𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 | 𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐃
Ruby and Marianna approached the Díaz home, only for Ruby to immediately turn around. She sighed as she stood with her arms crossed, waiting for her brother to stop walking back and forth and make a decision.
"We don't have to do this." Marianna states.
"But Cesar said he's expecting me and to not mess this up." Ruby spoke in fear.
"What is he going to do to you?" Marianna scoffs.
After a few seconds of silence, Ruby began to frantically shake his head. "I can't do this." He says.
"Ruby!" Marianna groans as he starts walking away until a voice stops him.
"Sup, fool?" The teens turned to look at Oscar.
Marianna's breath hitched in her throat as she took in the sight of the shirtless Santo. She was only human, of course she was feeling things. Just because she didn't like him didn't mean he wasn't hot. He was very hot— and now Marianna was feeling hot.
She watched as Oscar pulled out three buckets for them to sit on, causing her to scoff. "I don't sit on buckets." She states.
"Then you can stand." He states, his eyes trailing over her exposed legs and stomach due to her short shorts and cropped tank top, a red flannel covered her arms, but she had it pushed up to her elbows.
Marianna gave him an unamused look, crossing her arms as if she was waiting for him to get a chair. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Oscar stood up with a huff, grabbing a chair and placing it barely an inch from him. The girl rolled her eyes, moving the chair closer to her brother and sitting.
Ruby's heart began to race as Oscar stared at him with furrowed eyebrows before leaning close to his face and asking, "Whats with the glitter?"
"Late night at the club. You know how hynas be." girls. Ruby lies, causing Marianna to give him a weird look.
"I feel you, homie." Oscar laughs. "Sometimes my ruca wears that same shit. She be rubbing all up on me. I can't get the crap out for days."
"What old lady?" Marianna glares at him. "You have a girlfriend but you claimed me—"
"Not what we're here about, Red." Ruby says through gritted teeth.
"No! Hell no!" She exclaims. "You get to go out and be with anyone you want, but I can't because you claimed me and people are scared? How the fuck is that fair?"
Oscar raised an eyebrow at the girl. "You tryna date?" He asks, and got his answer by the disgusted look on her face. "Exactly. A man has needs."
"Oh, really?" She scoffs. "I have needs too."
"Ew." Ruby gagged.
"I could help your needs. You're the one being stubborn." He shrugs.
"I'm stubborn for not wanting to be with a gang banger!?" She exclaims.
Oscar sucked his teeth in anger. "Wouldn't be the first time, eh? I heard about you and Sapo."
"What?" Ruby looks at the girl in shock.
"Okay, let me rephrase, I don't date grown men." She glares at him, ignoring the questioning look Ruby was giving her.
Oscar only stared at her with his tongue pressed against his cheek as he pulled out a cigarette. He ripped his eyes away from Marianna and lifted his hand up to Ruby. "Smoke?" He offers.
"Trying to quit." Ruby denies, making his sister roll her eyes at his constant lying.
Oscar sighs before looking at the girl beside him. "Red?" He offers.
"I'd like to keep my odds of getting cancer low." She says, watching as he placed it in his mouth and she quickly pulled it away. "You should keep your odds low too."
"You looking out for me?" He smirks, putting his pack of cigarettes away, not bothering to get a new one. "Watcha wanna chop it up about?"
"Um..." Ruby started nervously. "Mr. Oscar..." Marianna snorted, causing her brother to shoot her a death glare. "I mean, Spooky. I know you're a busy man, so I'll cut right to it. Is that acid?"
"Dios mío, Ruby." oh my god. Marianna groaned, letting her head fall into her palm.
"You know what? Don't answer. None of my business." He immediately says. "So, Cesar. I mean, can we just talk about how smart he is? You know, I'm smart, but he's like... a certifiable genius. And he has off-the-charts emotional intelligence, which is rare. I mean, combine that with his innate ability to empathize and problem solve, and you get the real deal. A natural leader. Which is a testament to you and how well you raised him."
