𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 • 𝐎𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐙

𝖙𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞 𝖋𝖎𝖛𝖊

"But it's got to be Pimp Lane" Ruby says as as him and Monse walked over to the bench and sat down next to the couple still making out "Oh, I wouldn't sit there" Jamal cringed

"Maybe we should go back to the library" Monse says

"It's closed" Ruby says

"What do you mean it's closed?" Monse asked

"As in not open. It's closed" Ruby says

"I swear when I get home I'm washing me and my dog" I say

"At the same time?" Jamal asked

"No!—not at the time!" I say giving him a look, causing him to shrug towards before looking away "Hey... it's a path!" Jamal says but Ruby and Monse are too busy arguing, I follow him instead, "I found something!" Jamal says getting their attention

"That's a Santos cross. But what does it say above it?" Jamal asked

"En las sombras del tiempo." Ruby read, "In the shadows of time" he translates

"Yeah, but what's six, four, seven, nine?" Monse asked

Jamal gasped "It's a sundial—Chivo said Lil' Ricky loved them" he says

"What do we do with it? There's no sun" Monse says

"Ha—Watch and learn, my crab-infested friends—Okay, so first, we take out a pen, Then we need a light to be the sun, So, a sundial is like a clock. So, if I position my light over the numbers, it'll cast a shadow onto the letter..." Jamal starts to explains

"Enough! Just do it" Ruby says

"Okay, you need to learn this in case of the apocalypse" Jamal says

"What?"

"I'm gonna follow the numbers to get a letter. Here we go.—Six o'clock: P.—Four: O.—Seven: O.—Nine: L"

"Pool—The money's at the pool, But where's a pool?" Jamal asked

-"The community pool!" Ruby and Monse say at once

"Lil' Ricky, you can suck it, because nothing gets past us!" Jamal says, we get up and make our way back to where their bikes are only to see Ruby and Monse's bikes are gone

-

"Our bikes!" Ruby says

Jamal laughs

"What the hell?" Ruby asked

"Rookies? What, were you guys raised in the 'burbs or something? Lock it or lose it" Jamal says

"Read the room, Jamal—How are we gonna get around now?" Monse asked

_

A few moments later Abuelita stops in front of them "What are you doing at Pimp Lane?" She asked

"Um...How do you know about Pimp Lane?" Ruby asked

Mijo, I wasn't always old. I was once, what they call, a sure thing" Abuelita chuckled

"I think I'm gonna throw up" Ruby gagged

"Don't slut shame me" Abuelita says

"Abuelita, we got to get to the community pool" Monse says

" ¿Por qué?" She asked

"We'll tell you on the way" Jamal says

They in the backseat as I sat in the trunk with my dog and Jamal's bike

_

We arrived at the pool and everyone gets out expect for me "Jo aren't you coming?" Jamal asked, "I need to take a break, my feet are killing me" I say, "weren't you homeless? You've didn't—" he started but I stopped him "Jamal it isn't a good idea to argue with me right now" I say

"Okay" he says closing the door and leaving

A few short minutes they come back "Jamal, why are you soaking wet?" Abuelita asked

"I don't want to talk about it. What just happened ain't right" Jamal says

"What's not right is there's no Santos Cross here, Every clue had a cross on it. Google says there's 19
more pools in Freeridge" Ruby says checking his phone

"Okay, so Jamal, you change into the clothes I have in the back and we'll check all the pools" Abuelita says

"No. I'm doomed. We're doomed. Cesar's doomed—I haven't slept in days, Julio's dead, and poor Juanita" Jamal says

"We're not doomed if we solve this, so stop being so dramatic" Monse says

"I am being dramatic" Jamal says

"We know"

"Like Nicolas Cage dramatic" Jamal says

"Odd reference, but yeah, so quit it" Ruby says

"I'm so dramatic that I tried out for the local production of Rent" Jamal says

"That was a rip off of La Bohème" Ruby says

"Whatever!" Jamal says, "My point is I tried out at the Robert Pool Theater" Jamal says but no one understood

"The P-O-O-L Theater!" Jamal says

It's a pool in the title" I say

"Oh" they say

Jamal looked back at me "that was my line" he says before the car started moving

..............................

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