I found her in the bathroom crying. Her mascara running down her face, her emotions clutching onto sorrow, her darkly tanned skin contrasting against a white T-shirt, now stained with tears. I knew I had never seen her before and I figured she must be new to school.

"Hi," I said gently. Her head snapped up in fear. I knew she must be contemplating my own pale white skin and didn't know whether to be afraid of me or not. "Are you OK?"

"Not really," she replied, hiding her face behind her hands.

"What's wrong?"

"I am. My skin isn't the right color." She spat out those last two words as if they tasted like sour milk.

"But your skin is gorgeous!" I protested.

I suddenly understood. Because she was Mexican, she was having a really hard time with other students. There were a lot of racist people in this school.

I asked her name and she replied with Carmellita Heining.

"Would you like to come over after school?"

"Are you sure you want me to come over? Won't the other kids..."

"I don't care what the other kids think. I'm positive."

                                                                                           ✝️ ----- ✝️   

We met outside after school and walked the short distance to my house. As we walked, she told me about herself.

"I've met many personas who are mucho racist."

"I can imagine"

We talked some more and she told me she was sixteen and had lived in America all her life. She also noted that people here in Ohio were much more racist than she ever encountered in Arizona.

She also said that she likes speaking Spanish with people because it reminds her not to be ashamed of her ethnicity.

Carmellita and I became close friends after that day. We did everything together. Alas, senior year came and she started going out with well-known bad-boy Wayne Donahue and everything changed. Or so to speak, she changed.