on my block

Study "hard" (monse and cesar)

Cesar stuck his head into the living room where his Tia Carla was binging on her favorite telenovela. "Don't wait up for me, OK? Jamal, Ruby, and I are camping out at Ruby's tonight."

"Cesar!" She frowned from beneath the perfectly straightened bleached blond hair that clashed with her dark brows. "You don't have to lie to me. I know you go to an end of the school party." She hit pause on the TV. The DVR had shown up on their doorstep a few weeks ago. Somehow things had a tendency to do that in this house. Cesar suspected that Los Santos were to blame but there was no point in getting upset. He had no standing to ask anyone for details anyhow. Bash might tell him but his uncle would get bent out of shape if he even hinted the stealing was wrong.

"Yeah, we might go to the party. But we are relly camping afterward."

"Claro, you go to the party. Have the fun. You are growing up so fast. You will be too busy for this things soon enough."

He grinned and kissed her cheek. "Not too soon."

Her lips turned down in a slight frown. "Oh don't you worry boy. Hector seems hard-hearted but he does have plans for you. He just wants to see you grow up a little more first is all." He spent his walk wondering how they could not see after four years that he wasn't all that interested in joining the Santos.

Monse, Ruby, and Jamal met him at the corner at 10 PM. "You wore blue!" Ruby immediately began second guessing his fashion choices. Cesar glanced down at his tee shirt. He'd worn whichever one his hand landed on first when he reached into his second drawer.

"Dude, I suspect at least one in five guys at the party will be wearing blue." Jamal commented. "Statistically speaking, the chances of a guy not wearing blue, black, white, gray, or red is low."

"What about green or yellow?" Monse arched a brow at their friend. "Yellow can be a manly color."

"Prophet colors." Ruby turned and walked backward. "Mario says that Jacob, the guy holding the party, is your Tio Hector's bastard son. So I can't see Prophet colors in this house, at all. Cesar knew Jacob, except he usually went by Smash. He was a whiz with car stereos but-

"Are you sure your story is right? 'Cause that would make him Cesar's half cousin and they look nothing alike. You didn't get that from Jasmine, did you?" Monse interrupted. She was rolling her eyes so big at Ruby that she almost tripped over an uneven bit of sidewalk.

Cesar flung out an arm to catch her. God her skin was like nothing he'd ever felt before. Two weeks ago he'd gone over to her house to study with the guys' ragging in the back of his mind and suddenly everything about her was ten times more compelling than it had ever been before. "Cuidado Monse. You'll never get those railroad tracks off your face if you plant it into the sidewalk."

She ignored him, slipping her arm free without even a second glance. "No es possible. Tell him Cesar. Jacob and his mom didn't move here until he was like ten at least."

He did some quick math in his head. Yeah, Jacob must have been born around 2000. That was about when his Dad went away that first time so Hector had a lot of new responsibilities. "It's possible. But there's like thirty other Santos that could be Jacob's father too. His mother used to run with the 4th Street Hermanas."

Ruby pivoted forward again. "Cesar, I can't look at you if you're going to slut shame. Monse come on. We can't leave you with this guy anymore."

Cesar laughed. "You're so full of it Ruby. Everyone knows that Jacob's mom spent a lot of time down in pimp lane. He practically got off the school bus there for years."

"No, he didn't. He got off at the corner of 4th and...oooohhhhh." Jamal trailed off.

Monse bumped Cesar's shoulder. "Yeah, seriously guys, if I'm not offended, none of you should be either." His whole side tingled from where she'd bumped him. He wondered if she even knew the effect she could have on them. Ever since his brother had gone to prison when he was 10, it had been a little harder to make friends. And when middle school rolled around and all the girls started acting prissy and stupid, Monse had been the only one who stayed normal. She could be trusted to never giggle or drop hints or distract him with annoying notes in class. She was a ride or die friend, and along with Ruby and Jamal, the best he'd ever had. At least, that was until she had kissed him after he made her laugh telling her about what Hector had said to him. Ever since she'd been acting like it never happened leaving him totally confused.