was hard to follow the ball back and forth. Watchers could only hold their heads steady as they got dizzy if they tried to turn their heads to the motion of the ball. Natsuko won, eleven to nine, eight to eleven and sixteen to fourteen. Renee broke her paddle on the table after losing. Coach Smith barked at her, which snapped Renee out of her funk. Renee then met Natsuko and congratulated the girl.

The third round, Anita and Natsuko both won their games handily. Anita won, eleven to seven, and eleven to nine. Natsuko won hers, eleven to six and eleven to four. Coach Smith called for a twenty-minute break before the final round. Three groups of girls formed, one group around Anita, one around Natsuko and the rest of the girls just watched them.

A serious looking Renee approached the girl’s around Natsuko and said, “Excuse me, Natsuko.”

The girls parted as Renee came up to Natsuko. They didn’t want to be between the two girls, if the fur started flying. Things got very quiet around the two and many girls held their breath.

“I just want to apologize for my display earlier. You did a wonderful job and really played a very good game.”

Natsuko smiled at the girl and said, “You play very well too Renee-san. I have not had a chance to play at your level since I left Japan.”

Renee cracked a smile and picked up the smaller girl in a bear hug. When she put the girl down, Natsuko said, “I am glad that you are not mad at me. I hope that we two can become friends, Renee-san.”

“You can count on it, and please call me Renee.”

“Thank you, Renee.”

“I have some things to tell you about Anita. She is a tough nut to crack.”

The girls huddled up, as Renee talked to Natsuko.

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Coach Smith called the girls together, “Okay, since we have two very good players in this final game, they will play the best of seven games, with a volley limit of thirteen legal returns. The server will lose the point after thirteen legal returns by the receiver.

Natsuko and Anita flipped a coin for first serve. Anita won and then the game began. Anita had the best forehand smash, but Natsuko kept pushing the ball to the girl's back hand. There were many long volleys. Anita began trying to get under Natsuko’s skin by beginning to lob the ball back. Natsuko at times was ten to fifteen feet behind the table to return the ball with a smash. Anita won the first game, fourteen to twelve. Natsuko came back to win the second, eleven to nine. The third and fourth games, went to Anita and the fifth and six games, went to Natsuko.

“Wow, that was quite a display,” Coach Smith said. “The winner of this game will win the tourney. Natsuko has the serve, let’s have a good game.”

The sweaty girls shook hands and began the final game. They traded points back and forth. Neither girl led by more than two points and they had two rallies that went to thirteen returns. In the end, Natsuko won, when her last smash just clipped the edge of the table and the ball dove to the floor. Anita almost face planted going after that last shot, missing the ball by inches. The final game's score was twenty to eighteen.

Anita just laid there in exhaustion. Natsuko rushed over to see if the girl was okay. Anita just laughed as the smaller girl gave her a hand up.

The coach got everyone’s attention and said, “Natsuko’s cottage gets the movies and the popcorn machine for this weekend.”

“Can we not have the movies and popcorn upstairs, so more of the girls can partake?” Natsuko asked.

Coach Smith just smiled, “That’s a wonderful idea. Let me check and I will get back to ya’ll after lunch.”

Madeline kept a little distance from Natsuko and Angel, as they smelled a bit. Angel and Natsuko headed to the showers, while Madeline helped Mrs. Westfall with lunch.

Angel finished first and was blow-drying her hair. She had dropped her brush and bent to pick it up, when Natsuko came out of the shower.

Lunch on weekends was fun food, chilidogs, spicy home fries and a salad. The chili was a low fat variety, turkey franks, and the fries were baked in a convection oven. The girls had as much fun telling Mrs. Westfall how Natsuko won the ping-pong tourney. Natsuko tried to be demur and get her roomies to talk about something else, but they wouldn’t hear of it. Mrs. Westfall even got into listening about the girls play.

“How did you get so good, Natsuko?” Angel asked.

“I learned how to play table tennis soon after I began to play the violin, at five years old. My parents stressed a balance between Academics, Music and Athletics. Children work harder in schools, than this school, Angel.”

