Aaliyah
"What is it?" Dalilah inquired.
"Well..." I started, "Nichole said that Riley called her today."
"Didn't they break up?" Alfonso raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah." I nodded. "She said that Riley said that Anthony has been plotting on us for a while, and he's coming after Jenny first."
"How does Riley know?" Dalilah asked.
"He must have joined the gang." I said. "What I don't get is why he would do that and warn us about it.."
"Maybe he's lying." Alfonso said, "Or, he's trying to set us up."
"Well, he told us to meet him at Jenny's mansion." I said. "Nichole is going to be there, too."
"I don't know about that." Dalilah frowned. "He's kind of weird."
"We should bring something, just in case." I said. "But first, we need to go see Carlos."
They both agreed and we left the apartment, walking down the street to Carlos' house. I knocked on the door, and he came outside shortly afterwards.
"What's going on?" He asked as he sat down on one of his porch chairs.
"You remember Riley, right?" I inquired.
"Yeah." He nodded. "From the ball."
"Well, his ex girlfriend called and told me that he said Anthony is out to get us." I said, "And, he's out to get Jenny first. He wants us to meet him at the mansion. We don't know if we should go or not."
"If it's true, Anthony's a punk." He shook his head, "He's going one by one. How would this dude know if Anthony is doing all of this?"
"We're guessing he must have joined the gang." Dalilah shrugged.
"Here." He pulled out a pistol and handed it to Alfonso. "I want you all to go and see what's up. If something goes wrong, you know my number."
"Thanks, man." Alfonso nodded.
I called Nichole back and she and Jenny agreed to come get us. Only half an hour later, a limo arrived outside of Carlos' house and we all got in the back. Nobody was talking, and nobody seemed to be happy at all. I guess having the thought that Anthony was trying to kill us stressed us out. I mean, what thirteen year old kid would want to hear some news like that?
Once we arrived at the mansion, we all went inside and sat down at the dining table. Riley was already there with Bella and Emilio. Nichole had left, I guess because she didn't want to see Riley.
"Listen, I have solid proof that Anthony is trying to do this." Riley started..
He gave us some papers that had plans on them. "I stole these from Anthony's home." He said, "Also, I recorded the whole crew's conversation after school, today."
We listened to the video, as Anthony told the gang his plans. He said he planned on invading Jenny's home again, and killing her, taking all of her dad's money then coming back after Carlos. I shook my head in disbelief. I almost couldn't believe Riley was letting us listen to this.
"Why are you even telling us this?" Alfonso snarled. "You must be trying to set us up! There's no possibly way that a true gang member would do this."
"That's why I'm going to quit." He shook his head. "When I found out he killed Jenny's mom, I didn't want to be apart of it anymore. And, I didn't want him to hurt you guys..."
"Anthony killed Isolina?" I asked.
The table went silent. Jenny got up from the table and left the room. I felt bad for her. "This is sickening." Emilio growled. "We need to inform the police."
"No." Riley shook his head. "No police involved."
"Well, what are we going to do?" Dalilah asked. "None of us has any type of self defense."
"Except for Carlos." Alfonso added.
"That's why I think Jenny, Emilio, Bella, and Marissa need to relocate temporarily down by Carlos and Aaliyah." Riley nodded. "That way, Anthony won't know where you are. Plus, you'll have Carlos around."
"What about school?" Bella asked.
"If we move down there by us, then you'll have to go to Hazel wood." Alonso said.
"Even if they do, Anthony knows where Carlos is." Dalilah said. "Not a good idea."
"And, it matters because?" Riley raised an eyebrow.
"It doesn't." I said. "Carlos knows how to handle himself. He's not the leader of LMG for nothing."
"Exactly." Riley smiled.
"I think it's a good idea." Emilio said, "But, I can't go with you. You and Jenny should go and live with Aaliyah for a while."
"Dad, we can't leave you here." Bella shook her head.
"I will be fine, mija." He smiled. "Just go pack your things."
Bella sat there for a minute, then got up and walked out of the room. Everyone sat there awkwardly and I finally decided to get up and go check on Jenny.
I was actually pretty happy that Jenny and Bella were coming to stay with me, and going to my school. I finally wouldn't be alone all the time, and I always enjoyed being around my cousins.
I just didn't know how Jenny felt about it. I knew she probably didn't want to come and stay in my crappy apartment, and go to my ghetto school. Also, Finding out why her mother died just now, I knew she wasn't going to be very thrilled.
And I was starting to think it was my fault.
_____________
Jenny
I couldn't believe that Anthony had murdered my mother. I didn't know what he wanted. What did my mother do to deserve being murdered? Nothing!
