little italia, elite

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬

A crash interrupts my thoughts as I see Christian emerge from the boys changing room, kicking over a trash can and angrily cursing as he storms down the hallway, stopped halfway by Carla. As I walk down the corridor slowly, edging past them to try overhear, I surprisingly heard Carla suggest that he should introduce her to his friends, claiming he knows her world but she doesn't. Bull. Shit. Really what she wants is to see a group of suspects, people who could be involved in the watch theft. But Christian, too busy crushing on Carla to see the truth behind her facade, happily agreed, thinking he was making progress with her. I rolled my eyes as I walked past, completely out of view as I headed into the cafeteria to eat and study for my last period of the day.

The bell ringing for the final time of the day woke me up from my accidental slumber in the study hall, where I was sitting head down on the table, slightly dribbling on my notebook. What a mess. On the plus side, the room was practically empty since everyone had rushed out of there as soon as the bell had rung. Thank god. I glanced at my phone, noticing I had two missed calls from Nano, so I decided to call him back incase it was important. He still wasn't exactly my favourite person, but at the moment there's a lot of potential issues with this watch situation and we're kind of on the same team. "Hey. I've just dropped Samuel to work, do you want to come over. I want to talk to you about the watch and Marina." He spoke, and I mumbled out an "Of course," knowing that everything was always about the watch or Marina. I agreed of course, and he said he'd pick me up in ten minutes, giving me time to gather my stuff and head outside. On the way I bumped into Polo, who cursed me for always being around, and I giggled to myself at how dramatic he was as I reached the stairs outside, walking down them just as Nano's car appeared out front. I walked over slowly, still recovering from my nap as he beeped his horn repeatedly as if to tell me to hurry up. Throwing him the finger as I finally reach the car, I open the door and jump in, shoving my bag where my legs sat in front of the chair. "Little Italia. Still angry with me?" He asked, trying to make our issues over and done with. However, it was not going to be that easy. "I think yes, which is reasonable since you choked me." He went to say something, probably something inappropriate, but he stopped himself. Hey, at least he's learning when to shut up. As he's about to speak, his phone buzzes and his mum's name appears on the screen. "Oh shit." He said, mumbling something about how he's always in trouble as he swiped to accept the call. "Oye. Qué? Marina? Por qué Marina está en nuestra casa? Samuel está en el trabajo. De acuerdo. Nos vemos luego." He hung up the phone, immediately putting his phone in his pocket and starting the car, leaving me drastically confused. "What's wrong?" I asked, and he shook his head, laughing in a passive aggressive way as we pulled out of the school parking area, seemingly in a rush to get to Nano's house. "Marina is at home. But she knows Samuel is working. So why go home?"He said, and I realised the only reason she'd be at their house right now while neither of the boys are home is because she wants the watch. "Mierda!" I said, cursing as Nano swerved round the corner, but also cursing because Marina was smart. "She doesn't trust you at all then." I spoke up, thinking about how much it must hurt Nano to know his baby mama doesn't trust us poor losers.

"Looking for this?" Nano said, holding up the watch as we walked into his bedroom, finding Marina raiding his bedside drawers, desk and wardrobe. I trailed behind Nano, wanting to see what she was doing but not wanting to be noticed. However, she noticed me very quickly. "What are you doing with her?" She looked at me, a scowl clear on her face causing me to giggle slightly. "Imbecil. You've been caught. Don't worry about what I'm doing." I spoke up, rolling my eyes at her stupidity. "I wanted it, but not to give to them. I wanted to keep it, and keep it from the papers." She said, trying to defend her actions, but Nano shook his head. "I told you I wouldn't give it to the papers, but here." He holds out his hand to her, and in his hand sat the watch. "No way." I mumbled, knowing this was not a good idea. "I trust you Marina. I only ask one thing. Let them pay us.
That money is loose change to them. A bargain, after what they did. And when they pay us, you do what you want with the watch." I looked to Nano, very confused and I saw even Marina was looking a little lost. "Are you sure?" He smiled, which was weird given the circumstances, but then he spoke, "Marina we are having a child together. If I don't trust you, who am I going to trust?" At that point I actually laughed, walking away from the room and escaping the apartment, not wanting to be involved in this.

