Alondra Cisneros, a Crenshaw cheerleader, soccer player, and close friend of Spencer James, catches the eye of a Beverly High Eagle.
published: jun. 17, 2020
completed:
Essence Park used to filled with faded paint, graffiti and a nearly broken playground. The grass was very overgrown and a little dead, and the entire park had things that shouldn't be around children. Everyone picked up trash, cleaned up the tables, cut the grass, and even trimmed the bushes and trees. Not only was the park cleaner and safer, but it was brighter. There weren't anymore gang tags, the faded paint was now fresh, and whatever bullet shells, condoms, cigarette butts or weapons that were hidden in the grass or wood chips were now in the dumpster.
"Alo! Puedo llevar estas cosas a tu casa si tu quieres. Tienen la escritura de tu mamá y estos sólo se venden en East Los." Jaime pointed to the buckets full of stuff sitting on one of the tables and since everyone else was packing up somewhere else or in the parking lot, he assumed all of it was hers. A couple people turned around when he started talking, and then turned back to what they were doing when they realized he most likely wasn't talking to them.
"I still have the house key if you want us to take it back." Evelyn added on with a smile.
"Could you? I don't think they want to be in Crenshaw at night and Lily barely woke up from taking a nap on that table." Jaime and Evelyn nodded, so Alondra helped them carry their stuff to Evelyn's car so they could drop it off and be on their way back to East LA.
The car was packed pretty quickly and once the trunk and back doors of the car were closed, Jaime and Evelyn stuck around to help pack Armando's car. When they finally closed the trunk, Alondra noticed that Kia's uncle, Flip, was standing chest-to-chest with Tyrone and they were having a very heated and loud conversation. The tension in the air was thick, and a crowd began to form around the two posses. However, everyone still kept a safe distance because of how dangerous they knew it could escalate to.
"He run the park! Little boy, ain't about to lose my freedom for your dumb ass, so kick rocks and keep it moving."
"Oh, is this a live play?" Ruben asked. Evelyn, Jaime, and Alondra all just turned to him and stared with the most confusion on their face. "Is that a no?"
Everyone, with the exception of Tyrone and Flip, we're dead silent and watching to see how it would play out. It's like with every word, they got closer to one another and the situation became more threatening. It even got to the point where one member on Tyrone's side put his hand on the gun in his belt. "Guys, I think it's time we go back home." Armando reached over and grabbed Ruben and Alondra, but as usual, Alondra pulled away.
"I'm not going anywhere until I know my friends are going home safe." Alondra turned back and watched everything unfold, but mainly focused on coop who was literally in between both sides.
It didn't help that Spencer ran up and stood right beside her because now she was worried for both of them. "Ain't nobody using nothing, right? We got five dead bodies this past month." Spencer said. Alondra saw that Grace was moving to go get him, so without saying anything, she ran over to her and pulled her back. Alondra held her by her waist, and Chris stood in front of both of them, making sure Grace wouldn't try to put herself in the situation too. "If we destroy each other, who else going to fight for us?"
Personally, Alondra was beginning to think that Spencer would be a good motivational speaker, but then out of nowhere everyone pulled out again and Spencer was shoved away from the group. Everyone backed up from the group, Laura basically dragging Olivia and Layla like 10 feet away, and all of Armando's kids either went behind or closer to him. Obviously with the exception of Alondra who tugged Grace back a little bit. Some people, mostly parents and their kids, even completely left and went to their cars to go home.
There was an intense stare off between Tyrone and Flip, but it didn't look like either one was willing to be the first to back down. Alondra kinda got distracted and it gave Grace enough room to actually run back to Spencer. However, instead of pulling her back, Chris standing behind Spencer kind of made everyone still at the park take a few steps forward as support for him. Seeing this, Tyrone push down the gun to one of his guys next to him. "Now's not the time."
"Ty, man, let's just go." Coop said, stepping in front of him, but not getting in his way to agitate him.
Tyrone's last words, before completely leaving the park with his guys and coop, were, "I'll be seeing you real soon."
With them gone, the crowd seemed to calm down a lot. Flip and his guys were still on there, but he wasn't one of the bad gang members, if that made sense. "Come on, guys." Alondra said rather quietly, pulling back both Chris and Spencer by their biceps.
× × ×
The drive back to Beverly was pretty silent. Ruben and Madison were kind of processing everything because it was nothing like they've ever seen in their life, except for on TV. Lily wasn't too bothered, because she didn't exactly understand what happened,but she was a little shaken up because of the guns and how close and easily it was for Alondra to get that close. And Armando was imagining all the stuff Alondra had grow up around while he was living in a mansion 30 minutes away.
"Did that type of thing happen a lot?" Was the first thing Armando said the entire car ride, and it was when they were about five minutes away from the house.
Alondra looked over from the passenger seat, and was kind of shocked that he was actually talking about it. She thought he would ignore it seeing as it was a problem in a neighborhood he was no longer in. "It wasn't always like that. It got worse over the years. Before, it would be like one person a month, and now five people have died this month and the month isn't even over."
Armando nodded his head slowly as they pulled up the gate around the house. Once he put in the code, it opened and he turned back to Alondra. "I'm sorry you had to live through that."
Alondra just shrugged, because that type of thing was unfortunately a normal occurrence to her. " it's whatever, at least I survived."
i read one JJ story and now i have whole a faceclaim and cast 🧍🏽♀️ GOODBYE
** if u want a little sneaky peaky, it's in my spam book and that's where all the updates for the JJ story will be :)
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