Angel’s eyes got big, when Natsuko said that. She was doing very good so far, but she was working harder than she ever had before. Still, she would only give this up for her Mom. She missed being with her Mom, but she loved this school so much.

As they ate, the phone rang, Mrs. Westfall took the call and made notes. When she returned she said, “They are having a campus wide movie night tonight, from six to one. There will be snacks provided around eight, and popcorn and drinks available. Who’s interested?”

Everyone raised their hands.

“Ok, then get your reading and school work done. I will serve dinner around four thirty.

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For about two hours, Angel and her roommates practiced their music, both alone and together. Angel began to get used to the smaller guitar and practiced her choir parts, as did Natsuko.

It had been quite a few years since Natsuko played on a 1/4 size violin. She had one at five and moved up to a 3/4 violin at seven. It didn’t sound as good as her Tommaso Balestrieri Violin and it was a lot harder to finger with her larger teenage hands, but then again, her Balestrieri cost nearly eight million yen. Her bow cost as much as some good violins. Her electric violin and its carbon fiber bow, cost nearly two million yen.

Madeline was happy to don her headphones as she practiced some Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Chopin on her keyboard.

After an hour, they all got together and worked on their choir project till three thirty and then broke to do some reading for school.

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Mrs. Westbrook went to the student union building with the kids, she was part of the chaperoning for the girls and on top of that, she really loved some of the movies that were going to be shown. She didn’t always get the chance to be with her girls, but she loved doing it.

Almost all of the girls that had remained on campus were there for this movie night. Natsuko became a sort of celebrity among the girls for her generosity of sharing this experience.

Coach Smith was manning the popcorn machine and was the busiest person there that night; thirty-nine girls can eat a mountain of popcorn. Mrs. Westfall and Ms. Kramer were handling the drink machine, while Miss Seabrook, from the cafeteria staff brought out finger sandwiches, chips and cookies for the girls.

All the girls then sat on the floor to watch the movies. Some of the older girls were smart enough to bring pillows and blankets. It made their time seem like a big sleepover. The first movie they watched was the remake of ‘The Parent Trap’ with Lindsey Lohan and Dennis Quad.

Next, they watched an anime movie ‘Totoro’. It was about two young girls that moved to the country to be closer to their sick mother. The girls then get involved in many adventures, after meeting a forest spirit.

The last movie was ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. Half of the girls there were in love with Daniel Radcliffe; the other half just wished they had his money.

After the movies, the girls got together and did a lot of the cleanups before heading back to their dorms. The girls just collapsed in bed when they got back to their dorm.

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Sunday afternoon Angel gave guitar lessons to Janet and Rebecca. Janet showed so much improvement; since Angel first helped her get her guitar. Rebecca told Angel that she wanted to learn to play a classical guitar.

“You can practice some on your own guitar, till you can get a classical guitar. It’s just easier on a classical.” Angel demonstrated some of the classical guitar basics and had Rebecca try them. “You can also find some classical guitar lessons online and I can help you with them. You also need to do some finger exercises; classical guitar requires more manual dexterity.”

They practiced both the acoustic and classical guitars for about an hour and a half. Janet suggested that they go to the student center and get a coke. Sunday, in the student center, they found many of the students there doing what girls usually do on the weekends, talking with other girls and lazing around. The girls got their drinks and found a quiet section of the student center to sit and talk.

After a couple of minutes talking, Rebecca turned to Angel, “Angel, I understand that I have a lot to thank you for. You see… Janet told me all about her secret.”

Angel was stunned, but didn’t display anything except a half smile, “Which one?”

“Oh, you have more than one secret, Janet?” Rebecca said, turning to her friend, with a faked serious look.”

“Of course, I have more than one secret. I will tell them to you one at a time, Becca.”

“Anyway, she told me that she was born in the wrong body. I don’t care about that, she is such a sweet girl to me and I love her so much. She also told me how you and your cousins’ stuck up for her and how she has you to thank for getting her to go to this school.”

Rebecca looked around and not seeing anybody near, kissed Janet on the lips. It was the kiss of a lover, not just a friend.

“Anyway, thank you, Angel,”

“I see that you are okay with Janet. I just couldn’t stand seeing that other girl pick on her and mistreat her. I liked Janet, from the moment that I met her,” Angel said.

