"Come on Camille! You dance like you have two left feet!" Mrs. Belle, our dance coach yells when she enters the room. Practice is almost over and we haven't gone through the second routine without Camille messing up.
I would have jumped in to defend her but I did see her slam a girl's head against a locker. So I just stand back and watch as she basically gets told she's a bad dancer.
I mean it isn't a stretch. Camille is a bad dancer. It still amazes me how she made the team. But I do think Mrs. Belle went a little easy on her considering she's the principal's daughter and all.
"You know what? Practice is over. Go home." She sighs, rubbing her forehead as she leaves the room once again. I glance over at my friends and we try our very best not to burst out laughing. This is the second time we had to leave practice early because of her headaches.
"Well shit."
I slip back on my shoes and grab my things, meeting Geneva, Ash and Keilani by the door. We head out and walk over to the gym. Since practice ended an hour earlier than usual (again) we have some time before we have to leave.
Well only me since my brother drove me to school today, they just decided to stay with me until I leave. My friends and I push open the gym doors and see the basketball team in the middle of a game.
We walk in and sit down on the bleachers. We would have gotten kicked out if my father wasn't the Coach. And he's all about basketball. He got to play in college but never got the chance to play professionally. He never said why.
"Does anyone want some snacks?" Keilani asks as she zipped her book bag open. "My mom overwhelmed our house yesterday so we have extras. These are just the nasty snacks my brother picked out though,"
"What do you have?" Ashanti asks as she and Geneva move to sit in front of us. "I'm not picky but—"
"'I'm not picky' my ass." Geneva mumbles as she peeks inside of Keilani's bag. Ashanti gasps in offense then frowns.
It's the truth though.
"Here." She pulls out two bags of candy and hands them to Geneva. "My brother picked these out for you because he obviously wants you." She gags while Geneva smiles. Lani's brother is thirteen and has a huge crush on her.
"Tell him I say thank you." She smiles, opening the first bag, making Keilani roll her eyes. And Ash grabbing about two or three.
"You know he'll never get over that." She mutters before bringing out six packs of fruit snacks. Lani likes the real fruits while her brother loves the candy.
She hands three to me and three to Ash. "You know what? Just get whatever you want, he won't mind." She places the bag down in the middle of us right before grabbing a bag of chips.
I honestly don't know how she managed to get that many snacks into her dance bag. But I'm not going to question it. Don't need to.
"Cap." Leonardo's voice greets me before placing his body right beside me. "Hey girls." He says over to my friends and they smiled simultaneously.
I hate them.
"Hi Leo." They all say, dragging along the word in a teasing tone that has me shooting daggers at them all.
He looks back at me with a smile, showing off his perfect teeth, and smile. "Hi." I try my hardest not to smile at his smile but fail, badly. He looks so cute, but at the same time he makes it hot in this gym.
His brown hair a little wet, his hair messed up and pushed back as if he ran his hand through it. There's a coat of sweat on his skin but it does nothing but make his tan skin glow more than usual. His beautiful green eyes looking all over my face.
Melting.
"Hi." I say back. "You're not supposed to be here." I look at the court and see my brother and Brandon talking amongst each other. He's not looking over here. Well until I decide to glance over.
His whole demeanor changes and my heart drops to my ass. Surely he won't cause a scene in front of his own father and teammates.
What am I talking about? Of course he wouldn't.
"What's wrong?" Leonardo asks, gently grabbing my chin and turning my face back towards him. "You seem tense."
I quickly push his hand away and glance down. "Yeah, this needs to stop." I tell him, looking back up at him. He furrows his eyebrows but I know he knows what I'm talking about. He's literally doing this in front of Mateo. Who is watching us.
"Cap—"
"I've already let it go on for too long, Leonardo. You and my brother despise each other and I'd be damned if I get caught up in that." I say and he rolls his eyes at the words coming out of my mouth.