As I walked around our little neighbourhood I spotted Samuel with Christian, and to my surprise Carla. They were surrounded by other people from our neighbourhood, and Carla was talking to all of them, trying to find the culprit for the crime. As soon as Christian spotted me, he called me over, Carla smiling as she saw me, although it looked more smug than friendly. "What's going on here?" I asked, Carla pulling me in for a hug, whispering to me, "Isn't it cute?" as if mocking us, me, maybe even Christian. Carla smiled cutely at Christian, as if trying to get him to only have eyes for her. I grabbed her hand, pulling her aside, gaining a "ooooo" from Christian. Once we were clearly out of sight of the group, I let go of her. "What is your plan here? Get close to all his friends, see if one of them is wearing the watch or something?" I scoffed as she crossed her arms defensively, causing me to shake my head at her. "This is ridiculous. You are playing games with him, with his feelings. He thinks you really care about him." She shakes her head as she steps closer to me. "I care about him, I promise. I care about you too. But family comes first. I can't let my family down. I didn't want it to be like this, but since neither of you will actually tell me who it is, I have to figure it out for myself." She said, stepping away from me as she walked back toward the group, slowing down as if waiting for me to catch up to her. "Waiting for me? Even though I'm apparently a criminal?" She laughed, linking arms with me, much to my surprise. "I know it's not you. But I know that you probably have some clue who it is. I'm half way there myself."

As we reached the group, I noticed Nano had joined us, no Marina in sight, meaning she's probably headed home. We sat for a while, all of us relaxing and telling stories about our lives, sort of introducing Carla to our group I suppose. Carla then headed over to one of Christian's other friends, sitting on his bike laughing around as Nano pulled me over to where Samuel and Christian stood against the tree. "Ver. Te dije que estaba bien. Tú y ella parecen llevarnos muy bien, tal vez podamos divertirnos con eso. Trío?" I hit Christian hard on the arm, and he winces in pain, although I'm sure it didn't hurt him that much. "Cállate. Estúpido." The boys laugh, until Samuel speaks up. "Carla is here for a reason. Why else would she ask so many questions. Carla no confía en mí y en mi hermano." Christian immediately resents the idea, shaking his head almost furiously. "No. She likes me. For real." As we carry on debating Carla's intentions, I spot Guzman, Polo and Ander heading our way; almost furious expressions on their faces.

"What are they doing here?" I ask, pointing towards them as Guzman starts shouting, "Son of a bitch! You may fool your brother, but not me." Samuel looks to Nano confused, and I shake my head to Guzman, knowing exactly what he was insinuating. "First you steal from me. And then get my sister pregnant." Out of nowhere, Guzman pulls a baseball bat from behind him, landing a solid blow on Nano's stomach, causing him to almost collapse. Chaos ensues, with punches being thrown all over the place. Polo uses this as an opportunity to target Christian, dragging him up against the tree and repeatedly punching him in the stomach whilst Nano and Guzman continued to throw punches to each other. "You are an asshole!" Carla screamed as she pushed Polo away from Christian, to both of their surprise. "I won't let that bastard end up with you!" Polo swings again, but this time I allow myself to get in the way, earning myself a punch in the eye. "Go to hell!" Carla yells, turning to care for both me and Christian. "Fucking asshole!" Nano yells, eyes wide as he sees me holding my face, blood dripping from the outer corner of my eye. I turned to see Samuel heading towards Nano, pure hurt in his eyes. "Son of a bitch!" Samuel yelled out as he attacked his own brother, tackling him to the ground, slamming his fist into his face and then the rest of his body, probably bruising him. The three Las Encinas kids disperse, running away as they were chased in different directions by Nano's neighbours and brothers from the hood. I pulled Samuel away, noticing Nano's blood stained face as I dragged Samuel away, pushing him aside as I tried to get Nano off the ground. Samuel stormed off, heading towards his house as I tried to pull Nano back to his feet, noticing Christian leaning over the railing,  spitting blood from his mouth as he winced in pain. I wiped my eye, noticing blood was slightly dripping down my face as my eye began to swell up, quite quickly.

I caught a glimpse of myself in a a car window, staring wildly at the unrecognisable face looking back at me. Blown up eye, swollen and bloody. Heavy bags under both my eyes. I looked horrible. I felt my world spinning, my legs giving way, relinquishing their support from under me. My eyes couldn't fight to stay open anymore, leaving me with nothing but darkness.