"Ass kisser." Marianna muttered, rolling her eyes and crossing her right leg over her left.
Oscar noticed the movement, his eyes getting stuck on the crease of the girl's thigh and shorts. Thoughts ran through his head— like how he wanted his hands to run over her thighs, gripping them and kissing them—
"So what I'm saying is," Ruby pulled the man out of his thoughts. "he has so much potential that hasn't been realized. He's just a baby bird waiting to take flight. And who knows how high that bird can fly given the right wind and lack of avian predators."
"I never looked at him that way." Oscar states.
Marianna has zoned out as her eyes trailed over Oscar's appearance. His lack of clothing ( shirt ), the long necklace hanging around his neck, the tattoos scattered around his body, the diamond earrings in his ears. Everything about him was nice— except his personality.
She was snapped out of her daze when she realized Oscar caught her staring. She rolled her eyes at the sloppy, cocky smirk planted on his lips. She sucked in a deep breath before focusing back in on the conversation.
"You're right." Oscar tells the younger Martinez sibling. "He just needs to be given that right opportunity, with good wind and no vultures and shit."
"Well, vultures are more like scavengers." Ruby explains. "I was thinking hawks."
"Hawks can suck a dick!" Oscar exclaims.
The fuck, Marianna thought to herself.
"Exactly." Ruby mutters, giving the man a weird look. "I mean, you feeling me, Spook. Spooky."
"Yeah. Mos' def'." Oscar says, the tone of his voice made a weird feeling spread throughout Marianna's body as she shifted nervously. "You're opening my eyes, homes."
Ruby scoffs. "That's what I do." He pauses. "You know... I will take that smoke."
Oscar looked over at Marianna for approval, to which she shrugged, gesturing for him to give him a cigarette. "He can face the consequences of his choices." She states.
Ruby rolled his eyes before placing the cigarette in his mouth, allowing Oscar to light it. He inhaled shortly before exhaling, a line of coughs following after.
"You alright there?" Oscar questions with a smirk.
"Okay, well, why you die, I'm gonna go to school." Marianna stands up, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "You have fun with your new best friend."
"I'll give you a ride." Oscar offers, standing up.
"I'm good." She says. "Let's go, Ruby."
"See you later, Spooky." Ruby says, to which Oscar did the cool guy nod.
†
"I did it! I did it!" Ruby exclaims as the siblings approach their friends. "I mean, it's done. I rocked that talk hard. And for a guy named Spooky, he's surprisingly jovial."
"Wait, are you serious, Ruby?" Jamal questions in disbelief.
"Ruben." He corrects. "And yes. Cesar's out the gang. Boom. Killed it."
"You did kill it." Cesar speaks up, sarcasm laced in his tone. "You killed it so hard that I got promoted."
"No. No. Spooky and I had an understanding." Ruby shakes his head.
"I just got a text, and I'm gonna start running for the Santos." Cesar admits.
"No. No, no, no. That can't be true. He must be joking." The teen says in disbelief.
"Compa, I love you for trying, but like I said, this deal is done." The Santo admits. "And I don't blame you. I blame Monse."
"I second that." Marianna smiles proudly.
"Me!?" She exclaims.
"Yeah, you're the instigator and the frickin' honey badger. You don't quit." He tells her. "But now you have to. No more. We're done."
"And so is Ruben." The young Martinez frowns, his head hanging low. "I'm not man enough to bear that name."
Marianna sighs as she rolls her eyes at his dramatics. "Whatever, Ruben." She only called him that to make him happy. "You'll be okay. I love you. I gotta go to class."
†
"Red!" A familiar voice called out, causing her to roll her eyes with a sigh.
"What do you want, Oscar?" She stops walking on the sidewalk to face him.
"I broke up with her." He states.
"Okay." She shrugs.
"Ouch. No thank you?" He questions.
"Why would I thank you?" She scoffs with a laugh. "I didn't ask you to do that for me."
"But I did it for you. Now it's fair." He smiles.
