CHAPTER 3
·̩̩̥͙ $ * ☆ •̩̩͙ * ♡︎ * •̩̩͙ ☆ * ˚ $ ·̩̩̥͙
After McKay's party, the last two days of summer were a blur.
Estrella spent all of Sunday with Fezco and Ashtray, then spent Monday slumped in her bed due to smoking all day the day before with Fez.
She woke up Tuesday morning feeling a lot better, then remembered that it was the first day of school.
Estrella hated the first day of school–she hated sitting through slideshows her teachers made to tell the class about themselves, and she hated having to listen to her classmates tell the class something about themselves. She didn't care.
But she did care about first impressions, so she made sure she woke up early so she'd have enough time to get ready.
Estrella was in her room, blinking in front of her mirror to make sure her eyelashes were secure when she heard Fezco's voice speaking to her dad in the living room.
Her heart skipped a beat as she focused on their conversation, wondering why Fez was here so early, then remembered that he's probably just picking up from her dad.
She peeked out of her bedroom door and into the living room, her eyes landing on Fez as he stuffed clear bags of different pills into a duffel bag with Ashtray handing her dad a stack of money besides him.
Fezco felt eyes on him as he zipped up the duffel bag, so he looked up and immediately met eyes with Estrella.
He gave her a lil smile, then looked away after he felt himself start blushing.
"Estrella if you want a ride to school hurry it up, I got shit to do!" Hector, Estrella's dad spoke as he recounted the money Ashtray handed him.
"It's all there," Ashtray assured Hector, annoyed that he always took his time to recount it.
"Wouldn't doubt it. Just tryna decide how many bills ima give to Estrella," Hector laughed and pulled aside two 100s.
Estrella glanced at herself one last time in the mirror before walking out of her room with her backpack and her phone.
"Hiii," She said as she walked into the living room.
Hector glanced up at her from where he was sitting on the couch, "Damn, finally. Go warm up the car. Ion got no time to lose."
"I could take you," Fezco spoke up as Estrella looked around for her dad's keys, making Ashtray raise an eyebrow up at him.
Fez looked between Hector and Estrella before continuing,
"Like to school, I could take her if you got shit to do," He told Hector. "Ima take Ashtray right now anyways."
Hector stared at Fez for a second before looking back at Estrella and half nodding at her as a way of asking if she wanted to.
"I'm down," She agreed, glancing at Fez for a split second.
"Alright then," Hector nodded and stood up from where he was sitting, holding out the two bills he had pulled aside for her.
Estrella has always been a daddy's girl, she was Hector's favorite child. He could deny it to his other kids all he wanted, but Estrella's name tattooed above his right eyebrow said it all.
Hector and Estrella's mom Yahjaira hadn't even graduated high school when Estrella was born. They had her young, and since Yahjaira wanted to pursue school and Hector didn't, Estrella spent most of her early years with her dad.
It wasn't until her mom got pregnant again when Estrella was 5 that she started to be around more often, but by then Estrella wasn't interested in spending time with her mom.
All she ever knew was being with her dad, so being around her mom was uncomfortable. Yahjaira thought that maybe it would pass, and Estrella would eventually warm up to her, but she never did.
So she didn't bother bringing her along when she decided to leave. Yahjaira hoped that it would make Estrella feel bad so that she would feel what she felt when her daughter preferred her dad over her.
She didn't feel bad though. She didn't even really care. Estrella still had her dad and that's all that mattered to her. And she was all that mattered to him.
"Good luck on your first day princess," Hector told Estrella as Fezco and Ashtray walked towards the door. "Love you."
"Love you too," She said back as she folded the bills together, then gave her dad a hug.
She walked out to Fezco's car, where Fez was giving Ashtray the most annoyed look while he just laughed.
"Shut the fuck up mane," Fez mumbled and pushed Ashtray into the backseat of his car, closing the door for him.
"Leave him alone," Estrella laughed at Ashtray laughing, she loved seeing him laugh.
She thought he was too serious so she spent a lot of time trying to make him laugh while she was around him.
"He annoying as fuck sometimes," Fez told her, giving Ashtray a look so he'd shut up.
Fez glanced at Estrella from looking at Ashtray and discreetly looked her up and down while opening the passenger door for her.
"Ouu such a gentleman," Estrella said and smiled up at him.
Fezco smiled back and watched her get into his car, then closed the door and walked over to the driver's side.
"Ash what grade are you going into?" Estrella asked Ashtray as she opened her backpack to make sure she didn't forget to pack some makeup in case she needed to touch it up.
"7th," He responded as Fez got in his car. "I won't be there long though."
"You gonna pull a Fezco?" Estrella asked him.
"Huh?" Fez asked.
"Yeah I might," Ashtray nodded, ignoring his brother as he began driving. "So princess, you don't drive?" He asked Estrella, mocking the nickname Hector had for her.
"In which princess movie have you seen the princess drive?" She asked and laughed.
"Iono, I don't watch that princess shit," Ashtray replied, making her laugh again.
Fezco smiled to himself at the conversation they were having, he liked that two of the people he loved the most got along.
Ashtray loved to act like he couldn't stand Estrella, and Fezco knew he was acting.
He didn't think not liking Estrella was even possible.
"Oh. Well no, I don't drive. My dad's been saying he's gonna teach me, but he won't let me drive his 64," Estrella said as she finished laughing.
"Fezco can teach you," Ashtray said and patted his brother's arm, knowing that Fez planned on asking Estrella out soon and wanting to help him out. "He taught me."
"You can reach the pedals?" Estrella asked Ashtray, making Fez laugh.
Ashtray gave Estrella an annoyed look before rolling his eyes and leaning back in his seat, done with the conversation.