Tears streamed down my face as I sat on my bed. I didn't know what to think. The only thing I wanted was for Anthony to get what he deserved. I wish that I could kill him myself. If I did, my family would be left alone. Unfortunately, I couldn't. I was only a fourteen year old rich girl, who probably didn't even know how to aim a gun correctly.
As far as I was concerned, Anthony was an experienced killer. A gangster. Somebody bigger than Carlos. I had never seen him, but I heard about him everywhere. And since he's been bothering my family, it gave me enough reason not to take matters into my own hands, even though I wanted to.
There was a knock on my door that made me look over. "Come in." I said. The door opened and in came Aaliyah. She flashed me a half smile and put her hands into her pockets.
"Emilio wants you and Bella to come and stay with me for a while." She said. "He's staying here with Marissa."
"How long am I staying?"
"I don't know," She shrugged. "long enough for you to get enrolled into Hazel wood."
"Are you serious?" I raised an eyebrow.
"It was all Riley's idea." She sighed.
I didn't have a problem staying with Aaliyah, I just didn't want to go to the thug infested school she attended. I sighed and got up, grabbing my suitcase from under my bed and went into my closet to begin packing. I packed most of my clothes and my shoes, and everything else that I needed. When I was done, Aaliyah helped me carried my things downstairs.
"I'll keep in contact with you." My father said. "You stay safe with Aaliyah. I'll have you and Bella enrolled into school by tomorrow."
"Alright, dad."
"Bye Jenny." Riley smiled.
"Bye."
I gave them both a hug and walked outside of the mansion. To my surprise, Tyler was standing in front of my home with a confused look upon his face. "Where are you going? What's up with the suitcases?"
"I'm going to stay with my cousin for a while." I said as I made me way towards the limo.
"But, why?" He asked.
"It's complicated." I shook my head.
"When are you coming back?"
"I don't know, Tyler." I said. "I'm only going to be a half hour away. I can still see you."
I put my suitcases into the truck and closed it. I turned and looked at Tyler, who was still giving me the same confused look. "I'm going to Hazel wood, too." I said. "But, I should be back in less than a year."
"Jenny—"
"Come on, Jenny!" Alfonso yelled from inside of the car.
"I have to go, Tyler."
I walked around and got inside of the limo, and closed the door. I didn't want to leave Tyler, but I had no choice. Now I knew that we had no chance together.
February 11th rolled around and Aaliyah walked into the bedroom her, Bella, and I shared to get us up for school. I was already awake, but I guess she just wanted to make sure.
I didn't really want to go to Hazel wood, but I guess that I didn't really even have a choice. I got up out of bed and left the bedroom, walking down the hall into the bathroom. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and my hair, then got dressed.
I joined everyone downstairs. Dalilah came over and made breakfast, so I ate and then we all left after Bella was done getting ready.
We left the apartment and they began walking down the street. I stood on the porch, looking at them as if they were stupid. Aaliyah looked back at me and smirked.
"Where are you guys going?" I inquired.
"To school." Aaliyah laughed. "Where else?"
"Where's the limo?" I asked. "The transportation?"
Dalilah and Aaliyah burst into laughter. "What's so funny?"
"We walk to school." Aaliyah said.
"What?"
"You can either walk to school with us, or ride the germ infested bus with strangers." Dalilah folded her arms. "Your choice."
"Ugh." I groaned and followed behind them.
We walked a whole three blocks to the school we were going to. Once we arrived, I wasn't surprised to see a huge, old, ghetto looking building. A lot of people were outside, and I could already tell it was crowded on the inside.
I was correct, too. Once we got inside, the school was filled with Hispanics. Most of them were smoking, kids were getting beat up, drinking, etc. I wasn't used to this type of behavior.
"You and Bella should go to the office and get your schedules." Aaliyah said. "I have to go to class, see you at lunch."
Aaliyah walked away, leaving Bella and I surrounded by the horrible acting teens. We both trailed to the office.
The office was quiet, and a lady with long, black hair sat behind the desk. She was wearing a stripped business suit, and her brown eyes darted at me.
"Aren't you Jenny Ortiz?" She inquired.
"Yep." I nodded.
"What are you doing here?"
"I am attending this school temporarily." I said. "My sister and I would appreciate if you would provide us with schedules for our classes."
"Sure." She gave me a funny look then looked through her desk and found two slips of white paper. She handed it to us and smiled. "Here."
"Thanks." Bella said.
We both left the office and scanned our schedules."Yours?" I asked.
"I have schedule A."
"Me, too." I said, "We have History first period."
"I hate history." Bella groaned.
We walked down the hallway, not excited at all. I already knew I wasn't going to like it here. All I wanted was to be at my regular school. I wanted to be with Tyler.
When we arrived at the History class, I took a deep breath and opened the door.
I hoped this was going to be good.