little italia, elite

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

"Hey! Oye. Christian, stop rushing off." I grab him by his shirt, pulling him into an empty classroom. I could see by his face he was angry, fuming, so I held his face in my hands. "Breathe with me. Relax." I breathe deeply, with him copying, following my lead, both of us unaware of how close we were to each other. "What on earth was going on out there?" I asked, and he shook his head. "Polo me manipuló. Dijo que me ayudaría a subir a la portada de la revista. Todo lo que tenía que hacer era un favor. Un favor sexual. Qué coño hago?" I pulled him in for a hug, embracing him tightly, holding him as close to me as possible. "Venganza." I whispered in his ear, and he pulled us apart, smiling. "Tienes que decirle a Carla lo que pasó." I said, and he begins kissing my face repeatedly, all over, while telling me how great I am. "You genius. I love you!" He says, before grabbing my hand and dragging me to class where Carla was.

As we stand outside the classroom, Christian let's go of my hand, winking at me as he heads over to Carla, leaving me leaning against my locker, watching the scene unfold in front of me. I could see Christian gesturing to what had happened, explaining the details, and I smirked, knowing how badly this was going to get to Polo. Just down the corridor, I noticed man of the hour Polo heading towards the classroom, slowing down as he noticed me. "What?" He calls out as he walks towards me, as if trying to be threatening. "Why are you smiling like that? What is going on?" He said as he drew closer to me, and I shook my head smiling. "Venganza, Pendejo. Don't fuck with Christian again, or worse will come." I stare at him, strong expression on my face as he attempts to stutter out a come back. Before he can, I grab his shoulder, turning him to face the classroom where Christian and Carla stood talking, and I almost felt his body shake slightly, knowing he was truly fucked. "Go ahead, Cabrón." I said, pushing him into the direction of the doorway. Christian noticed Polo's presence in the doorway, and smirked, biting his pen as he did. The look on Carla's face almost made me regret having this idea, but it had to be done. She deserved to know. And as she turned and walked away from him, I know it was a success.

Later on, after studying all through Lunch, we had our first exams. I was shitting myself. As I walked past Nadia and Guzman as I was heading to my seat, I overhead Nadia say it was Marina's fault she and her brother were in trouble. I sat down, head in my hands just as the class went weirdly silent. I looked up, seeing Marina walk in and noticing all the dirty looks in her direction as she went to sit down beside me. Judging by the stares from the class, I guess she's fucked over more than just Nadia and Omar. The whole class seemed to look at her with annoyance or betrayal, except for Samuel, who didn't even glance in her direction. As Martin handed out our exam papers, you could feel the tension thick in the air. "The day is finally here. Only pens on the table. You may begin." Marina looks to me, frown clear on her face as she flicks through the pages, one hand on her head, stressed. She ticked a few boxes, scribbled a few answers, and then stood up. "Done." She said as she turned to Martin, who looked seriously confused. "Finished?" She nodded, handing him the pages as she walked out. After a quick glance through them, he followed her out the room. "Stay here class, don't move at all!" He rushed out the room, grabbing the attention of half the class, including Samuel, who had a strange look on his face. "Samuel, don't. Whatever you're thinking, don't." I whispered to him, and he shook his head before stepping out his seat, and I just knew he was about to cause a scene. Typical Samuel. I rested my head on the table, continuing to fill out the papers as a bunch of other people rushed to the window of the class. "Samuel just swung at Martin!" Now Nadia was rushing out the class, and a bunch of people were staring in awe, mumbling under their breaths about us 'hood' people. "Jesus." I mumbled, head butting the table, so tired of the drama. Once upon a time school was simple. Until the roof caved in. But still. I saw Martin, Marina, the principal and Lú heading off to the office, I assumed. Samuel was pissed, and was heading in the opposite direction, banging on the lockers as he went, probably creating more problems in his head.

