1 Month Later
August 15th
Dalilah and Alfonso were just coming back from the bakery. They bought a Vanilla birthday cake for Aaliyah's birthday. It wasn't too big, or too small. Dalilah was the most excited, even though they weren't having a big party, it was going to be enough to satisfy her- she hoped.
I knew she wish Daniel was around, and that things were better, but hopefully she'd just be happy with what she has today. I looked over at Alfonso who was looking down at the ground; His hands were in his pocket and he wasn't very talkative.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, really." He half-smiled. "Just kind of tired."
"Oh, okay."
"Why?" He Inquired.
"Just asking, you look upset."
He smiled, "I'm fine."
We continued walking till' we reached a small store on South Santos Avenue. We walked inside, and I looked around and hopped to see if I saw anything Aaliyah would like. I looked up to see tons of balloons, and one Huge Pink Birthday one really stood out. I looked over at Alfonso to see he was examining the candy section.
"You're gonna get her just Candy?" I inquired at him.
"She said she didn't want anything, so I'll just going to get her a snicker bar." He shrugged.
After we bought what we wanted, we left and made our way back to the apartment. We walked in the door, and I noticed Shonna in the kitchen cooking. Bella was sitting on the counter, helping her. I was in shock that Jenny wasn't her, but at the same time I wasn't. I put the cake down and walked towards them.
"What's cooking?"
"Carne Asada, Enchilada's, Spanish rice, and grilled chicken with peppers." She explained with her thick accent.
"Mmmm, sounds good." I smiled. Alfonso laughed. "Is Aaliyah awake?"
"I don't think so." Bella replied.
"Why don't you kids go wake her up, surprise her with that balloon, or whatever. Some of the family should be here around Noon." Shonna added.
I nodded, and Alfonso and I made our way upstairs towards Aaliyah's bedroom. We slowly opened the door to see she was lying in her bed knocked out. I tiptoed inside, Alfonso and Bella followed me, I walked over to her bed.
Alfonso, like an idiot, had the audacity to tap her on the head with the snicker bar, what a fail already. Aaliyah opened her eyes and looked at us, while rubbing her eyes.
"Wake up, it's your birthday illegal Mexican." Alfonso said, laughing.
"Shutup, you're illegal immigrant, too." Aaliyah chuckled, sitting up on her bed.
"Happy Birthday!" I hugged her, and handed her the balloon.
"Hey cousin," Bella added in, "Feliz Cumpleanos!"
Aaliyah laughed, "Gracias guys. Te amo." She slowly got out of bed, and pushed her straightened hair back with her fingers. She looked down at the ground, and then at us.
"We'll leave, so you can get dressed." I said, leaving the room.
"Alright." She replied. We all left, closing the door and walking back downstairs.
Aaliyah walked inside of the bathroom and looked in the mirror at herself. She was fourteen years old now, and she believed she was getting old, too quick. She smiled and ran the shower, stripping her clothes and hopping in. After the quick time, She got out, wrapping a towel around herself and going straight towards her closet.
I went to the back of the closet, and pulled out my Traditional Fiesta dress. It was white, red, and green, and my mother wore it when she was fourteen. I dried off and put it on, going to my dresser and putting my hair into a bun. I looked at the three flowers that sat there, one red, one green, one white, each representing Mexico. I put them in my hair, and put on a little red lipstick, as my Madre said it makes you a woman.
Afterwards, I left the room and rushed downstairs to see Dalilah, Alfonso and Bella slouched on the couch. Bella snapped a quick picture of me- I was going to get her for that later. I bobbed my head to the Spanish music playing, and looked over to see my mother cooking. She looked up from the pot on the stove and smiled at me. She began fangirling.
"Oh, Aaliyah!" She screamed. "You look Hermoso, look at my dress! Te dije un dia que lo usaria!" She hugged me, and kissed me on the cheek, leaving some red lipstick behind.
I whipped it off, and looked at her in annoyance, "Madre, deja de vergonzoso frente a mis amigos!"
She chuckled, "Okay." She said as she walked back to the kitchen. I walked over to the couch, and I already knew Alfonso was going to say something.
"You know, I'm Mexican too." Alfonso stated. "I know exactly what just happened."
"Me too.." Bella added, as she laughed.
"I don't!" Dalilah said, I laughed.
"Good, that you don't." I replied.
"You know, your family is going to be here in a few minutes." Alfonso said, directly towards me. I gasped in horror.
