Ghost Stories:

I decided to go back, to the beach where Juana was. She said in a text she was still there and they weren't leaving for another hour or so. I wanted to get my shirt on, but it was too sweaty, so I had to soak it in the tub. It was still in there when I left, in sandals, shorts, and a bikini top. I felt awkward the whole walk back, and people were looking at me. I was like, in my head the whole time, 'sorry! Yep! I know, my shoulders are square! My chin's a little sharp! My nose is big! My hips don't sway like the other girls, and they're not straight like the dudes! And my knees are kinda bony! Yep, big apologies, everyone! My ugly ass is taking up sunlight!' But by the time I got there, I realized nobody cared. Half of the women I walked past looked exactly the same, in at least one way. The guys, too, not that it flattered me. And nobody was staring, even though I felt like I was committing some kind of crime just by being there. I know it's been thousands of years since being intersex went mainstream, but I don't know what the people are like here. It's looking like... they just flat-out don't mind at all. I think a few of them were even transgender, and one of them was pretty tacky-looking. Nobody stared at her, either. Everything was just... chill. So I took a big breath, and I sat down next to Juana. I asked her what she was looking at on her phone, and then those two dudes came back. They started asking more personal questions, like about her age and where she lived, and if she'd had her 'first time yet'. She didn't even look phased by it, and looked at me with this... cold disdain. Like I was in the way. At first I thought she was gonna go home with them or something, but then her dad got up and started pushing them around. It was badass. They backed off right away, but one came back and tried to deck her dad in the head from behind. I got up really fast, but not fast enough to stand up. I wound up kneeling in front of his legs, and tripping him over. He fell face-first! It was fuckin' awesome. He got up, really embarassed, and then her dad told him to "Step rightly the fuck off," and to "not come back if he doesn't want to be removed from the premises." The guys started tryna beef again, so he made a call to the hotel's owner in front of them, and put him on speakerphone to tell them they'd been evicted. They didn't believe it, until he called them both on their own phones (I guess he had two phones in his office), and said into both of them at the same time, "We regret to inform you that you have been banned from the La Limona resort for life. Please return to your suites to collect your things, which will have been packed up for you by room service by the time you arrive. Thank you, and have a pleasant evening... going home." They were gobsmacked, jaws wide open. Pissed off, but they couldn't do anything more. Ruperto threatened a punch, and they flinched. They had been defeated, by the power of gentlemanly respect and high connections. Then Juana gave her dad a hug, and thanked him. Turns out she was actually pretty scared of them, and didn't know how to tell them off. And that look she gave me wasn't for me at all. She just didn't know how to change her expression when she was facing me. Maybe she's a little bit on the autism spectrum, like me? Just in a different way. Her mom was a bit ruffled by the commotion, but she gave her husband a kiss and patted her daughter on the head. She gave me another stare, though, like... "This is what will happen to you, if you try anything." Which was piercing, because I'd begun to wonder if just maybe... I should? But now I'm probably just gonna wait and see. We've got a lot more time, here, anyway. At least talking about the whole thing gave her a reason not to look at her phone, for a while, so that was nice.