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S a n F r a n c i s c o | 1 9 8 7
The classroom was very quiet, Ruby was sitting in the front row, struggling hard with her thoughts. On the other hand, Tito was in the back row looking at the backs of all his classmates with boredom, as Master Lin's voice echoed through the room.
"World war I, was started by a teenager with a pistol, a serbian peasant who chose to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand," Lin walked slowly, tapping his cane against the floor as he examined the rows.
"Set in motion the chain reaction culminating in two world wars and today's Cold war," Tito watched Brandy passed a note to the new student, Marcus, he let out a smirk, oh man, Dylan will kill you he said to himself,
"Character is revealed through choice, consider for a moment," Master Lin swiftly moved the cane and placed it on the note, thus scaring Marcus away, Tito watched him carefully, Lin approached the new student's chair slowly.
"Sorry, I was just..." Ruby heard Marcus speak, she knew he was frightened by Lin's behavior, everyone was at first, followed by a thump and a crack, "Jesus," Marcus cried a little, causing Ruby to smirk by imagining Brandy filling up with blood.
Reactions from the room were beginning to be seen or heard, Brandy's harsh sighs, Viktor and Tito's giggles, Marcus shocked sighs, Ruby quickly turned to look at her for a few seconds and then turned back with satisfaction.
"Who would be the recipient of your rage: A Thief? A child molester? A world leader?" Brandy ran the blood from her nose across her lips, staring at Marcus., "This one decision betrays all secrets and unveils true motive. Ask yourself, on that dark ledge, poised to strike with clean opportunity, Who would you kill?" Master Lin turned to look at them.
| Earlier that day |
The day seemed no different than all the others, the sun came out the same, the air felt the same, everything was the same as always, Ruby opened her eyes heavily, she wanted to keep sleeping, her head ached as if she hadn't slept at all during the night.
When she got up she looked in the mirror, her hair was disheveled, then she looked directly at the uniform, neat and well ironed, she walked towards it and started to take off her pajamas to replace it with the uniform until she heard a couple of knocks on her door.
"Hermanita, are you still asleep?" Ruby recognized Tito's voice through the door, walked half-dressed, opened the door and stepped to the side, making sure no one saw her half-naked and letting her brother into her room.
"No, I just woke up, ¿Qué pasó?" Her brother looked at her, walking past her straight to the bed and lying down as he groaned, Ruby closed the door behind her.
"Nada, only your bed is much more comfortable than mine," She continued to get ready, 5 minutes later she was already doing her hair, sitting on the bed with her twin, who immediately turned to look at her.
"Chico is in his mood, Maria was out most of the night, and he told her that he went on a mission for Lin," Ruby pressed her lips together in a single line, feeling hot with fury at the thought of Chico being cheated.
"That chavalita," She said in a disapproving tone and followed by a sigh, she adored Maria would not say that the situation between her and Chico would cause her problems or clouds of judgment, but if she had to choose between hurting her or her hurting Chico, she would go for Maria.
"Do you need help?" He said pointing to his twin's hair, she had finished untangling her hair and nodded. The sister remembered how much she liked to have her brother and Mar comb her hair. At 5 years old the two children begged their mothers to teach them various types of hairstyles to do for Ruby.
"Braid crown?" he asked as he got up and sat on the bed.
"Sí, por favor," The younger girl closed her eyes as she felt her brother's fingers in her hair, and she swore she could feel Mar's fingers too.
Both were ready to join the others, they left the room, walking towards Juan's dormitory, in the corridors before entering the other room they heard Viktor talking about a new student, but they didn't pay attention to him.
Juan, Chico, and the twins were on their way to the dining room for breakfast and found Maria sitting at the table with all the other Santanas.
Everyone sat down but saw no one new, surely not learning the schedule. If there really was a new student, Ruby watched Chico give Maria a kiss, she had gotten used to this point but the pain just carried over.
Maddy came and sat down next to Ruby, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, "Hi Chuchu, I brought you something," she took out a box of chocolates to give her, "I know you like them a lot, yesterday when I went out with Oscar I bought them."