“Yeah, my Mom worked with people that were different, she taught me that different didn’t mean bad, or untouchable. She is a big supporter of LGBT Causes. Janet’s secret is safe with me.”

“What does your Mom do?” Angel asked.

“She is an organizer and fund raiser. My Dad is a lawyer for a big Wall Street firm and that lets my Mom do whatever she wants to do. My dad’s firm does some pro bono work for some of Mom’s causes. LGTB causes, just happens to be one of her favorite causes. I think she is a lesbian at heart, but she’ll never leave my Dad.”

“What makes you say that?” Angel asked.

“I see the way she looks at women. She has this longing look in her eyes. She loves my Dad, but…”

“I think I know what you mean, Rebecca.”

“She is a good person and a good Mom.”

“You do know that you have to protect Janet’s secret now, don’t you?”

“With my life. I am not going to let her get hurt. I wouldn’t do that, even if I didn’t like her.”

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Angel was kept very busy the next week. Orchestra introduced a third solo piece for Angel. Angel had to begin working on Handel’s ‘Sarabande’ for orchestra and guitar. This was a new piece for Angel; she had never heard it before. Madeline and Natsuko helped her begin to learn it. Mrs. Grogan told her that ‘Sarabande’ might be a piece they would play for spring or the next fall.

Angel finished her reading for English and began writing her paper on Sherlock Holmes. She wrote her outline and started organizing her notes. She was going to compare and contrast Sherlock Holmes and Modern Forensic Detection.

In Spanish, she had two literary pieces to work on. Mrs. Rosales found out that Angel was doing a paper on Sherlock Holmes and wanted her to translate a two page Passage, from English to Spanish. She also selected a two page passage from ‘Don Quixote-Man From La Mancha’ for Angel to translate from Spanish to English. She was to translate the meaning of the two pieces and include explanations of Idioms, illusions and anything the reader might misunderstand. These two pieces would be the basis of her grade for this semester, along with the help she provided in class.

Learning how to reset the keyboard to type in Spanish and typing in Spanish, was a challenge in itself, for Angel. One of the senior girls worked with Angel while they were in the library on Wednesday. Angel also appeared in the Advanced Spanish classes, when Mrs. Rosales played excerpts of the recording of Angel’s great Aunt. She provided some of the background and explanations of the recording. The students had to take notes, as Mrs. Rosales told them that there would be several questions about the recording on their final.

At lunch on Thursday, Mrs. Beckman summoned Angel to her office. Angel was nervous about being called to the head’s office. Mrs. Beckman’s secretary sent her right in when she entered the outer office. Mrs. Grogan and Mrs. Bloomington were sitting in her office.

“You called for me, Mrs. Beckman?”

“Yes I did. Have a seat Miss Marquez. Am I to understand that you invited a Servando Morales to one of our Orchestra Concerts, in December?”

“Yes, I did. He emailed me and told me he was playing in New York. He invited me to his concert. I was going to talk to Mrs. Westfall and my Mother about attending. I returned the favor and invited him to our concert.”

“Well he contacted me; or rather his secretary contacted me, requesting tickets. We were happy to send him whatever he required. His secretary asked for a block of twenty tickets.”

Angel smiled, she was happy that she would get to see him again.

“In exchange, he offered to send us a block of tickets for his concert appearance. After talking with Mrs. Grogan and Mrs. Bloomington, we have decided to accept.”

Angel nearly jumped out of her chair, “How many tickets do I get?”

“We… will get enough tickets for the orchestra and chaperones, plus a few more. Do you think your Mom and Aunt would like to help chaperone this lot? Of course Mrs. Santiago could bring her daughters.”

Angel’s jaw fell slack, she knew that the tickets were expensive, “Oh my god, that’s a lot of money. Yes, I will call my Mom and Aunt tonight. They will do this, I think, if it is possible. This isn’t a joke is it?”

“If it is, it is a well-orchestrated joke, if you get my pun. No, they were being serious, I think. We wouldn’t be up front and center, but you are right, it is a sizable donation. Here are the details, call your family and get back to me. We have ten days to reply.”

