Furia

At El Buen Pastor, Camila focuses her attention on Karen. She sees herself in the young girl and is touched by Karen’s deep love of reading. Diego shows up with bags of gifts for the kids and a special pink backpack for Karen. Camila and Diego say a difficult goodbye, unsure of when they will see each other next. Diego wants her to come to Italy after graduation, but her future is uncertain; if she gets noticed by a scout at the tournament, who knows where she may be by January. Diego produces gifts for Camila as well: soccer gear, including a brand new pair of cleats, and a fancy smartphone. Diego has faith that they can make a long-distance relationship work, and Camila ignores the voices of doubt in her mind and embraces Diego one more time.

Entering the house, Camila is alone with her mother. She can sense annoyance in her mother’s attitude and feels familiar anger rise up towards her. However, her anger soon turns to compassion; her mom’s life did not turn out how she wanted. She lives under her husband’s criticism, trapped in a loveless marriage, and had no chance to follow her own dreams as a young woman. Camila worries the same thing could happen to her, especially now that she’s falling for Diego. Camila finally comes clean to her mother, telling her she’s been playing soccer for about a year and that she’s been lying about studying for medical school. Her mother is angry at first but eventually softens. She loved soccer as a little girl, too, but her father never let her play because he was afraid she would become a lesbian. Although she isn’t willing to sign the tournament permission forms without meeting Coach Alicia, she promises to look at them.

Camila gets a call from Diego boarding his flight. Although she’s glad to hear from him, she can’t shake the feeling that getting serious with him will mean giving up her dreams of playing soccer. She wants, “more than Diego’s love or money could give” (234). On the weekend, Camila’s mother produces the signed permission slip for the Sudamericano tournament as they sip mate together. Camila feels relieved to have her mother on her side. Her mother takes her to a curandera, a traditional healer, who performs a ritual and prays for Camila’s injury, laying hands on her ankle. It’s evident that Camila’s mother has come to see the curandera before, seeking healing for Pablo and Camila when they were young and searching for help in her own marriage. The curandera, named Miriam, seems to sense not only Camila’s physical injury, but also her emotions. As Camila leaves with her mother, Miriam whispers, “Lies have short legs, guapa. Don’t forget, or you won’t run” (242).

Camila’s mother accompanies her to the soccer team meeting, where they learn that five more players left the team. They need to welcome players from a rival team to have a complete roster. Camila’s mother is clearly proud when she hears from Coach Alicia and other players how valuable Furia is to the team. Sharing this important part of her life makes Camila feel close to her mother in a new way, especially when her mom acknowledges Coach Alicia as a respectable coach. That night, Diego texts Camila an article about famous couples with successful careers. The gesture is sweet, but Camila still wonders if she and Diego could both be professional soccer players and have a relationship.

Camila’s father storms in at 3:00 a.m., yelling angrily at Pablo about Marisol. He compares Pablo to Diego, saying that Diego will always outshine him unless he removes distractions like Marisol from his life. Things escalate when Pablo admits that Marisol is pregnant, and Camila steps in to defend Pablo. Thankfully, the standoff ends when Camila’s father locks himself in the bedroom, and Camila inwardly resolves to get away from her father. She couldn’t stand to have him controlling and benefitting from her success as a soccer player like he does with Pablo. In the morning, Camila glimpses her mother’s unlocked phone and sees a photo of her and Diego kissing intimately on the beach. The photo is all over the Internet, and Camila soon gets an angry text from Roxana, upset that Camila didn’t tell her about being with Diego.

By the time Camila goes to the neighborhood clinic on Monday, her ankle is feeling much better. However, Coach Alicia won’t let her play without a doctor’s note. The doctor can tell that she’s seen a curandera and says that her ankle is healing well. Camila explains that she was injured while playing soccer, but he assumes she’s lying. The doctor tells her, “There is help for you and your mother” (268). Evidently, he’s aware of Camila’s father and his temper and saw her mother at some point for injuries inflicted by abuse.