Another Lifetime

Chapter Twenty-eight:

Monse's POV:
We're in the middle of... stuff when someone starts hitting Cesar's door. Odessa throws the door open, her and Jasmine both walk in. "Guys what the hell?!" I get off of Cesar and he covers us with his blanket. "RollerWorld was a scavenger hunt for Chivo! We found it but it was candy!" Odessa yells. She's so mad she didn't even notice what we were doing. "Jamal is such an idiot! I told him it wasn't real but he didn't listen. We got in this whole fight and now he wants to act like this my fault. Can you believe that? I literally did the same-" Jasmine cuts her off. "Odessa, stop." She tells Odessa. "I'm literally just telling them what..." She finally looks at me and I'm not even trying to hide how lost I am. "Monse, we'll figure it out. We're not gonna let anything happen to you." She says but I don't respond. "We can ask my parents for money. If it'll help you they'll-" I stop her. "They can't know. They won't get that I have to leave. Your parents are just gonna try and fix everything but they can't." I hug my knees and Cesar rubs my back. "So what do we do?" She asks. "Odessa, not right now." Jasmine whispers. "It's fine. I either have to find another crew or I have to actually handle it... I think I have to kill Latrelle." I explain. "Won't that just make it all worse?" She asks and I nod. "Let me talk to her for a second." Cesar tells them and they go. "If we have to take down Latrelle, I'll handle it." He tells me. "You don't have to do that. This is my shit and I'll handle it." I say. "No, I should've handled this in freshman year. I can't believe I thought he was just gonna leave Freeridge." Cesar says and I look at him. "I'm glad you didn't. He helped me through a lot... besides, if you did I don't think this would've happened." I remind him and he kisses me. "So what are we gonna do?" Cesar asks. "Enjoy my last days on earth." I say dramatically but he doesn't find it funny. "We gotta regroup, talk to Jamal and Ruby, see what they think. If they don't have a plan then we... then I will handle it." I say.

Jamal's POV:
"It doesn't make any sense." I'm laying on my floor and Ruby's trying to find cheap bus tickets. "We're missing something. I can feel it." I tell him. "What if she moves to Brentwood with her stepdad?" Ruby asks. "She hasn't talked to him in two years." I remind him. "I gotta go see Chivo." I get up but when I open the door Odie, Jasmine, Monse, and Cesar are just standing there. "Are y'all trying to kill me? What the fuck?!" I scream and Odessa starts laughing. "We gotta talk." Monse tells me. "I should've told you about the money... or lack of money. I just didn't wanna give up yet." I apologize. "It's all good but I need to know what to do." She says. I move out of the way so they can all come into my room. "I don't know." I say honestly. "I think I'm missing something so I was gonna go talk to Chivo when y'all got here. Until I can figure it out, you can hide out here." I explain. "Stop giving her false hope. Monse, I wanted to believe it was real but it's not. We gotta move on so we can actually get you out." Odessa tells her. "I'm with Odessa on this one. Even if it is real, we might not have time to figure it out." Jasmine says. "I'm not ready to give up on this." Monse says and I nod. "Ok, we need two groups. Mine is gonna figure out the rest of RollerWorld and Odie's is gonna find another way out." I say. "Ok, let's go see Chivo." Monse says. Me, Ruby, and Monse walk out together but we stop when Cesar doesn't follow. "I'm with them." He explains and Monse looks pissed. "Let's just go." She walks ahead of us. "I'm sure he just wants to make sure you're gonna be safe." I tell Monse when we get to my car. "Or he's trying to keep me here." She slams the door.
The drive to Freeridge is completely quiet.
"Yo Chivo!" I yell when I open the doors to RollerWorld. "Jamal, what the hell happened in here?" Monse asks when she says the secret RollerWorld room. "Me and Chivo got in a fight after I found out it was fake. I might've thrown most of his stuff in that trash can... and then when that got filled I threw stuff on the floor." I admit. "Well, let's start from the beginning. What's the first clue you found?"Ruby asks and they both start picking up everything.

Cesar's POV:
"Isn't Monse gonna be mad at you for picking my side?" Odessa asks while Jasmine's in the bathroom. "She knows it's not like that." I say and she nods. "Right." She smiles. "How's everything with Pope? I haven't seen her in a while." I ask. "Ugh she left two days ago. That's what Pope does, she runs... I guess that's what Monse does too. We deserve people who are gonna stick around." She says. "Well good thing we're finding a way for that to happen." I tell her. "And if it doesn't?" She asks. "I think I'd go with her. I'm not gonna say anything until I'm convinced there's no other way." I say and Odessa smiles. "You really love her, I can see it when you talk about her. I'm not gonna lie, it's weird that my ex is dating my sister but I love you both and I want you guys to be with who you're supposed to be with." Odessa's grown a lot since we started dating. The first time we broke up she throw a brick throw my window. "Thanks, it means a lot." I give her a hug. "I know y'all aren't getting back together!" Jasmine yells.