Angel checked with her Mom and Aunt Carmine, they were ecstatic about the opportunity to attend the concert. They both put the event on their calendars and made a note to get some new dresses.

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Saturday, Angel was relaxing with her roommates watching the school's soccer team practice. Madeline was really into soccer; her school back in France had been highly competitive for their age bracket in Europe. They had been in the top ten girls’ soccer teams, for the last five years. Natsuko was more into it than Angel. Angel just liked being with her friends.

Natsuko was hugging one of Angel’s arms and Madeline was hanging onto the other. They were sitting in a fairly deserted area with a view of the field.

“Angel, Natsuko and I were talking the other day and we wanted to tell you something. We are both glad that we got to room with you,” Madeline said. “Both of us had no real family besides our parents and you have taken us in. We lived by our parents’ expectations and to some extent we still do, but you have treated us like sisters and allowed us to join in with your family.”

“It’s been a blast, Madeline,” Angel said. “I love being with you two also. Besides my cousins, I really didn’t form any relationships. I feel that I need you two, also. I really like being with you girls.”

“I agree,” Natsuko said. “In my family, I had to grow up fast. I missed having some of the good times that we have had. My parents moved many times as they went from one diplomatic post to another. Angel, we just have one question. Remember, we love you Angel.”

“Yes, Natsuko and I have noticed a few things that just didn’t fit together. So we wanted to ask you.”

Angel began to get a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“If we are right, then don’t be afraid and if we are wrong, forgive our imaginations,” Natsuko said. “Were you born a boy, Angel?”

Angel looked from Madeline to Natsuko, she was afraid, but both girls were smiling.

“I thought I was so good hiding that old part of me,” Angel said, with a sniffle. “What gave me away?”

“Little things, it would be hard to put a finger on just one, you are very good, but remember, we have been living together for over a month now,” Madeline said. “You have never been entirely naked around us, even though you have seen us without any clothes on. Once, we both turned into each other and bumped our breasts hard. It hurt me, but it didn’t faze you. Also, at your birthday party, somebody gave you a… I don’t know, a strange T-shirt.”

“A monster truck T-shirt. What is a monster truck?” Natsuko asked.

“Yeah, that was a grave digger monster truck autographed T-shirt, it’s not exactly a gift most girls would crave. Monster trucks are a red-neck sport, in the US. They have these regular size pickup trucks, with some really humungous tires. They run around crushing things with them. I don’t see the sport in doing that, but millions of people in the US love that,” Angel said, with tears streaming down her face. “Not all of my relatives were happy that I became a girl. Some of them still want to rub salt into my wounds.”

“Yes, my body may be a boy’s body, but I know in my heart that I should have been born a girl. If you guys want, I can call my Aunt and leave this school, but I have loved being able to live with a really swell group of girls. I have learned so much from all of you.”

“Oh no, please don’t leave. We are so sorry,” Natsuko said. “We were just … things just didn’t … I don’t know how to say this, but we don’t want you to leave. You haven’t done anything wrong by us.”

“I was told that if other girls found out, and said anything about it, that I would have to go.”

“Angel, we won’t say anything about it. It would break up our group, we don’t want that,” Madeline said crying.

“And we love spending weekends with your family. I was often left at school when my parents were overseas at this embassy or that embassy. We are sisters now, Angel,” Natsuko added, also in tears. “You are so Bishoujo… such a pretty girl, Angel. Please forget we said anything.”

“I always had to be so proper. I had to be ‘the proper model’ that my mom is all the time. She is a bit aristocratic. Add to that, the hours I spend practicing on the piano and there was no time to have fun. With you, we have fun, and besides, we would hate having to break in a new roommate,” Madeline said. “Consider it a closed topic.”

Angel looked hopefully at her roommates and said, “Let’s get some drinks and go somewhere else.”

Angel cleaned up her face and they stopped by the student center. They picked up some cokes, found an empty music room and sat down to talk. Angel then told her roomies her story. They were all crying and hugging, when Angel finished her story.

“Do you think I can keep fooling the others here?” Angel asked.

“I don’t think that that will be a problem, Angel. You are such a girl,” Madeline said.