Yeah, that definitely isn't the reason I don't want to be around him. But I can't just go and say 'I know you only want me for my body because I willingly gave it to you. I know what you want I don't need another heartbreak.'
Definitely couldn't say that. Especially to his face.
"μωρό." He starts and I sigh. "I don't necessarily like your brother and he doesn't like me but I know he wouldn't bring you into some shit that doesn't involve you." He brings his hand to cup my face but I move away from it. I don't turn to see his face though.
"I can't risk it." I say final. And by 'it' I mean them throwing down and get booted off the team. I hear him scoff and feel his body heat disappear. I turn back to my friends and they immediately look away from me. "You guys are some real snakes."
They gasp in offense. "We didn't hear the conversation! Not that we could anyways." Geneva rolls her eyes as she bites into a Hersheys bar.
"So was Leonardo the one night stand from the party?" Ashanti asks when I reach for one of her candies.
"You figured it out, hip hip hooray." I say sarcastically. Looking back onto the court, my eyes automatically land on Leonardo. He has been passing a ball back and forth with Isaiah but with a slight force.
I saved him, so he should be happy. I mean talk about ungrateful.
He's pissed but he needs to understand that it was a one time thing. And I was an idiot for going into that classroom with him. It made things harder for me. Because for some reason I can't seem to just stay away from him, same for him.
Sounds like you both need to learn boundaries.
"Girls." Brandon pipes up, sitting down next to Geneva and stealing one of her candies from her. "Aw, thank you."
"Brandon!" She gasps and whacks at his arm. He hisses in pain since all she hit was flesh. "You fucking fatass." She mumbles, blocking all of her snacks from his reach. He pops the candy into his mouth with a smile, leaning back against the bleachers.
She thins her eyes at him, him finding amusement in her annoyance for him. I swear they fight like siblings sometimes. And once Geneva threw a knife at him all because he threw a stuffed bear at her.
All of a sudden I feel a hand pull me away from the girls. Mateo had pulled me away from the group. "What did he say to you?" He asks with a worried tone.
Why the hell was he worried? Why wasn't he mad?
"Nothing important. He just said hey and I shut him down." I shrug and he frowns. "What? What did you think he said?" He clears his throat, then looks behind me.
He shakes his head. "Nothing important. I just thought he wanted to get into your pants. That's all." I can tell he wants to say something else but I don't push. He'll tell me when he's ready I guess.
☆ ☆ ☆
"Lána!" The twins Emmanuel and Adelaide run up to me and hug me. Running right past Mateo. I chuckle as he pouts. "We missed you!" Addy squeezes me a little tighter.
"What about me? I'm here too!" Mateo squawks in offense. The twins look back at him before turning towards me and hugging me again.
Yeah, cause I'm definitely their favorite.
"Maybe try bribing them with candy." I whisper at him before making my way into the kitchen, where I see my mother. She's on the phone with her back turned to us.
Mateo walks in right behind me and she suddenly turns around to face us. She smiles and hangs up the phone. The twins let got of me, Addy going over to Mateo and Manny going over to our mother.
"Hi baby." She kisses Mateo's forehead. "How was practice? Your father said you've been making progress." She smiles widely at him.
Completely ignoring me in the process. Hooray.
He looks over at me but I walk out of the kitchen and up to my room. I didn't need another day of her asking about his day, his practice, his skills. All without sparing a glance at me.
I didn't need it at all. At first it hurt seeing both of your parents pay more attention to your other siblings more than you. But the more I experienced it, the more I choose to ignore it. It was clear as day to me that my parents didn't care about me as much as Mateo, Manny and Addy.
I place my bags down on my bed and head over to my bed. Today was a long and eventful day. Today was a day that I so desperately want to forget.
Too bad I couldn't get that.
I go over to my vanity and swiftly wipe off my makeup. I didn't put on a lot today because I was almost late and almost made my brother late. He told me if I did it again, he'd leave without me.