"I'm just kidding shorty. But no I don't wanna total Fez's car," Estrella said after Ash stayed quiet.
"What you mean?" Fezco asked her.
"Like, I don't wanna fuck up and wreck your car," She clarified and looked at him.
"Shit as long as you know what you're doin you'll be good," Fez shrugged, glancing at her as he stopped at a red light. "You jus gotta believe in yourself."
They stared at each other for a while, and usually they would both look away once they felt themselves start blushing, but neither of them did.
"The light's green," Ashtray spoke, ruining their little moment.
Estrella smiled a little as she and Fez both looked away.
"My bad," Fez apologized and kept driving.
The rest of the car ride was silent between the three, the only sound present was the music playing off Fezco's playlist.
He dropped Ashtray off at his middle school before driving one block down to East Highland High to drop off Estrella.
"Thanks for ride Fezzzz," Estrella said and took her seatbelt off, leaning over to wrap her arms around his neck in a hug.
"Yeah fosho," Fez said and hugged her back with one arm.
Estrella sat back right, going on her phone's camera to check her makeup, "I'll get out in a minute, I just need to fix my eyelash real quick."
"It's cool, take your time," Fez nodded, kinda not wanting her to leave. "Ion got nowhere better to be anyway."
He looked around the parking lot at all the high school kids hanging around before the bell rang, then began watching Estrella fix her makeup.
He thought about the look Ashtray gave him when he dropped him off, telling him to ask Estrella out.
Fez had told him that he wanted to but he wasn't sure, and Ashtray has been telling him to stop being a pussy ever since.
"You gonna need a ride home too?" Fez asked her.
"Star!"
"Hey bitch!" Maddy and BB yelled from where they were standing a few feet away from Fezco's car, earning Fez and Estrella's attention.
Estrella smiled and shook her head as Maddy, Cassie and BB laughed, motioning for her to hurry up and join them.
Estrella motioned for them to wait for her and turned back to Fez.
"I think I'll be fine, thanks though," She smiled. "Bye Fez."
Fez didn't say anything back and watched as she reached for the door handle, then decided to listen to Ashtray and stop being a pussy.
"Wait up."
Estrella turned to look back at Fezco as he leaned in without thinking twice and pressed his lips onto her's.
She got immediate butterflies as she kissed him back, trying her best not to smile into the kiss and ruin it.
Fez pulled away after a few seconds, not leaning back and kept his face a few centimeters away from Estrella's.
"Have a good first day princess."
—$—
"Bitch you look good," Maddy told Estrella as the group of four walked through the hallway at school.
"Oh shit, that's the girl who tried to commit suicide at McKay's," BB said before Estrella could respond as Rue and Jules walked past the group.
"Wait, what?" Maddy and Cassie asked at the same time while Estrella glanced back at Rue and Jules, half remembering what she saw go down at McKay's.
"Oh yeah, I forgot," BB said. "You two both was fuckin, and Star was with Highland's very own Pablo Escobar."
"Ugh, why does everybody think we fucked?!" Maddy exclaimed.
"You were with Fezco at McKay's?" Cassie smirked at Estrella.
"Andddd he just dropped you off," Maddy pointed out, looking from Cassie to Estrella. "Is there something you wanna tell us?"
"Yeah," Estrella nodded. "Y'all are nosy."
"Mhmm," Maddy hummed back, knowing she would tell her when they were alone.
Maddy was the only one out of the group that knew about Estrella's little crush on Fezco. She knew they had hung out a lot during the summer, but she didn't know they had sex. Estrella only told her that they had kissed.
"Hey," Kat smiled as she began walking alongside the group.
"Oh look, it's our new sexpert!" BB announced as Maddy moved to give Kat a hug.
"Congratulations, bitch!" Maddy laughed as she hugged her.
"Welcome to the club," Cassie added.
"You're the only one lefttttt," BB reminded Estrella, referring to losing her virginity.
Estrella wanted to laugh and tell her friends right then and there that she had lost it that summer to Fezco, but stopped herself.
What if he didn't want people knowing?
Estrella loved BB, but she would tell everyone. She couldn't risk anything.
The bell rang, which saved Estrella from having to say anything back.
"I'm going to class, bye bitches."
—$—
"Hey Star."
Estrella looked up at Nate from staring up at her phone as he sat down in the empty desk next to her.
"I didn't know we had a class together," He said after he didn't get a response.
"Me either. I was praying we wouldn't, actually."
Nate laughed, "Awe come on. You can't still be mad at me for something that happened like 5 years ago."
"I'm not mad. I just don't like you."
Estrella rolled her eyes and stood up, grabbing her backpack and walking to another empty seat in the classroom.
"Hey," She said to the girl in the seat next to her. "I'm Estrella."
"I'm Jules," Jules said back and took a good look at her. "Oh you're the girl that was at the liquor store–you know Rue, she's told me about you."
"She referred to me as the girl that was at the liquor store?" Estrella laughed.
"Oh no, she called you Star and I only knew she was talking about you because she told me that you saw me at the liquor store. I went a couple days ago and you were there playing cards with the guy at the register," Jules reminded her.
"I remember," Estrella nodded. "We thought you and Rue would be friends so we told her about you and we were right."
"Yeah," Jules smiled back. "Rue told me about you too, and she's been talking about how she wants us to meet."
"Rue likes to introduce me to all her friends," Estrella laughed. "So you're new, do you like it here?"
"It's alright. Kinda boring," Jules shrugged.
"Yeah I feel you, I moved here a few years ago and it's way different than where I'm from," Estrella agreed as the bell rang.
Her phone buzzed in her hand, making her glance down at it as Jules continued talking about how she's been exploring Highland.
iMessage–Fez
What are u doin 2nite?
iMessage–Fez
I wanna take you out
iMessage–Fez
Like on a date