•~3rd person P.O.V~•
Maya always helped with dinner, whether it was her Ya-Ya making it or her mom, she always helped.
"I'm gonna go get Miguel." Maya nodded, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. Maya could hear Miguel's music from the kitchen, she wasn't sure what he was doing, just that he didn't want to be bothered. When Ya-Ya came back up the hall, she looked as if she'd just seen the most traumatizing thing in her entire life.
"What's wrong, Ya-Ya?" Maya asked in Spanish, placing the food on plates.
"Nothing, Maya, nothing you wanna know." Maya furrowed her eyebrows but continued dipping the plates. A couple of minutes after Ya-Ya had gone down the hallway, Miguel came into the kitchen to set the table.
~
Maya, Miguel, and Ya-Ya were already eating when Carmen walked through the door.
"Ah, look who's here," Ya-Ya announced in Spanish, motioning to the twin's mother.
"Hey, guys. Mhm, it smells good in here." Carmen smiled, setting down her purse.
"Me and Maya made chicken in chili sauce," Ya-Ya said in Spanish, going to get herself a drink.
"Thank you, Mama and Maya," Carmen said in Spanish, kissing Miguel and Maya on the cheek. "I'm sorry I'm late again. Things are crazy at the hospital." Carmen sat down between Maya and Miguel.
"It's okay. You're short-staffed." Miguel took a bite of his food.
"Your plates in the microwave, Mama." Carmen smiled at Maya, going and getting her plate from the microwave and sitting at the table with everyone else.
"So, did you all decide what you're going as for the Halloween dance?" Carmen asked, taking a bite of her food. Miguel and Maya looked up, making eye contact with each other.
"I was gonna be leather Sandy from Grease." Ya-Ya gasped, Maya knew that Ya-Ya loved Grease. She made Maya and Miguel watch it repeatedly as children. They could practically recite each line.
"Well, I was thinking Deadpool, but the costume's a little pricey," Miguel spoke slowly, glancing at their mom.
"Well, how much is it?" Carmen asked.
"Oh, it doesn't have to be Deadpool." Miguel looked at Maya, who shrugged. What was she supposed to do?
"You want a Deadpool costume? We'll make you a Deadpool costume." Carmen smiled and looked at Ya-Ya who laughed.
"No. This isn't a sweatshop." Ya-Ya chuckled in Spanish.
"Oh, Miggy!" Maya looked up.
"Mm?"
"What happened to your hand?" Maya looked at his hand, it was a purple and yellow color.
"Um..."
"You don't wanna know," Ya-Ya warned in Spanish.
"What?" Miguel asked, Maya, grimaced. She knew what her Ya-Ya was thinking.
"Ew, Ya-Ya! That's not what he's doing." Maya exclaimed in Spanish, her mom and brother looking at her in confusion.
~
Maya sat at her regular lunch table with Miguel, Eli, and Demetri. The school counselor stood in the middle of the cafeteria, she said she needed to make an announcement.
"Cyberbullying is no laughing matter. Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face." Maya looked at the counselor as she spoke, the cafeteria was oddly quiet, but Maya knew that practically no one was really listening. They were all just waiting for her to leave so they could talk to their friends. "I'm not gonna name names, but the other day a mother called me up because her son was crying after some kids online made fun of his facial deformity." Maya's eyes slowly trailed from the counselor's face to Eli's. Eli's hand went to his face, his index finger covering the space above his lip. Maya glanced at Miguel, who averted his eyes from Eli as much as possible. "But today, our goal here is to make this school a safe space for all students." The counselor smiled and continued speaking, but Maya stopped listening.
"If you're sick of getting bullied, my karate dojo's looking for recruits," Miguel suggested.
"Yeah, right. You hear that, Eli? A little karate training, and you're gonna kick some major ass." Demetri said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"I'm serious, Demetri. My sensei's the real deal. I'm sure I could get you both discounts." Miguel persuaded.
"As enticing as that sounds, I think we'd rather spend our afternoons playing Crucible Control than getting hit in the face." Demetri picked at his food.
"Maybe you should let Eli decide, Demi, maybe he'd like to do karate." Maya had given Demetri the nickname 'Demi' and he didn't seem to mind it.
"One last thing. While we're all looking forward to the Halloween dance," Eli looked from the counselor to Maya.
"Are you going to the dance?" He asked, Maya, felt herself smile at how adorable Eli was.
"Yeah, me and Miguel are going." Eli nodded, looking back down at his shoes.
"What are you, um, going as?" Eli asked, glancing up at Maya for only a moment. He hated how nervous he sounded, he wished he could've sounded more confident like the other guys that talked to Maya. Maya adored it, of course, she wished he would be more self-confident, she just thought his shyness was cute.
"It's a surprise." Maya smiled.
~
"God this is more form-fitting than I was expecting it to be." Maya huffed, pulling at the sleeves of the costume.
