ᏟᎾᏒᏒuᏢᏆᎬᎠ ᎠᎬᏟᎥsᎥᎾᏁs

ChApTeR - 2

He shrugged. "Didn't have a ride."

Zadia squinted. "I'm sure you could've caught the bus."

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" He questioned, accusingly.

"I called off because I had a doctor's appointment." She looked down at his hands, noticing he had a can of grape Arizona and a bag of Piñon nuts. "You do know that if the cops catch you walking around during school hours, they'll stop you right."

Abel chuckled. "I know. There was one watching me while I was inside the gas station, that's why as soon as I came out, I went straight to you." He turned around, to get a look. "See, he's gone now."

Zadia's brows raised. "Smart, now only if you could go to school." She resumed her walking, her hand wrapped around the handlebars. Abel followed her, walking by her side. "Not this following shit again. Don't you have anything better to do."

"At the moment, nope. Can I chill with you till it's safe to be outside again?" He asked, pouting his lips.

"Go home, Abel." She said, placing her phone in her pocket.

"I can't, my aunt will kill me if she finds out I missed school again." He looked at her, desperately. "Please. It's just this one time, you won't even know I'm there. I'll be good and I'll follow directions."

"I'm a bad influence, trust me. You don't want to hang with someone like me."

"I'm sure you're not half as bad as the people I hang out with. Please, just until school is out.

Zadia went quiet for a moment, her eyes drifted to her shoes. She thought about it for a moment, contemplating it. "Fine, but you have to tell me why you won't go to school and why your ass won't stay home."

He nodded. "Deal."

"I live in a very shitty apartment, just so you know."

"Don't we all." He mumbled, hoping she wouldn't hear, but she did.

"So, what's keeping you from going to school?" She asked, changing the subject. They continued the path to Zadia's apartment.

Abel cleared his throat. "I go to Lakewood high... it isn't the best school around here. The district barely funds it, there are kids dealing drugs inside it, if you don't have any money you can't eat any lunch, the teachers treat the students like shit, and the security guards are like the police... they prey off us. I love learning, but I'm not trying to be around all that, so I decided it was best to just not go."

Zadia glanced at him. "Did you tell your aunt all that?"

He shook his head. "She already has enough on her plate, I don't wanna bother her with all that. I'll be fine."

"Why don't you just change schools or better yet, start homeschooling. The library downtown is open till nine, I'm sure you can get a library card and go back and forth from there."

He shook his head. "It sounds easy, but it isn't. I can't be around downtown, that's Sun Town territory. They see me there and I'll be another Junior Feliz."

Zadia bit her lip. "Damn." She whispered. She had it bad, but the kid... he had it worse. It really was true what J.Cole said, there really wasn't such a thing of a life better than yours.

"Don't go feeling bad for me or anything... it's life." Abel said, smiling. Zadia noted that he had a beautiful smile, one that made you want to smile as well. "I'm a big boy, I can handle it corazón." (Sweetheart)

"I'm not your sweetheart," Zadia mumbled, stopping at her building door. "This is it." She said, causing Abel to stop.

"You speak Spanish??" He questioned before his eyes widened. "Woah." He breathed, staring at the building. "When you said shitty, I admit, I kinda thought you were lying."