chapter 6 | welcome back
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THE CLOCK WENT OFF AS OLIVIA GROANED AND RUBBED HER EYES. It was another school day and Olivia wished she could just lay in bed and sleep all day.
She groaned once again and turned off her alarm before getting in the shower and putting her clothes on before carrying Lucas, careful not to wake him up and talking her own school bag with her. Lydia was still babysitting Lucas which the Jones' were really thankful for. Marcelina (Mrs Jones) even suggested to pay her but she never accepted it. She always says that she would rather spent time with Lucas more like he was her second papito.
Olivia knocked on the door with two bags on her shoulder and lucas in her arms, peacefully sleeping. She didn't have time to braid her hair so she just left it down and had a hair tie on her wrist in case she needed to tie her hair.
"Hey Livi." Elena smiled widely at the redhead before quickly helping her to take Lucas from her arms, careful not to wake him up.
Olivia went over and placed Lucas' bag with his things in it on the couch and sighed as she sat down. Olivia looked over at the kitchen seeing Penelope and Alex talking so she decided to rest her head a bit and closed her eyes.
"Alright mami! You win. Where are Alex's pants?" Penelope said loudly so that Lydia could hear which made Olivia flutter her eyes open and looked over before walking behind Elena. There was no response, as everyone thought she probably might be asleep. Penelope pushed away the curtains revealing an empty room which made everyone frown in confusion.
"Where's abuelita?" Elena said in worry as she looked around with no sign of her grandmother.
"She's small, she's probably under something." Penelope said, trying to lighten up the mood. Everyone went in and tried to see if Lydia was around anywhere but there was no sign of her.
"Kids...I think your abuelita has run away from home." Penelope mumbled. Alex and Olivia looked at each other with a worried expression.
"Okay come on, we're going to Schnieder's. Hopefully she'll be there. And Livi, bring Lucas. He'll babysit today." Penelope said and the others nodded as Olivia carefully carried Lucas, trying not to wake him up and went over to carry the bag that had Lucas things in it but Alex stopped her.
"It's fine, I'll carry it for you." Alex smiled softly causing her to smile back before trailing behind Penelope and Elena with Lucas sleeping in her arms, his head resting on her shoulder.
Penelope knocked on the door and called out to Schneider.
"Listen Schneider, have you-"
"Wow! I always forget how huge your apartment is." Alex cut off Penelope and said in amazement as he looked around Schneider's apartment.
"Nah come on it's not that big. But let's talk in the parlour." Schneider said and the others walked in. Alex grabbed Olivia's free hand and dragged her inside, careful not to wake Lucas.
"Schneider, have you seen my mom?" Penelope asked with a worried expression on her face.
"Gosh, no."
"Then why do I smell fried plantains and Cuban coffee?" Elena raised her brows.
"Fine! She spent the night. But I want you to know, nothing happened." Schneider said, waving his hands. Olivia to look at him with a disgusted look on her face.
"Hey Livi, come here." Alex called out softly as Olivia slowly placed Lucas on the couch and went over to him. The two pre-teens were looking at Schneider's things until a women came into the living room making everyone frown in confusion.
"What was that? And why is she drinking my coffee?" Penelope glared at Schneider.
"Well when my family oasis blew up last night, I had to seek solace in the arms of.. I don't know her name." Schneider scoffed.
"Your mom called her the 'stick girl' and made her eat plato de huevos."
The lady then came back and placed her coffee on the table before going back inside the room while the others stared at her in disbelief.
"Did abuelita forgot to give her her pants,too?" Alex pointed out.
"Okay, you know what, maybe she'll come back soon. And anyways I need to bring the kids to school. Schneider you have to take care of Lucas for today since my mom isn't home yet." Penelope said.
"Yes! I've always wanted to hang out with Lucas. He's so cute with his little hands." Schneider cooed and Penelope rolled her eyes before motioning to the kids to come as Olivia gave Schneider Lucas bag.
Before Olivia went out of the apartment, she quickly gave her little brother a peck on the cheek and smiled softly before leaving the house with Alex arm linked with hers.
♡︎
All the kids, plus Carmen had finally came home after a long day. Alex and Olivia were playing the same game they were playing the other day where they picked a celebrity.
"Alright so, Chris Hemsworth or Chris Evans?" Olivia asked Alex as he put on his thinking face.