Due to the commotion, class ended early, and as I stood up I noticed Carla heading towards Polo's table, tears welling slightly in her eyes. Polo mumbled some lie about how he didn't want to bother her while she studied, and she scoffed, clearly not believing him. "Thank you for not telling me you were fucking another so I'd stay focused." She almost walked away from him, but he followed her, commenting on how she'd fucked him too. "Always with you. That was the deal. To share everything. This was something we did to avoid infidelity, lies. To attempt to revive a relationship that was doomed. A relationship that was dead. But given all this, I think it's better if it remains buried." She storms off, letting one rouge tear loose as she notices me, rushing to me and overwhelming me with a massive hug. "Why did I bother trying so hard to make us work? Polo and I were a lost cause. He was my best friend. And now, I have no one. At the worst point in my life, I'm alone. I swear, whoever stole those watches will pay; that's all I have to focus on now." I instantly feel bad for her, watching her hard exterior crumble to reveal the hurt in her heart. "I'm sorry. It'll be okay." Seeing her like this, in the moment, I feel really apologetic. Truly sorry. Sorry for being a part of her hurt, for being involved with the watches she is working so hard to retrieve. I hug her tight, and notice behind her that Marina is staring into my eyes as she types away on her phone, as if she's spying on me and telling everyone I'm betraying her or something. Shaking my head, I lead Carla to the bathroom, passing her tissue so she could wipe her eyes, clearing her smudged mascara. "Thank you for this. Really." She held onto my shoulders, smiling weakly at me before my phone ringing interrupted us. Nano's face appeared on my screen, and I quickly declined the call, knowing she'd probably be wonder who he was. "Not going to answer?" She asked, no trace of her upset left. I giggled slightly, shaking my head as usual. "Nope." I said, as my phone vibrated again- this time signalling a text from Christian telling me to meet him outside the school. "Duty calls." I said, giving Carla one last hug, double checking she was okay before rushing out the door, bag slung over my shoulder as I headed to the main school door, hoping to see Christian at the bottom of those stairs. And of course, Mr Varela did not disappoint.

"If you were stuck on a deserted island, what three things would you take?" I ask Christian, who stared at me with a look of slight confusion. "Christian. Isla desierta. Tres cosas-" "Oh! Right. Ok. Yes. Um, a boat, some food... and you!" He said, and I snorted, laughing loudly as we walked hand it hand, continuing to swing our hands slightly as we had for the past twenty minutes. The walk home was taking longer than usual, since we were relaxing, trying to de-stress after the long day. "You?" He asked back, and I shook my head. "Maybe food, building equipment and water." "What about a boat? Un helicóptero? Un submarino? Cómo vas a salir de la isla?" I smirked, as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, with me reaching my hand up to meet his. "Christian. Quién dijo que quería irme?" A massive grin grew on his face as he pulled me closer, kissing me on the cheek as he yelled "Eres un genio total!" As we both giggled about my plan to live on a deserted island forever. At least there would be no drama. We continued our island conversation until I noticed a familiar figure outside my apartment. "Mira allí. It's Nano." Christian pointed in the direction of my apartment where Nano stood, leaning against the wall in his leather jacket. "Cool." I said, continuing to walk towards my apartment, trying not to even bat an eyelid in his direction. "Jada. Jada. Jada, please. Lo siento por todo. Lamento haberte herido-" "Wait, what did he do?" Christian asked as Nano tried to talk to me, trying to apologise for his actions yesterday. "Nothing. Let's go." I tried to get Christian to follow me, past Nano and into my apartment, but he was frozen on the spot. "Nano, what did you do? Cómo la lastimaste?" He asked, and Nano scratched the back of his neck nervously, which took me by surprise. "I lost my temper a bit, but I'm really sorry." Christian looked between the pair of us, before walking in front of me, holding my face in his hands. "Jada. Where?" I moved my collar slightly, exposing the slight bruising underneath, and he kissed his teeth, swearing under his breath. "Cabrón. Don't touch her again. We're brothers, but this-" he paused, pointing at my neck and the purple bruising only slightly hidden now.

"Inaceptable. What is wrong with you?" He asked, as Nano fumbled out some sort of explanation; 'I'm sorry, I care about her, I didn't mean it.' etc. Christian didn't care. "You need to leave her alone." He said, grabbing my hand as he lead me away from Nano, muttering about how a man should never lay a hand on a girl like that. Relief washed over me as we headed up to my apartment, and as soon as the door was locked behind me Christian engulfed me in a hug, promising to protect me, for as long as he was around.

I didn't doubt it for a second.