“Please don’t let my Aunt, Mom, or cousins know you know, they might pull me out, if you do.”

“Our lips are sealed.”

“Thank you. Oh, we will be at my Aunt's next weekend.”

“Now, that is what I am talking about,” Madeline said. “I just love her cooking, but I need to be careful not to put on any weight.”

“Sierra and Nevada wanted to teach me the Tango,” Natsuko said.

“Oh, that is so easy, Natsuko,” Madeline said, demonstrating, by taking the male role with Angel.

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Angel and Amanda came out on stage together. There were about a hundred kids in the audience, some were connected to IV stands and some had monitors of some sort. Angel started to sit on the stool, but stopped. She took Amanda’s hand and together they stepped off the stage.

“Can some of the kids come up here and sit on the floor around us?” Angel asked.

Some of the nurses brought some of the smaller children up. They sat on the floor as Angel and Amanda sat on the edge of the stage.

Angel began playing her guitar and together with Amanda, began singing. After the first verse of ‘Sing’, the rest of the choir began filtering out on stage, singing too. The children loved this and quite a few who knew the song, began singing with them. Angel and Amanda had to hug quite a few of the kids before they could leave the front of the stage after the song. Angel went behind the stage and Amanda took her place in the choir.

After about forty minutes of singing, the choir took an intermission. The two guys that had first delivered the piano to the school, then made a show out of placing the piano on stage. Madeline, who was dressed in a Tux, with tails, five inch black patent stiletto heels and Ginny Moore, dressed in a Lucy costume, came out on stage. Some of the kids were in shock when they saw how big Madeline looked. With heels; she was over six feet, two inches tall. They were oohing and ahhing when they saw her.

Madeline made a show out of sitting on the tiny bench in front of the tiny piano. The kids were amazed at the sound of what they thought was a toy piano, but really was a quality child’s instrument. Madeline began playing the Beethoven number. Ginny sat on the floor and leaned onto the piano. She then sang the song ‘Schroeder’ from ‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown’. Madeline gracefully stood, an amazing feat, considering her footwear and how low she was sitting, and left the stage before Ginny finished with the line, “My Aunt Marian was right, never discuss marriage with a musician.”

The children went crazy with their applause, as Ginny left the stage. The second part of the concert began with the choir coming out on stage singing. They sang for about thirty minutes more. Then Angel, with her tiny guitar, Natsuko with her 1/4 violin and Madeline, came out on stage. Angel again sat on the edge of the stage. Natsuko stood next to her and Madeline sat at her tiny piano. The children needed no prompting to come and sit around them.

They then began playing ‘Rainbow Connection’.

After they finished, the choir mingled with the children. This had not been planned, but was a natural consequence of the show. The children loved the distraction from the problems that they had and the choir had fun mingling with the kids for a bit. Madeline found herself in a pack of children. They were amazed at the tall and pretty girl. Natsuko was talking anime and manga characters with a group of children, who wanted to know what her favorites were.

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It was hard to pry the kids out of the girls’ arms, but all good things must come to an end. The sad, but happy girls of Sarah Adam’s Academy, waved to the kids, who looked out of the windows of their little part of the world.

For the next two hours, the girls sniffled, hugged each other and laughed about the good time they had; and pleaded with Ms. Macy to plan a return trip to the hospital. When they reached the school, Ms. Macy stood at the front of the bus.

“Girls, I just wanted to say that you exceeded my expectations. Your performance today was exceptional. I heard from the hospital staff that they thoroughly enjoyed our work. One doctor told me that we did more than medicine could, for some of the kids. I take it, that all of you had a wonderful time. I especially want to thank Angel Marquez, Madeline Boucher and Natsuko Takahashi. They added so much to our program today. Lastly, I want to thank everyone who gave of themselves to make other lives more bearable.”

(to be continued)

Sorry for taking so long to get this out. Blame Warcraft, hot temperatures, taking my Mom to her many Doctor Appointments, the stars being in the wrong positions and several other stories that have eked their way into my mind.

I really do like to hear your comments, they are important to me. I read each and every one of them. You help me mold the stories and guide me. I need to know what works and what falls flat on its face.

Thank you for your readership and support.

Paula