[ 3 ] A Contest 

As he drove past the busy streets of Guadalajara, I gasped when I saw the church. "Stop the car." I grabbed his arm.

"Why?" He asked me, confused.

"A real Mexican always visits the church before they travel." I explained to him. Adding when he shot me a confused look, "We need to be blessed on our journey." To be completely honest, this wasn't something I did often. I did go to church on a weekly basis, but it wasn't one of my stops when I travelled. I knew people who did it though and since Giovani wanted to be a real Mexican, I had to uphold the traditions.

Rolling his eyes at me in annoyance, he finally agreed and we were even lucky to find a parking spot right in front of the large church that was surrounded by trees that provided shade.

We got out of his car and I grabbed onto his arm, taking him up the stone path towards the entrance. 

Once inside, we found an empty pew and went to sit down. There were many people in the church, most of them tourists. But there seemed to be no ceremony taking place.

We didn't stay long because my stomach started to rumble loudly, causing Giovani to laugh at me and people shot us glares because of how loud we laughed together. An elderly woman even scolding us for horsing around in the house of God.

So we hurried out of the church and fifteen minutes later found ourselves at a small restaurant that sold tortas ahogadas and other delicious traditional Mexican meals. Giovani was hungry too, so he parked in a small lot behind the shop and we walked around to the front.

There weren't many people there, since it was early in the morning, and there was a sign posted on the front door that read; Eat ten of our spiciest jalapenos and your meal is on the house! I pointed to the sign and tugged on the sleeve of Giovani's shirt to get his attention. "Gio, look! We have to do this. Only a real Mexican can handle spicy chilies."

His face contorted as he thought about it. "I don't know, Kamila."

"Are you afraid you can't handle it?" I mocked.

"I'm not afraid." He quickly said with a scoff.

I grabbed a hold of his hand and dragged him into the small restaurant. "Okay then, I challenge you. Pancho Villa against Maria Felix, chile eating conest."

The two of us sat at the first table we found, which was close to the door. In the back, I could hear traditional mariachi music playing. It was logical. Guadalajara was where mariachi music was born in the eighteen hundreds. A middle aged woman with an apron tied around her waist approached us with a warm smile. "Goodmorning, what would you like to eat?"

"Hm..." I thought about it. "Chilaquiles and eggs. And a glass of orange juice please."

"I'll have some chilaquiles too." Gio told the woman, who jotted down our order on a small note pad. The half-Brazilian. "I also want huevos rancheros and refried beans. And to drink I'd like an horchata." I watched him in surprise. Was he really going to eat all that food? Or was he only doing it to impress me by showing off that he knew the traditional Mexican breakfast? Maybe it was a bit of both.

The woman brought out our plates of food a couple of minutes later, placing about three plates of food in front of Gio who immediately began to eat. But I stopped him, waving the woman back towards us. Pointing to the sign on the door, I asked her, "If we want to participate in the contest, does it have to be before or after we eat?"

She looked where I was pointing and read the sign, telling us with a grin, "You can do it whenever you want, but we recommend you do it before you eat. That way you won't be full. It only takes a couple of minutes so your food won't get cold."

I eyed the twenty-three year old boy sitting across from me. "Ready, Pancho?"

He nodded, a smile breaking out onto his lips. "Ready, Maria."

The woman disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a container full of green jalapeno peppers. She set them down on the table between us and announced, "Whenever you're ready. But," She warned us. "For the food to be free, one of you must eat ten peppers. It won't count if you eat ten in between the two of you."

"Got it." I nodded.

"You'll see, Kam." Gio grinned, "I'll prove I'm just as much a Mexican as you are."

I stuck my fork into the container and brought out ten peppers, Gio did the same. The woman who took our orders gave us the signal and we began.

The first pepper wasn't so bad. It was juicy and spicy. I looked over at Gio to see his eyes begin to glaze over with tears. As I finished my first jalapeno, I mocked him, "What's the matter, Gio? Too spicy? Its the Brazilian in you that can't handle chile like a real Mexican."

He sucked in a breath. "Its just a little spicy." He admitted.

I picked up the second one and finished it easily. Though I didn't feel like it was spicy, my lips began to feel numb. It was the sixth pepper that really hit me. The second I bit into it, I felt like a fire was burning my tongue. And I remembered my mom once said ocassionally there was one pepper that was too hot for even the bravest Mexican to handle. This was probably that pepper in the bunch. My eyes brimmed with tears and I wanted to cry out, but I held it in.

I couldn't let Gio know I wasn't able to handle a simple chile pepper.

By the time I was on my tenth, Gio was close. He was on his seventh, which wasn't bad. "The winner!" The woman lifted my arm up in victory when I finished the last pepper. "Today your breakfast is on the house." She picked up the container of peppers and took it back to the kitchen, emerging with a polaroid camera.

But Gio continued to eat his jalapenos until he finished.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

He sucked in a breath again and he spoke in between breaths. "I ate the ten peppers. I proved I can handle the heat. Like a real Mexican."

"Since both of you finished," The woman told us, "How about a picture for the hall of fame?"

She gestured to a wall on the other side of the restaurant which was plastered over with pictures. Gio and I nodded. There were Mexican hats that hung on the wall behind the register for decoration. I pointed to them. "Can we borrow one of those for the picture? My friend and I are trying to be real Mexicans for the day."

When she said it was okay, I went to grab two hats. One was a big straw hat with the flag colors spray painted on the front. I placed that one on Gio's head. And the other one was a mariachi hat that I wore.

The two of us posed for the photo and Gio wrapped an arm around my waist. The woman snapped three pictures of us. One for her wall, one for Gio, and one for me. 

Since she knew he was a famous footballer who would participate in the London Olympics this summer, she asked him to sign it. He happily agreed. We returned her traditional hats and then sat at the table to eat our breakfast.

The food was delicious and I found myself having a nice time with Giovani, just like old times.

-

i haven't updated this in forever, i know.

sorry.

but here is a new update for this story. i hope you all liked it. the next chapter will probably take place at the presidential palace with some of gio's other team mates. so stay tuned for that.

thank you so much for reading.

i'll try my best to update again very soon.

i love you.

-clary xx