"Oh em gee, for-really?" I asked, hopping this was just one of his jokes. He nodded his head. "Oh, gosh."
Suddenly, our conversation was interrupted from a knock on the door. My mother jumped up and smiled.
"That's probably Sabrina, I'll get it." She rushed towards the door. I rolled my eyes and fell back on the couch.
When she opened the door, there stood a woman. She was the same height as my mother, so she wasn't much taller than me. Same skin tone as her, and the same appearance really. I felt as if I seen her before, but I didn't really remember where. My mother began talking to her, and then she turned around and looked at me.
"Aaliyah, Bella, Venir Aqui." She suggested to Bella and I. We slowly got up off of the couch and walked towards the front door.
I looked at the lady, she smiled at me, but I didn't really feel comfortable smiling back.
"Aaliyah, this is your auntie Sabrina. I don't know if you remember her, it seemed like a long time ago, huh?" My mother laughed.
"I agree. Hola Nina, you have gotten so big, and so pretty!" Sabrina smiled at me, again. "How old are you now?" She inquired.
"Fourteen.." I replied in a low tone.
"Oh, you don't speak Espaniol?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Catorce." I chocked out, getting annoyed.
"There we go," She laughed and looked at Bella. "You're Bella?"
"Si, I'm her cousin." Bella smiled, shaking Sabrina's hand.
"You're very pretty as well. Glad to meet you." She replied.
"Come in, Sabrina." My mother said. "Help me cook."
"Please don't burn the food, Shonalee." She replied, stepping into the kitchen.
I went to sit back on the couch again, this day was awkward already. I looked over at Alfonso, to see he was laughing. I honestly didn't know what was so funny. Hours passed and more and more of my family were arriving. It seemed about all of them were here, but then I realized; Jenny wasn't here.
I was silent for a moment, I didn't feel as If I wanted to talk to anyone. I toned everything out except for the music, and the more I listened to it, the more I thought about Jenny. The vibration of my phone interrupted my deep thought. I picked it up, to see it was a text from Dalilah.
"Come upstairs for a minute." The text read. I sighed and got off of the couch, making my way through the crowd. I walked upstairs, and went into my bedroom to see Dalilah and Bella lying on my bed; They looked up at me.
"You need to call her." Dalilah said, directly towards me.
I gave her a funny look, "Why me?" I inquired. "It's my birthday, she should be calling me." She sighed.
"Are ya'll really gonna hold a grudge?" Bella added in.
"I guess so, because I'm not apologizing. I didn't do anything wrong." I stated.
Dalilah looked down and shook her head, "Okay then.."
Jenny sat on her bed, with her phone resting her hand.
I been attempting to dial Aaliyah's number for the past half-hour. Today was her birthday, and I didn't know If I should take the risk of calling her. "What if she hung up in my face?" I thought. "But what if she gets mad because I didn't call her on her birthday?"
So many questions were flowing through my mind. I decided to dial her number once again, and just when I was about to press call, my Father yelled my name. I quickly got aggravated, and threw my phone on my bed. I sighed as I got up, and walked out into the hallway to see my father standing there with Disappointment in his eyes.
"Your sister, left to go to Aaliyah's party hours ago!" He scolded me. "What are you doing, Jenny? You need to go visit her, It's been five months, and today's her birthday. Just go apologize before it's too late."
"Dad, I can't just walk in somebody's house that I haven't seen or talked to in five months, on their birthday, and say "oh sorry, happy birthday." I yelled back. "What's that gonna do, dad? Honestly!" I rolled my eyes and walked back into the room.
I slammed the door, and flopped down against the wall. I didn't know what to do, this was a boat load of confusion. I looked around my room, and went to lay on my bed. I decided to take a nap, so I didn't have to think about it, anymore.
***
I heard my mother yell my name downstairs- I guess it was time to blow out the candles. Dalilah, Bella and I left the room and walked downstairs into the living, It was crowded, so it was hard to get through.
As I looked around, I noticed Alfonso talking to one of my uncles, People were dancing, eating and so on- Everyone was having a good time but myself. When my mother spotted me, she told everyone to settle down. I walked towards the counter, and she bought out an Vanilla, round cake. It looked delicious..
Suddenly, everyone started singing in Spanish.
After they were done, I blew the candles out. My family began cheering, and clapping. I smiled big, so I wouldn't get an ass-load of questions. My Aunts and Uncles kissed me on the cheek, and I danced with some of my other Uncles and cousins- I finally felt happy.