After finishing, I go to lay in my bed. And not even a second later, my phone dings. I huff and reach over to grab my phone from on top of my gym bag. I see two messages from Ashanti.
Ashes </3
I'm in the mood for ice cream do you want any?
Okay never mind, I'm coming over
I smile at the text and respond back to her.
Me
Yes please come to my house uninvited!
Ashes </3
Okay
But please tell me where mateo is, I can't deal with him rn
I'll give you 100 dollars if you do
That brings a wide smile onto my face. And because I'm such a good friend, I will tell her where my brother is, and I will also take the money because this is the first time she offered me money.
I text her back and stand up from my bed. To collect my money, I would have to actually see where the boy is.
Making my way to the door, I twist the handle and pull it open. I'm then met with Mateo about to knock on the door but paused mid knock. My eyebrows crease and his raise, both surprised because of each other.
"Yes?" I ask, shifting my weight onto my left foot. He always seems to have an idea when Ash would come. I don't know what it is, it's like he's stalking her or some shit. It's weird and so is he.
"Why didn't you ask mom about your competition?" He asks me. The question takes me by surprise. Only because of the fact he remembered about my competition. I was talking about it to the girls over the phone. I didn't think he heard me.
"Because it didn't come up." I tell him. He tilts his head at me. Basically telling me I'm a shitty liar and that he doesn't believe me.
"She wouldn't even go, Mateo. We both know it." It hurts to say that about your mom but when it happens like a rotation, the ping in your chest just goes away.
That's not true.
He looks to the side then back at me, his eyebrows furrowing as he does. He confuses me until I hear Ashanti's familiar voice ring throughout the house.
Oh shit.
My eyes widen and I push Mateo out of my room. "What the hell?" He yells but I continue to push him back into his room. "Solána!" I accidentally push him into the wall instead of into his doorway.
"Sorry!" I wince then push him into his room. "But if you stay in there I'll give you fifty dollars." He doesn't get the chance to respond to me because I already shut the door in his face.
I quickly run down the stairs and meet Ash in the kitchen with a bag of ice cream. My presence is acknowledged by her when she looks up at me and smiles. "Hey!" She pulls a pint of cookie dough ice cream out.
Our favorite flavor.
"Oh my god, Ash you're a savior." I groan, walking over to her and the ice cream. She smiles and laughs at me.
"Of course I am." She pops the lid off of the ice cream and I go to grab the spoons. Just as I turn around I hear small feet running into the kitchen. My furrow my eyebrows and see both twins running into the kitchen. With huge smiles on their face.
"Ash!" They shout and run over to her. Ashanti crouches to meet their eyes and hugs them as they run into her arms. I narrow my eyes at the little demons. They might love me more than Mateo but they love my friends more than me.
It's like whoever spoils them the most is who they love the most. It pains me to know that they like a girl who can't cook more than their own sister.
"Babies!" She squeals then pulls away from the twin hug. I shake my head and continue to get the spoons. "I got you candy." She whispers but obviously not well because I hear it.
The twins gasp and ask where is it. Ash chuckles and the bag makes noises. I assume she's looking for their candy. Turning around, I learn that she was in fact, digging inside the bag. She turns back to them with two bags of candy.
"You give them that and they'll be bouncing around the house until the sun comes up tomorrow." I warn her. She pauses for a second before handing them the candy. "Ash!"
"Did you really think I'll be able to resist their faces." She cups Addy's face in her hands and I roll my eyes. When she pulls away, the two dash out of the kitchen, making me huff. I have to put those damn kids to sleep tonight.
I glare at her, giving her a spoon. Ash sends me a smile as she takes it from me. "You know I love those little kids." I shake my head, shoving the spoon into the ice cream.
"Yeah, yeah, now tell me about you and my brother."
i am so happy i finally got the inspiration to fix this story because i was so sure that i was never gonna touch it
thoughts on the chapter?
love maia!