"Hmm, Chris Evans. He's captain America so.." Alex smirked before opening the door to the Alvarez apartment revealing Schneider in the kitchen causing everyone to frown in confusion.
"Schneider, why are you here?" Elena asked.
"Oh hey kids! I'm filling in for your abuelita." Schneider smiled widely. They just shrugged and went to sit down at the dinner table as they did their homework.
"Ugh, why did Mr Nolan give us so much homework. I'd rather have Mrs crazy old lady have us do her homework." Olivia complained and groaned in frustration as Alex rubbed her back and nodded.
"It's fine I'm sure we'll finish it in no time. And we can have extra time later for me to teach you the video game." Alex smirked.
The four kids were doing their homework on the counter as Alex and Olivia helped each other with their homework since they had different classes. Olivia looked over and saw Schneider talking to someone which was probably Penelope as he put her on speaker.
"I just came down to get my café con leche and kiss on the cheek from your mom, but she's still not here. But don't worry, I got this, all four kids are fine." Schneider said.
"Four?"
"Yeah, Carmen, Elena's best friend. We have got to catch you up."
"I know who Carmen is. She's the ghost who ate all my chicken." Penelope said. Olivia covered her mouth and tried to contain her laughter as she did her work causing Alex to nudge her with his elbow and slightly laugh along.
"Hi Ms Alvarez." Carmen said in a dramatic and boring tone.
"Takin' you off speaker." Schneider said as he placed a plate on the kitchen table.
"Great. Now she's going to send her flying monkeys after me." Penelope joked in a cold tone.
"And...we're done. Thank god. I'm exhausted!" Olivia sighed in relief as she placed her books in her bag before going over to the couch with Alex following behind.
"Hey Schneider. Where's Lucas?" Olivia asked as she noticed her brother was no where to be found.
"Oh he's in Alex's room playing with his old toys." Schneider smiled as she nodded before grabbing Alex's hand and pulling him to his room.
They opened the door revealing Lucas playing with Alex's old toys. Olivia gasp loudly as a joke and ran over to Lucas, carrying him in her arms and kissed his face making him giggle continuously.
Alex leaned against the door and looked at them, smiling widely. He couldn't help it but stare at her. The way she smiles and laugh made him have a weird feeling in his stomach that he couldn't describe.
Olivia then set Lucas on the end with his toys and went over to Alex who was still staring at her making her laugh.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Olivia said causing Alex to snap out of his daydream and chuckle nervously.
"Uh, nothing.. Now come on." He grabbed her hand, dragging her to the living room. He turned on the tv, grabbing the two controllers that were on the table and passing one of them to Olivia.
"Alright, so I'm gonna teach you how to play the game now. It's really easy, trust me. Okay, so, first you have to pick an avatar..." Alex explained the game to Olivia as the two teens played the game the whole night.
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Everyone were sat the dinner table as they ate the food that Schneider cooked.
"Hi!" Everyone said in unison as they saw Penelope entered the house.
"Welcome home, Lupita!" Schneider said as he acted out as Lydia causing the others to chuckle.
"We already started, but I insisted nobody say anything interesting till you got here."
"Aw that's so sweet." Penelope pouted.
"It's been weird." Elena frowned. Olivia nodding along.
"Did you find abuelita?" Alex asked his mother in concern.
"Yeah, she's with Jesus now." Penelope said causing everyone to gasp in shock. "No, no! Sorry, she's at church! Poor choice of words!"
She stuttered. (a/n: this scene was so funny 😭)
"Uh, whoa. What do we have here?"
"Oh nothing special. Just some nutted quinoa, wilted broccolini with radish micro-greens and venison carpaccio on a bed of nettles. Grab a cedar plank and dig in." Schneider explained.
"Big change from abuelita's cooking, huh? You like it?" Penelope looked at everyone for a response as Schneider looked at both Elena and Olivia smiling widely for a response. The two looked at each other not really knowing what to say.
"I can't wait to have eaten it." Elena faked smiled.
"Yeah...me too." Olivia said as she pressed her lips together.
"I didn't think I would like nettles. And I was right." Alex said.
"Well, I'm competing with perfection
here." Schneider groaned.
"It's okay Schneider. We all thank you for this very Caucasian meal. And good to see you again, Elena's best friend, Carmen, you beautiful weirdo. I'm sorry things got crazy the other night. That's...that's not us." Penelope smiled slightly.
"Seems like us." Alex laughed. Olivia hit him on the arm slightly.
