Carl Gallagher

The cold in South Side was different.
It wasn't the pretty kind of cold you see in movies. It was the kind that left your hands red, the kind that seeped under your uniform and made everyone walk fast, heads down, with steam curling from their mouths.
Fridays were always the same.
Isa would leave the private school with Malia and her friends, while across the street, Lizzie and her crew were already occupying the corner as if they owned it. Her older sister was pure neighborhood: long nails, a sharp tongue, and that habit of looking at everyone as if she were waiting for a fight.
Dominique, on the other hand, was something else.
Too much cheap perfume. Too much loud laughter. Too much desire to get attention whenever Carl Gallagher was around.
Because Carl always ended up showing up.
With his braids half-undone, hands hidden in his jacket pockets, and that tired look that seemed unsurprised by anything. He came with the guys, speaking little, listening more than he spoke.
Until he saw Isa.
And something in him let its guard down.
Just enough.
"Your little sister has been ignoring me since yesterday," Dominique remarked once, clinging to Carl's arm.
Carl pulled his arm away without even looking at her. "Maybe because you're insufferable."
Isa had to hide her smile inside her jacket.
Then someone put on music from a broken speaker, and everything turned into an absurd competition to see who knew the most songs. Shouting, shoving, laughter, boys changing tracks every ten seconds.
Isa didn't know exactly when things started between her and Carl.
Maybe it was the first time he handed her an earbud without saying a word. Or when he started walking her home even if he had to go in the opposite direction. Or the times he appeared at her window, knocking softly because he "didn't want to be at his house today."
Sometimes they took naps together.
Without talking too much.
Carl sprawled on Isa's bed wearing one of her black hoodies, her leaning against his shoulder while sirens and barking dogs echoed through the neighborhood outside.

Her family has just enough to live on. She is 17 years old and Isa is 15.