"Thanks Mads," she hugged her, as Eric laughed, "Very careful mano, or Rub steals Maddy from you," Oscar threw a piece of bread at Eric with a laugh.
"You didn't buy me anything Mads," Diego looked at her with narrowed eyes, "Of course I bought you something," she said, taking out the package of gummies.
They all ate happily amidst laughter and jokes, it was time to leave to get their books and things for class, they got up and said goodbye to each other.
"I'm going to look for Maria, she left very quickly ¿Estamos?," said Chico in a hurry, followed by Juan.
Tito and Ruby nodded in agreement, walking over and observing a lot of whispering, as they reached the lockers the younger sister saw across the hallway, Maria talking to a boy she didn't know, she assumed he was the new boy they were all talking about.
"Apparently we found her faster than Chico, some people say he is the child killer," Tito laughed a little looking at the interaction.
"Let's hope he doesn't see her talking to the new kid," Ruby said, closing the door tightly, "Because otherwise you know..." she didn't finish speaking because she saw Chico grab Maria by the neck and push her towards the wall, the twins walked quickly toward the situation, to see if they could avoid conflict.
"You like this pendejo?" Chico's eyes were on fire looking at Maria without observing the presence of the stranger.
"As if," Maria said smiling, this caused Ruby to shiver, she knew the oldest Salazar would not take it well, "I'm just looking for new recruits, baby," Chico removed his hand from the girl's neck, looking at Ruby and Tito next to him.
"Man get off her," The new boy tried to pounce on the couple, but Juan intervened, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey," Chico spoke, grabbing his best friend's shoulder.
"Tranquilo," he walked in front of Juan to give him a hook in the stomach, "Chico stop, this is not the moment," Ruby tried to grab his arm but Tito grabbed her by the waist when he saw his friend pull the blade from his belt.
"You like María, huh?" he mentioned, holding the kinfe against the unknown boy's cheek, and then removing the blade and shaking it, "Meet my other lady," grabbing him by the shoulder to reposition the blade on the new guy's neck.
"Not here, he'll block," Juan stopped his friend by pointing to the guard at the door, "Come on, let's go."
"Tonight, me and you are going on a date, wear something nice, we're going to bury you in it." Billy was passing by with a cup, Chico took the cup and dumped the contents on top of the new guy.
"Sorry Billy, I promise to replace it," Ruby said underneath, "Yes Bill, we will." Tito winked at him.
"Go," said the eldest of them all, taking María by the arm, and Ruby by the lower back to make them walk.
| AP Black Arts |
"Jesus," Marcus cried a little, causing Ruby to smirk by imagining Brandy filling up with blood.
"Who would be the recipient of your rage: A Thief? A child molester? A world leader?" Brandy ran the blood from her nose across her lips, staring at Marcus., "This one decision betrays all secrets and unveils true motive. Ask yourself, on that dark ledge, poised to strike with clean opportunity, Who would you kill?" The boy named Marcus opened the note that Brandy gave him, and when he opened it, he made a frightened face as he read it.
"Your homework tonight, half your semester grade, will tell me who you really are, use your training, search the city for a worthy target, someone you think deserves to die, and kill them." Master Lin's gaze was gruff, until the bell rang to announce the end of class.
Ruby grabbed her books as everyone began to rise, "Discard the body, hide all evidence, bring me proof." Chico walked over to the twin and together they walked out of the room waiting for Tito outside.
The three walked to the lockers, where Chico spoke, "Are you guys upset?" The girl looked at him with a face of sarcasm, but before she could say anything her brother answered.
"Not me compa, but my hermanita looks like she wants to stab you." Ruby said nothing, yes of course she was upset, more than that, she was burning with anger, because he didn't seem to take seriously what would happen if he was kicked out of King's dominion, his parents would be mad at everyone, not just him, all because of Maria, she didn't care if they were all kicked out at once.
