Antagonist

After the baby shower we arrive back at the house and I'm glad when I realize that Lucy and her husband (Silvia's son) Juan Carlos want to come in and hang out. I'm still all happy about connecting with the folks at the baby shower and I'm ready to tell the rest of the family about my chicken dance, but Silvia's husband Juan meets us at the door and says almost immediately, "The new student is here. He's from Korea and he speaks perfect Spanish."
There is this quiet moment and I feel everyone is looking at me like I'm the annoying woman who speaks only broken and constantly incorrect Spanish.
Juan Carlos defends me. "At least Molly can talk a little," he says. "Some people come here and all they can say is 'hola.'"
"Yeah," I think. "You tell 'em, Juan Carlos."
The new student Antonio walks into the room and we don't get to talk about the baby shower at all. Everyone talks soccer. I catch snippets. "Se rompio." One of Mexico's best players broke his leg and won't be playing in the World Cup.
I had spent most of the day feeling elated that I could communicate more clearly in Spanish than I had ever been able to.
Now I'm getting this familiar defensive feeling. It happens to me when I climb out of my little crab shell sometimes. There was a group camping trip when I was feeling all bonded with everyone and then four new people showed up. A New's Year's Eve party one time when the same thing happened. It doesn't matter who the new people are. I always dislike them.
Antonio is a quiet kid, twenty-four years old. He picked the name Antonio because no one can pronounce his Korean name.
I don't really see Antonio at all, though. Instead I see an intruder out to ruin my Mexico experience. A competitor. An enemy.