Maya had bought the leather suit at a thrift store, she wanted to be leather Sandy that year but her friends decided on a group costume and Maya was completely on board for it. All she had to do after that was curl her hair and do her makeup. Her mom helped her with her hair, making sure it looked perfect and that it would stay all night.
"That's because it's leather, dipshit." Maya shoved Miguel a bit and he gasped dramatically.
"God, you're annoying." Maya rolled her eyes, just as the two walked through the doorway to the school.
"C'mon, I see Eli and Demetri." Maya followed Miguel, soon seeing Demi and Eli just like Miguel had said.
"Oh, skeleton. Classic. Nice." Demi said to Miguel, Maya stared at his costume, trying to figure out what he was dressed as.
"Thanks. I like your sorcerer costume." Maya nodded, glad that Miguel knew so she could just agree.
"Sorcerer? Please. I'm a necromancer." Maya and Miguel glanced at each other.
"What?" They asked in unison.
"Didn't you see the amulet?" Demetri stared at them as if they were aliens.
"So, are you a regular doctor or-" Miguel asked Eli.
"Plastic surgeon. I fix lips." Maya frowned. She didn't like Eli's costume.
"What are you supposed to be, Maya?" Demi asked, Maya, felt her face get hot.
"I'm leather Sandy, from the movie Grease?" Demi's eyebrows furrowed, he hadn't ever heard of that movie before.
"I've never seen that before." Maya's jaw dropped.
"I-I have, I mean my mom likes it so..." Eli muttered, glancing from Maya to the floor.
"Well, you need to show it to Demi. He obviously needs better taste in movies." Demi rolled his eyes.
~
A while into the party, Maya felt her phone buzz.
"W-What is it?" Eli asked, looking over Maya's shoulder.
"I don't know." Maya furrowed her eyebrows as she watched the video that Yasmine had sent to pretty much everyone. It was a girl with little stickers on her face to make her look like a pig, the video behind it was of her eating. Maya looked up, everyone laughing at the girl, her face turned upset as she watched the video and the people laughing at her.
"Oh..." Eli spoke softly.
"Eli, I'll be back, okay?" Eli nodded slowly and Maya ran after the girl from the video. The girl finally stopped in the hallway, putting her face in her hands. "A-Are you okay?" The girl turned around, wiping her eyes. Suddenly Maya felt stupid, of course, she wasn't okay. "I'm sorry that was a dumb question, my name's Maya Diaz." The girl sniffled.
"I'm Aisha Robinson." She said, wiping her eyes again.
"I'm sorry about Yasmine, she's just insecure about herself. Which doesn't excuse anything she does but it's just more comforting to know that it's not really about you." Maya looked at Aisha. "I'm sorry, I ramble sometimes." Maya grinned.
"It's okay." Aisha chuckled.
~
Maya walked back into the gym, seeing Eli and Demi run out of the bathroom. Who she didn't see, was Miguel.
"Eli!" Eli quickly stopped, turning around, Maya ran up to him. "Where's Miguel?" She asked quickly. Eli glanced above her head to the bathroom.
"We were in the bathroom, we heard these guys talking so we started to listen but then we knocked something over and they realized we were eavesdropping so me and Demetri ran." Maya gulped.
"Was...Kyler in there?" Eli nodded. "Thank you, Eli." Maya ran back into the boy's bathroom, she could hear Miguel's grunts and Kyler's punches.
She quickly rounded a corner, seeing loads of sports apparel. She saw a stick with a net on the end of it, she thought the sport that used it was lacrosse but she could research that later. She grabbed it, flipping it so she could hold it by the net. She quickly walked up behind Kyler, raising the stick, and swung. He fell with a hard thump on the floor, Maya dropping the stick.
"What the hell's wrong with you, you psycho bitch?!" Kyler yelled, gritting his teeth. Miguel groaned on the floor, holding his stomach. "One of you get her!" Kyler demanded, one of his friends grabbed both of Maya's arms. She tried kicking him, but it didn't work. They made her watch as they beat Miguel with the same lacrosse stick she'd used against Kyler. When they were done, they simply through Maya to the ground, her face drenched with tears.
Maya slowly crawled to her brother, his chest went up and down, so she knew he was at least breathing, but his face was bloody and bruised. His eyes were closed, if he wasn't so beaten up, she would've thought he was asleep.
"Miggy?" Maya's voice broke, shaking Miguel's shoulder slightly so as not to hurt him anymore. He didn't budge, he didn't wake up, and Maya was starting to get worried. She quickly stood, running into the hallway to find an adult.
Luckily, she saw two men, both of which she recognized. The man from the dojo and Johnny. She quickly ran up to Johnny, pulling his arm.
"Johnny!" Johnny quickly turned to her, recognizing it to be Maya dressed up as the girl from Grease. He quickly realized she'd been crying. "It's Miggy, he was eavesdropping and these boys realized and they beat him up. They beat him up real bad, Johnny." Maya cried, Johnny quickly nodded.
"Where's he at Maya?" Johnny asked, Maya quickly ran to the boy's bathroom, and Johnny followed her.
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