"We have all kinds of arguments in my family. I have two brothers. Ones a priest, ones a witch, so...." Carmen said which made the rest gave her an odd look.
"This has gotten so awkward..." Olivia whispered to Alex as he nodded.
"I am really glad I'm getting to know you better, Carmen." Penelope smiled as Carmen stared at her with no expression on her face.
"Hello!" The door opened revealing Lydia as everyone sighed in relief. Just as Olivia, Alex and Elena were about to hug Lydia, Schneider ran up to her and engulfed her into a hug causing her to freeze in place.
"I am so glad you're home. I was wilting under the pressure to be you." Schneider sighed in frustration.
"Oh hello mi amors!" Lydia smiled widely as she hugged Alex, Olivia and Elena. "I'm sure you did fine, now who threw up on the table?"
"What were you doing all day?"
"Oh you know, saying my rosary, praying for the departed souls..asking forgiveness for you mother." Lydia slightly rolled her eyes.
"Why?"
"Oh didn't she tell you? She's no longer going to church, ever."
"We can do that?" Alex said in surprise.
"You can't. We will all do together, us. Plus pelliroja even though she doesn't do these things but it is good for us. Your mother will go hiking with Satan." Lydia pointed.
"Yeah, and then we'll go to Applebee's. Cause' Satan loves the fiesta lime chicken!" Penelope said sarcastically.
"So I guess you want to take my grandchildren to hell with you."
"I don't wanna go to hell." Alex whined.
"There is no hell."
"Don't worry papito there is." Lydia said, making the situation worse.
"Okay, you really wanna do this? Let's do this. I am not even sure, I believe in god anymore, okay?" Penelope exclaimed causing everyone to gasp in shock.
"Hardcore." Carmen said.
"Oye, you're so smart. If god doesn't exist, who made all this?" Lydia said referring to the house and everyone in the room.
"Target."
"Okay. Can we agree if there is a god, it's gender-neutral, not a he or she?" Elena said.
"No! God is a man. If he were a women, there would be less problems. Probrecito god. He tries so hard." Lydia argued.
"Look mami, I get it. You like going to church, it's habit. You put on lipstick you get dressed up, you see your friends, you gossip.. it's your new social club, mami, and that's fine." Penelope said.
Lydia then started telling a whole story of how she prayed for Penelope when she was in the army and everything. Olivia couldn't help it but have flashbacks about her grandmother about how she would always babysit her when she was young or how she would cook her her favourite meals every time and how she would comfort her every single time when she was sad.
Olivia didn't realise tears were streaming down her face as she looked at Penelope and Lydia on the couch crying together. Oh how much she missed her grandmother.
"Livi, why are you crying?" Alex cupped Olivia's face with his hands and looked at her with concern all over his face.
"It's fine, I just..I miss my grandmother. She would always take care of me, make me my favourite food, comfort me, she even danced with me when I was little." Olivia slightly chuckled as she remembered the moments with her grandmother.
Alex then pulled her into a hug and squeezed her slightly and rubbed her back. They didn't even realise that everyone was already staring at them with sympathy in their eyes.
"Ay pelliroja, it's okay. I know how you feel, it's hard I know. But don't worry, I will fill in for her. She's looking down at you right now and she knows that you're amazing." Lydia went over and hugged Olivia as everyone did a group hug.
"Thanks. You guys are the best." Olivia smiled softly as Alex took her hand and intertwined it before placing a small kiss on her hand causing her to chuckle.
Penelope was currently telling everyone her story as Olivia smiled softly after she finished it. She knew the Alvarez were her family as well, and they would always be.
"If she can do that, then I can do this." Penelope finished her story as tears streamed down her face.
"That's how I feel when I watch John Cena." Alex smiled and Olivia laughed.
"Yes, exactly. Or Sonia Sotomayor or Olivia, Leonardo DiCaprio probably...or death." Penelope pointed. "Everyone has something that inspires them."
"Yo entiendo."
"I also..play Nintendo." Schneider said and everyone stared at him weirdly. Just as Penelope was about to speak, Lucas walked in the room with his finger in his mouth as he smiled widely at the sight of people, showing his baby teeth. Everyone looked at him in awe as Penelope went over and picked him up in her arms.
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(A/n: this was kind of a really long chapter but I hope you enjoyed it. I don't really know what to do for the next chapter so it'll take a few days to decide :))