Tortured Souls -Oscar Diaz 2-

Chapter 23

Sofia waved to Oscar as he drove away from the house to meet Sad Eyes. Once he turned the corner, she grabbed the bag and threw it over her shoulder. "Wait," a voice said. "Sofia?" The girl turned around, slightly surprised to hear someone call her name. To her amazement, Jamal was standing a few feet away on the sidewalk.

"Jamal?" She hadn't seen his face in over a year. "Wow, hi!"

"Hi," he slowly approached her. "Hi, who's this?"

Sofia was momentarily stunned, "you've never met Ella?" She was sure the two had met.

His smile faltered, "no. Ruby and I stopped talking before you had her."

"Oh." She never understood why they had stopped being friends. "Well, this is Eloise, but we call her Ella."

Jamal wrinkled his nose and waved at the young girl. She giggled, waving back at him. "Wow," he muttered. "She looks just like you."

"Thank you." Her eyes scanned over his jersey. "I didn't know you were on the football team. Good job, I bet your dad's proud."

"Oh, yeah," but he didn't seem happy.

"What are you doing here? Do you need Ruby? I can go get him-"

"No, no," Jamal waved his hand. "I invited him to a party, but Jasmine-" he stopped. "Nevermind." Sofia raised an eyebrow. "I should get going. It was really great to see you and this little one." His voice suddenly became three octaves higher. "So cute." Sofia wanted to invite him inside and figure out what was happening but decided against it. "I'll see you around, Sofia."

"See ya." Jamal turned on his heel and stuffed his hands in his pockets. She watched him walk away, a slight ache in her heart at the idea of letting him leave. There was a time where Ruby and Jamal were inseparable. Now, they didn't talk. It was sad. Sofia sighed and moved towards her house. "Hello," Sofia called as she walked into the house. Geny instantly jumped up from the couch and ran towards her.

"My baby, my baby," she called. Sofia watched as Geny took Ella from her arms.

"Wow," Sofia closed the door. "And here I thought you were excited to see me."

Geny playfully glared at her, "you know I'm always happy to see you, mija."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Darling," Ruben walked into the room.

Sofia stepped towards her dad and hugged him. "Hey Papa, how are you?"

"Good, I'm good." They pulled away from each other. Sofia set the bag she had on the floor. Instantly relaxing now that the added weight was gone. "Where's Oscar?"

"He went to see a friend." It was a lie. Oscar went to see Sad Eyes about the Cuchillos situation. "And I promised Ella we could do chalk in the front yard-"

"Oh my god," Jasmine screamed as she ran into the room. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming?"

"Surprise," she laughed. "Oscar was coming back, and I decided to catch a ride. Plus, mom hasn't seen Ella in a few weeks." Ruby walked into the room and stood beside Jasmine.

"And I've missed her," Geny held Ella in her arms. "Oh yes, I have my sweet, perfect angel who can do no wrong."

Sofia raised an eyebrow, "okay, weird." Her focus returned to Ruby, "I saw Jamal outside. He looks great. What was he-"

"We don't talk about that traitor," Jasmine crossed her arms. "He's dead to us."

Sofia was stunned by her hateful talk. "Are we talking about the same Jamal?"