Marianna sucked in a deep breath, shutting her eyes as she fought back a smile. Although she didn't like him, she kind of appreciated he was trying to make her feel equal.
"Okay. Can I go now?" Marianna questions.
Oscar sucked his teeth at the girl's stubbornness. "You're never gonna give me a chance?" He asks.
"Why should I?" She scoffs. "You think breaking up with your girlfriend is gonna make me swoon? I have years worth of memories of you treating me and my friends like absolute shit."
"When have I treated your friends like shit?" Oscar questions, leaving Marianna out of the question because he knew everything he did to her.
"You're right. You haven't done anything to my friends. You only used to make my life a living hell—"
"What, you want an apology!?" He exclaims.
"I don't want anything from you!" She shouts back. "I don't want your protection, I don't want an apology, and I don't want you! I want my life back!"
Oscar's hands balled into fist tightly as he backed away from the girl. "Okay." He says, walking away.
Marianna furrowed her eyebrows as she watched him walk away. "What does that mean?" She calls after him.
Oscar pauses, thinking if he was ready to let these words leave his mouth. "I release you." He says sarcastically. "Don't worry about me no more."
Marianna furrowed her eyebrows, slightly confused at his words, but she let it go.
†
Ruby furrowed his eyebrows as he watched his sister grab her bike. "What are you doing?" He questions.
"Oscar... unclaimed me." She answers. "I don't gotta ride with him anymore."
"Oh." He looks away as he thinks. "Is that safe? I mean, the Prophets are gonna come after you right?"
"I don't wanna think about that. Plus, I'm with you guys— and Cesar most of the time. I should be safe." She answers, looking up as her friends ( Jamal, Monse, and Cesar ) approach them.
"You guys ready to go or you gonna talk for two more days?" Monse questions.
"Shut up." Marianna rolls her eyes as her, Jamal, and Ruby take off on their bikes.
†
Marianna looked towards the school speaker as an announcement of the school dance was announced. She looked towards Olivia as she said, "You going to the dance?"
"No. I'm behind on school work, and the dances are always stupid." She states.
"Oh, come on." Olivia groans, grabbing her arm. "They can't be that bad."
"They're okay. The proms are better." She states.
"I can't wait for prom." Olivia gushes, slightly squeezing Marianna's arm and causing her to groan. "I've always dreamed of my first prom. What was yours like?"
"It was pretty fun, actually. I went with this girl—"
"You're gay?" The freshman questions.
"No, I'm bisexual." Marianna laughs. "You homophobic?"
"What!? No." Olivia says immediately. "I was just— you don't seem like you're into girls."
"I know." She shakes her head. "But it was a nice night. We both wore pink dresses. She asked me— and the night ended with a kiss. But nothing much happened after that."
"Why not?" Olivia frowned.
"She was just experimenting." The girl shrugs. "But I gotta go to class. See you later!"
†
"Mami!" Marianna calls out. "I'm going for a walk!" She exited her room and stopped as she saw her friend sitting with her aubuelita. "Jamal? What are you doing here?"
"Waiting on Ruby." He states.
"He's... not here." She gives him a weird look.
"Oh." He sighs. "Have fun on your walk."
Marianna rolls her eyes with a smile before leaving the house. She walked down the street, and she stopped as she looked at Oscar's house, looking at the man sitting on the steps. He looked up from the ground, a waterfall of smoking falling from his lips as he looked at the girl. He cleared is throat, throwing the cigarette down and going back inside.
A frown fell upon Marianna's lips at Oscar's lack of attention for her, but she continued her walk. She was so distracted by her music she didn't realize she had been walking for ten minutes.
"Aye!" A voice called out, catching the girl's attention.
She looked up to see a car colored in the Prophets' colors. "Shit!" She exclaimed, this time she ran.
She ran down the street, getting to a corner. Before she could decide which way to go, the green impala pulled in front of her, a few guys jumping out. She braced herself and then all of the sudden, everything went black.