Julianne Deluna goes through many obstacles during her freshman year of high school; heartbreak, life, new love, stress, and wonders if she'll ever be the same.
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The crew all sat inside of Ruby's bedroom deciphering ideas of how they could save Cesar. Julianne, however, was sitting beside Cesar taking frequent sips of her 7up and eating potato chips. She was feeling terrible. The crew never really noticed or they chalked it up to her anxiety. Cesar was the only one who knew the real reason why.
"I have the binders. Done." Ruby announced, Monse looked over at Cesar, "This is the idea we have figured out..." Ruby flashed off his binders. "Nobody cares about the binders. That's what you did." Cesar was nodding along not able to pay attention to the three teens who continuously babbled on, Julianne walked out into the kitchen. The overlapping voices making her more nauseous than she'd started out that morning.
They ignored Julianne as they continued to speak over each other. Julianne grabbed some more crackers, she'd never been more nauseous in her entire life. Cesar walked out into the kitchen after Julianne didn't return for a while. Plus the group needed to 'strategize' alone for a few more minutes. "How are you feeling?" Cesar asked,
Julianne glanced over at him. "Calling it morning sickness is bullshit. It is twenty-four hour sickness." Fighting the nausea was all Julianne could do. The Diaz boy sighed, "Is there anything I can do?" Julianne shook her head no, "No. It's fine. It'll go away in a few weeks. Thank you, for your support. It helps."
Cesar nodded walking back into the room. They hadn't even noticed his return. He sat back in his previous spot and had little to no patience for them. "Yo! One at a time, I'm not following." Ruby raised his hand happily with a smile etched onto his face. Cesar gestured for him to speak up. "Sorry, it's excitement. We've been chewing on this the last two weeks. And it's finally time to move forward with a plan."
Cesar raised an eyebrow, "A plan for what?" "Getting you out of the gang," Monse explained. Julianne entered the room and sat back down beside Cesar, "It's all they've talked about in the last two weeks. Keep up."
Loud laughter began to erupt out of Cesar, he was convinced they were joking. "You're serious?" The three nodded their heads profusely as Julianne looked at them confused. As much as she was in agreement with them that the gang wasn't safe for Cesar to be in. There wasn't a way to get him out. Plus her hormonal driven mind made her consider it at first which the group was gracious of.
"Oh, my gosh. No! No, no, no, no. There is no out. You guys are being naive. Once you're jumped in, you can't get out." Cesar exclaimed Julianne, elbowed him in the ribs. But he kept talking. "Unless, you get jumped out, and that's not, you know, an option."
"Why not?" Jamal asked obliviously "They beat you till you die." Cesar retorted. Jamal looked at Cesar sadly. "Oh, I see your dilemma."
"Yeah," Cesar nodded, Julianne squeezed his hand sympathetically. Monse didn't take no for an answer. She knew there had to be some way out. "Death isn't the only option. Ruby?"
"So, after copious amounts of research, I've formulated a theory that all great things come in threes: The Holy Trinity, primary colors, Destiny's child-" "D.C. started with four members, cabrón." Julianne corrected, "But they weren't big until they were three. Which is why there are three common denominators to end any and all hostile situations. I call them the three M's. Money, murder, manipulation." Ruby handed everyone individual binders. "No, J not that one. They're watermarked."
Julianne rolled her eyes. Monse opened the binder, "Clearly, murder is off the table. The irony would be too much."
"There's no way we can hustle up enough cash with a car wash to make it worth Oscar's while." Ruby reminded Julianne could not donate any of her money to this crazy idea. Even though Julianne's abuelo gave her mucho dinero this summer. It was supposed to go to her college savings but now it's possibly going towards baby Diaz. "Unless..." Jamal perked up. Monse cut him off. "Jamal, don't. Please don't say it." Ruby rolled his eyes. "Getting a lot of cash isn't outside the realm of possibility."
Cesar was beyond confused this entire time. He finally spoke up. "What are you talking about?" "Rollerworld!" Ruby and Monse said unenthusiastically Julianne smiled at Jamal, "I'm in." he quickly gave her a high five as Ruby and Monse glared at her. "What? It's better than murder and manipulation? Are you loco?!" Jamal pushed Julianne off the bed and sat beside Cesar who panicked slightly but had to contain it. The crew didn't know. Julianne wanted to keep it that way. "It's real and 50K is still out there. The dudes who robbed Rollerworld got put away, but the money was never recovered."
"In the '80s!" Ruby shrieked, Jamal retorted back, "And the rumor's still rampant! What about The Goonies? Some of those kids thought it was B.S. until they found the treasure. And they weren't even-" "Brown. We're brown. Only white kids find treasure." Monse exclaimed, "True." Jamal shrugged as Julianne climbed back up onto the bed, knocking Jamal out of her spot.
Ruby looked back at his Abuelita. "What are you looking for?" She continued to rummage through the room, "Baby Jesus. He's missing. The special one blessed by the bishop. I put him in here before I started to move into my room." "Dude, you're holding it." Ruby notified annoyance scribbled onto his face, Abuelita looked over at Jamal. "No, this is toddler Jesus. Babies don't stand. This Jesus is probably already potty trained. And this isn't even a diaper, these are booty shorts." Jamal corrected.
Abuelita put her hand out for the baby Jesus and Jamal sadly handed it over. Monse shook her head, as Ruby snapped. "Sit down. Sit."
"Alright, I'm out." Cesar stood up, "Let me walk you home J." Monse attempted to stop him, "We haven't even pitched the final M." Cesar shrugged, "Don't need to." Monse sighed her eyes pleading over to Julianne.
If anyone could convince the Diaz boy to stay it was her. Julianne smiled softly at Cesar causing him to slightly blush. She gently pushed him down to make him sit.
"Manipulation." Monse introduced, "Through negotiation." Jamal chirped in, "With cogent, well-articulated arguments." Ruby proposed Cesar began to get annoyed. "So, that's it? That's the plan? You're gonna get me out of the gang with content, well-articulated arguments?" The trio nodded, "Yes."
The Diaz boy shook his head. "Never gonna happen." He gently clapped his hands together before grappling Julianne's hand. "Good talk. Let's go." Julianne and Cesar walked in silence for a while, before she finally got the courage to talk.
"I have really considered what you said and I want to keep the baby. Of course I still have to talk to my mother and my abuelo. But I think adoption would destroy me." Julianne looked at him, Cesar couldn't even think straight. All Cesar could think about was the fact he could be in and out of prison missing his kid's life. "I'm fifteen and in a gang. I'm not cut out to be a dad." Julianne's brown eyes fixated on him, "Are you telling me to give up the baby?" She asked, hurt in her tone. Cesar shook his head no. "The baby will be better off without me."
Julianne didn't want to talk to Cesar any longer. She was happier than ever to be at her house. She walked inside and locked the door. Cesar didn't want to keep the baby anymore. Julianne did. At the worst time, she called who she needed most. Her madre. "Hi mija, how are you?" Julianne was terrified to tell her mom, but she needed someone. "Mami, I'm pregnant." Julianne choked out sobs.