"I'm furious with you, don't talk to me, go find Maria if you get run off she will be the only one who will love you," Rub, took her and her twin's Gi to go change, "Sorry homs," the older brother walked quickly to catch up with his sister.
"You need a break for a little while and you already look like Oscar," Tito put his arm around his twin's shoulders, she turned to look at him annoyed, "Shut up vato, Oscar is right most of the time, and you know it, go change." She gave her the Gi and she walked into the girls locker room without looking back, leaving Tito laughing.
| Hand-to-Hand Combat |
"When the Republic of Texas openly declared genocide, which Indian tribe survived for another 40 years? Well, they all got done in the end," Ms. DeLuca was walking while all the other students were kneeling, they saw Willie move, followed by hearing him say, "Sorry Ms. DeLuca," the teacher ignored him to continue with what she was saying.
"The fierce Comanche survived due only to strength and cunning. Remember, hand-wringing liberal ideals won't keep you safe, the world respects those who can protect themselves. Every opponent has a weakness, pick a partner, find theirs," they all got up to go find someone to fight with, the Santana girl watched Maria get up and take Marcus by the hands, then look at Ruby as she smiled at her in a sincere way, she just smiled out of instinct.
"Can we work together?" she watched as Willie stood in front of her, "Okay," the girl began to think about what Willie's weakness might be, when he tried to attack her, she successfully dodged him, "I heard your dear Chico made a jealous scene with the new boy," he threw another punch trying to grab the little girl.
"It's none of your fucking business homie," she said as she looked at the boy's legs to see where to hit, he laughed, "Careful little girl, soon you'll make a scene too..." his voice was cut off by the kick he felt in his knee, making him whimper in pain, the girl took his arm applying pressure, causing him to kneel and immediately his face went straight to the ground, "You should focus on yourself and less on the others big guy."
Ruby adjusted her hair checking to see if it had been messed up, she walked quietly until she heard the heavy footsteps behind her she quickly stepped to the side, putting her foot down to trip the person following her, "I told you you're so clumsy, Willie," she said mockingly, looking at the boy on the ground while her brother laughed from afar.
| Poison Lab |
"In case the victim dies in a spectacularly nasty fashion, as blood seeps from every orifice, prepare your poison, students, we will be killing these animals in two minutes." Denke said, the twins high-five, they loved this class, not because they were killing animals, but because according to their mother it would serve them well in the future, so they paid extra attention.
"Chuchu, it's my turn to kill him," Tito whispered to his sister, "Yes it's all yours, I can't kill this little creature," she put a hand on her chest playfully, and put on a worried face.
"Hey sorry, could you grab that for me?," Marcus said to Viktor.
"Pick your own book soft boy," Ruby watched Marcus carefully, she knew he could be intriguing, and she liked seeing people scared, after all she had been surrounded by that all her life, on the other hand she liked Petra, she was very smart, she sympathized a lot with the rats because she was always surrounded by her brothers or others from her own gang, but she enjoyed the pranks they did to her classmates.
"Name one common industrial poison ideal for making a statement. Viktor," Tito elbows his sister as Petra and Billy collaborate to ruin Viktor's soda.
"Sodium cyanide, victim is dead in seconds," The twins rolled their eyes. That kind of poison didn't work; it was too fast.
"You want to make a statement that strychnine leaves your victim contorted and convulsing for hours," Petra said quickly with a calm face, "Good, Petra. And why do we want to know that this wasn't an accident?" Denke mentioned, "Poison delivers a clear message, no one is safe from you...anywhere." The Santana brothers watched Viktor put the can to his mouth, he's such a jerk, so they didn't feel bad for him.
"Outstanding," the teacher said, looking at the boy knowing what was waiting for him, meanwhile Viktor started to flirt with Petra.
"Ew," Ruby said looking at them, suddenly the boy got up while sweating and making strange noises. Ruby held his laughter and began to laugh cheekily, followed by Billy who was still trying to suppress his laughter.
