All For Us || Oscar Diaz

1: Made It Out

"These probably taste better than your finger nails," Nina tried joking to which her sister stopped her little habit. "Come on, V. You gotta have something," she encouraged further.

Her sister remained quiet before going back to her daze. "How about this, I can get us a few snacks and we'll eat upstairs in my room. Mom's busy with the guests and you're not too particular with crowds like this. What do you say?"

Victoria looked at her little sister after her suggestion. After which she nodded in agreement which resulted to Nina giving her a small smile. And they did just that, they took a little bit of everything on the buffet table before making their way up to Nina's room. Just after settling in, Nina had to go back down  to get them something to drink.

After stealing a wine bottle and two glasses she made her way back up stairs. That was before she ran into one of the guests.

"¡Ay! Lo siento, mija. I wasn't looking where I was going," the lady gasped just as the tried to regained balance.

"Está bien," Nina shrugged off with a smile as she tried adjusting the bottle and glasses in her hands.

"You must be Nina. Congratulations!" The lady said too overjoyed to which Nina took some offense to.

"Excuse me?" she asked in a hard tone.

"I heard about your scholarship to MIT. Congratulations, ¡mija! Not everyone is so fortunate to get out of here, you know?" the lady grinned at her. Nina looked at the woman. Growing up in her barrio in Washington Heights meant everyone knew everyone. But she has never seen this woman in her entire life.

"O-oh... uhm... gracias...tía?" Nina gulped in embarrassment from her sudden snap "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Oh, I'm Stacey, an old friend of your mom. Speaking of which, have you seen her?" The lady asked smiling.

"I think she's somewhere in the back paying the caterer," Nina pointed to some part of the house before turning back to the lady who seemed to be staring at her. But Nina didn't pay attention to that

"Thank you, mija. Condolencias para usted y su familia," the lady offered the teenager a smile before walking over to where Nina pointed. Nina watched her walk away in slight confusion a she attempted to proceed back up to her room.

"The legal drinking age in New York is 21 years old, Nina. Last time I checked you haven't even graduated yet," Nina had bumped into Captain Cortez.

"Where you off to, suenito? Your friends have been looking for you and your sister. Congratulations on the scholarship by the way," he added.

The girl went stiff hearing that nickname. Everyone began calling her that when they all heard about the scholarship. It all began with Arturo then her friends started catching on to it as well. Our Nina, the barrio's best, was finally making it out of Washington Heights, Arturo said when he found out.

"There's about fifty adults in the room, Captain. I'm pretty sure I'm drinking responsibly enough," Nina replied. "V and I just wanna be alone for a moment. If you see them we'll be in my room. And thank you," she forced a small and awkward smile on her lips. She quickly slips past him.

She was slowly starting to understand why Victoria didn't feel like being around all these people. Everyone would say their condolences but then congratulate her for her achievement. Nina hated the follow up. She'd just lost her dad, now wasn't the time to somewhat gloat on that level of success. It was fucked up and inappropriate.

Walking in, she saw Victoria laying flat on her bed staring at the ceiling along with their group of friends seated on the floor. "You better have alcohol with you," Victoria said faintly as she lifted her head.