After a while of partying, I opened some of my presents. I didn't really get anything; Just some Phone cases, clothes, Hats and so on. I thanked my family, and watched as a lot of them evacuated my apartment. I looked over at my friends, to see Alfonso still eating, and Dalilah just layed on the couch, exhausted.
"Hey, I'm going to visit Daniel." I said, grabbing my phone and walking towards the front door. My mom glanced over at me.
"Be careful!" She replied. I ignored her comment and walked out of the house.
At that, I walked down the steps and made my way down Main street. A lot of people waved to me and wished me a happy birthday, considering this side of town was full of Mexicans. I smiled back and continued walking.
When I arrived, the woman at the desk already knew what I was here for. She yelled Daniel's last name, and before I knew it two Security guards came and escorted me down the hallway to Daniel's booth. I sat down and he was already behind the glass.
He looked up at me, and he didn't even smile. His face showed no type of emotion at all. I could feel that he wasn't very happy. He picked up the phone and sighed.
"Happy Birthday.." He said in a low tone.
"Thanks," I replied. "What's wrong, Daniel? Aren't you happy to see me?" I inquired.
"I'm not.."
"What?"
He looked down and covered his face with his other hand.
"I'm not happy to see you." He said.
"W-why?" I stuttered.
He shook his head at me, "This thing between us, it isn't working out." He stated, and sharp pain stung me right where my heart was. "Us even dating was a bad idea, I fucking hate you.. I been feeling this was for a while."
"I don't know what I did.." I said, trying not to cry. "You're just going to tell me now? On my birthday!" I yelled at him.
He shook his head. "Look, Aaliyah. I fucking hate you, get over it.. and stop coming to see me. I'm sorry."
I sat there as a tear rolled down my cheek. I dropped the phone and left the room and ran out of the jailhouse, all the way down the street as numerous tears were falling down. When I arrived home, I slammed the door and ran upstairs. I knew everyone was starring, but I didn't care. I locked my room door and fell on the bed.
I couldn't stop crying.. I didn't know what to do with myself. What the hell did I ever do to him? I thought to myself. What happened? I cried and cried but crying wasn't going to help anything. I spent the rest of the night locked up in my room, and I decided I would never come out.
"What Just happened?" Dalilah asked rhetorically.
"I don't know.." Alfonso replied.
"Do you think it was Daniel?" Bella inquired.
"It better not be." I added.
"What would Daniel do to make her cry, I mean they're like madly in love." Alfonso said. He had a point, but you never know.
"Maybe.... Something happened." Bella sighed.
"I don't know.. let's just leave her alone. We can't bomb her with questions, she'll eventually come out and tell us." I stated. Everyone nodded, and the room went back to the silence it was before.
11:56 P.M
The guilt was eating me up- I couldn't deal with this any longer. Soon, Anthony was going to kill Jenny, and if it went down that way, I didn't want to be apart of it. I didn't even want this to happen. I got up out of my bed, and grabbed the gun that was on my dresser and put it in my pocket.
I left the room, and walked out of the house, making my way towards Anthony's crib. I tried to ignore the rush of me feeling nervous, but I couldn't. I continued walking, hopping it was go away somehow. When I arrived to his house, the door was already open and I could see smoke coming from the inside. I walked straight in, to see he was sitting on the couch smoking a blunt. He looked over at me and smirked.
"I was just about to call you, sit down so we can finish this plan." He said.
I shook my head, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about." I replied.
He looked at me thoroughly confused. I walked to the coffee table, and stood in front of him. I pulled the pistol out of my pocket, and put it on the table, pushing it in his direction.
"I don't want to be apart of this anymore." I choked out.
Anthony looked at the gun, then at me. He stood up and laughed, then blew the smoke from his blunt in my face. I looked down at the ground, scared of what he was going to do next.
"You's a punk, you know that?" He said, chuckling. "I knew I should've never let a kid in this gang, they were gonna punk out. I guess you're apart of this plan too.." He picked up the gun.
I ran out of the house, before he could even point the gun at me. Before I knew it, he called the crew and they were chasing after me. I ran as fast as I could, pulling out a pistol out of my left pocket I didn't even know I had. I turned around, and aimed the gun at one of them; I didn't know who it was because it was pitch dark outside.
I pulled the trigger... resulting to someone yelling in pain and falling to the ground. I turned around and kept running. I didn't know where to go, but I couldn't stop now.