"Sit down, Viktor," the teacher Denke had a strong tone, "I must use lavatory," Viktor was desperate, "I said sit down!" The teacher walked a few steps forward, "Do it, sit," at this point Viktor was red, and his gasps were getting louder.
Viktor couldn't take it anymore and shit himself, Denke took the can and sniffed it, "Learn from his shame, class, Viktor invited this attack with his arrogance. You always remember this," after glancing at Viktor, he continued on his way to Billy, "And you, get a mop."
| Lunch |
Ruby left the room shaking her head from side to side, with her brother taking her arm, they left their books in the lockers to go to the dining room, "Are you still mad at Chico?" her sister rolled her eyes, "I don't know," she just walked over to the table, gave Eric a kiss on the cheek and followed Rosa.
"Hey baby," Eric said looking at her, he knew why she was upset. Everyone at school was talking about Chico's confrontation with the new boy, who was apparently named Marcus.
"Hey," she answered in a low tone, "Where are the others?" She look at the almost empty table.
Tito answered, "Maybe they were late," shrugging his shoulders he got up to get food for his sister and him, since Eric and Rosa already had their trays, the twins did almost everything together, they just didn't go to the bathroom together because they thought of it was repulsive, they were the life picture of his mother and tío.
Maddy entered the dining room without Oscar, she sat down and greeted them, before they asked about her boyfriend she mentioned, "Oscar went to talk to Lin about what happened in the morning with Chico, he said he would eat later," the three nodded, then Maddy got up to go for her food.
About 15 minutes passed and the missing ones had arrived, Diego and Oscar were already there, as well as Chico, Juan but María was not there apparently she was not feeling very well.
Chico was staring at Ruby, expecting her to look back at him and smile at him like she used to, but she seemed to be avoiding his gaze.
Then the eyes went to the door of the dining room, where Marcus was entering, Oscar glared at him, but he calmed down when he felt Maddy's arms around his arm, on the other hand Chico glared at him, tightening his jaw.
Billy walked quickly up to the table and sat across from Marcus, "I think Chico 's got a crush on you, or he wants to kill you, probably kill you," Marcus turned to see Chico, who blew him a kiss.
"Tomorrow, this can be you, Famous!," Billy pointed to the missing child in the milk carton, "Fuck that bully, he pushed a girl," Marcus met Chico for a few minutes and didn't like him at all, "What his deal, anyway?" he wanted to know what he had gotten himself into.
"Mm, Santana siblings and Chico's cartel, número uno on campus, like the star football kids at a normal school, they call themselves Soto vatos," Billy said looking at them, "Dicks," Bill laughed a little.
"I don't recommend you mess with them, he's the oldest Oscar, he graduates next year, cool, best of his year, stays out of trouble, he's next in line Eric, he's the most explosive of all , you say something he doesn't like, and you've chosen the path of pain, the next ones are the twins, Rob is the giggly one he flirts with literally everyone, but don't mess with his family because otherwise you won't last another day, Ruby can be said to be the calmest of all, she is kind, but when it comes to fights she does not hesitate twice to get involved, she is untouchable, poor thing that of any guy who wants to hang out with her, nobody is enough, Diego is the youngest, he entered last year, usually very curious, and cute but has an insufferable humor," Marcus was registering everything, what his classmate was saying.
"Their families have known each other since they were young, together they formed their organization and empire, well you know Chico, and the other is Juan, the best friend, the girl who is arm in arm with Eric is Rosa, Juan's sister and Eric's girlfriend, the one who is arm in arm with Oscar is Maddy," Marcus looked at them, he was in big trouble.
"Top of legacies," The new kid looked at him with a curious look, "kids from the government, or criminal organizations, as in, not like us," Billy looked at him, most of the students really were like the royalty of the criminal world, he hadn't joined a cult, this was even worse, "Us?"
"My old man's an abusive, low-rank cop, dialed into the Mob, you're a bloodthirsty orphan, we're losers, dude." He laughed a little at the end and continued introducing the other legacies who were in the dining room.
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