“And that guy, who the h–who did he think he was, stepping in like I can’t defend myself?”
Her uncle chuckled at this. “Yes, that wasn’t wise on his part. But many boys here are raised to protect girls, though I think that tradition is starting to fade away.”
Lupe folded her arms across her chest and stared at the ground. Yet another thing she didn’t understand. It didn’t help that she couldn’t stop seeing the boy’s face, the deep brown of his eyes. That only made her angrier at herself. “Clearly he’s never met a feminist.”
FIVE MIDNIGHTS BY ANN DÁVILA CARDINAL
A lot of the cursing gets censored by teens in their dialogue around adults. It was cute and on point the first time it happened, but now it’s old and feels like reaching down to the audience. We all know teens curse (yes, they do, don’t even fight this). But the rate at which these teens catch themselves and stop mid word is distracting to read.
Then we have the local boy’s (Javier’s) protectiveness and how boys are taught to protect girls, which Lupe claims to not understand. What’s not to understand? That’s a fairly universal thing to teach to young boys. Particularly in the US, where Lupe is from.