Narrative POV:
Ronnie has always had it rough, her dad left when she was just a baby and her mom was always struggling so since Ronnie was little she had to raise herself, she was always going to her grandma's house or staying at a friends house,
Cole becker and Ronnie had been bestfriends since they were babies, Cole always took care of Ronnie, deep down Cole was in love with Ronnie but he never knew how she felt so he never told Ronnie how he felt about her as the years went by Cole and Ronnie got closer with the other kids in their neighborhood and they all became a family
They were all so close because they all lived in the ghetto, they all had crazy parents, they all grew up with a screwed up background so that's what made them so close with each other, it's the year 1996, Cole was eight years old and Ronnie was seven and they were playing with Cole's little sister Cindy, one day they were playing and the kids decided to walk to the park while they were playing soccer,
A random car started driving in circles fast and started a drive by, the kids got scared and Cole grabbed Cindy and Ronnie and covered them while they were hiding behind a giant tree on a big bright green field
Once the shooting stop the men who started the driveby threw their gun on the big greenfield close by the giant tree and left, Cole and Ronnie got up but Cindy stayed down
"Cindy, are you okay?" Cole asked
"Cindy? The shooting is over, come on, we have to go home now!" ronnie said tapping Cindy shoulder
Then Cole rolled her over and notice blood all over Cindy, she was shot in the chest by her shoulder, Cindy had a bruise on her head and her gunshot wound was leaking a lot of blood
Ronnie and Cole started screaming for help, then Cole walked over to the gun and picked it up, Cole started shaking and started to cry
Cindy was only five years old, still so young, so innocent
"Help! Someone please! Help!" Cole screamed out
It took the cops six hours to get to the park by the time they got there, Cindy was gone
The cops didn't bother asking what happened, they saw a black boy by a gun, a dead body and a helpless mexican girl and that was enough to them, that night they arrested Cole and ever since then Cole had been back and forth to jail but most of the times he went to jail was for his family or for Ronnie, people would threaten his mom or Ronnie so he would get into fights, he would pull out guns or bring pocket knives,
Cole was scared the first time he went to jail but he knew he couldn't show his fears or tears so he stayed quiet and got tough
Cole would always go back to Ronnie once he would get out of jail, no matter what he always choose her, for the longest time Cole's mother always blamed him for Cindy's death she always thought if Cole would've left Cindy at home she would still be alive, Cole always wondered the same thing, what if he had left her home or what if he had gotten shot instead? But he knew it was in the past and he could never change that so he lived with that guilt ever since then
Ten years later....
Ronnie POV:
(Ronnie's thoughts)
Where am i? I see a big green field, it looks like the same field where Cindy died i look around and it's just empty
*BANG****BANG****BANG*!
As i hear the gunshots i run towards the giant tree and duck down, i wrap my hands around my head and i curl up and stay down, the gunshots and screams echo in my ears as it finally stops i look up and i felt so scared and alone, i felt something touch my shoulder i look over and i see Cindy and she's been shot, i frantically stand up and i look at Cindy and i see her slowly dying, then everything started going dark i couldn't do anything but scream as i scream in my dream, my alarm goes off, the loud buzzing noise wakes me up
i open my eyes and see it's 7:30 am, another winter morning as i sit up on my bed i looked at a picture of me,Cole and Cindy, i look outside my window and see how it's snowing and raining, i lay back down and hide under my blankets, then i hear my little sister Lucy cry out for me, i quickly get up and get ready for the day i put on a oversized black t-shirt and skinny jeans with flats and an oversized hoodie, after i got ready i head straight to my little siblings room, i see Lucy crying and mateo is just laying in his bed, i go straight to Lucy and i pick her up
"Good morning" i say in a soft voice, i look over to mateo and i see how he's the same as yesterday as he always been, quiet always been shy, never liked to talk
"Come on mateo let's go make breakfast, want some pancakes?" i ask, mateo nods his head and i grab his hand and take him and lucy to the kitchen, i set lucy in her chair, and give her and mateo their sippy cups and let them start coloring, i get out all of the ingredients for pancakes, i notice how we were running low on milk and eggs i made mental reminder to go to the store after school, i finally finish the pancakes and i fix lucy and mateo their plates and then i wonder if my mom was hungry, i walk down to her room and start knocking on the door
"Hey ma, are you hungry?" no answer so i knocked again
"Mama? Are you awake?" I finally opened her door and turned on the light, mom never came home last night, i forgot she had to work late last night so i'm guessing after her shift she went to Jack's,
how sweet and kind of her to let me know, i walk back to the kitchen and noticed that the kids are done eating so now i pick lucy and mateo up and take them to their rooms to get them ready, i get lucy in long sleeved pastel pink shirt with blue jeans and white shoes and i get mateo a long sleeved spider-man shirt on with black jeans and black shoes,
my poor little siblings they needed new clothes and new shoes, i put lucy and mateo jackets on them, put them into the stroller and walked to my grandmother's house, my grandma lived about three blocks from me as i was walking, my friend Lila honked her car horn
I turned around and see her roll her window down
"Girl! What are you doing walking in the freezing cold with those babies?" she asked
"In case you forgotten i don't have a car" I said, lila rolled her eyes
"Get in, the last thing you need is those kids getting sick" i get lucy and mateo out of the stroller, get them into the car
Lila turned car heater on for the kids
"So am I taking yal to your grandmama's house? Lila asked, lila is half black and half jamaican so she kinda had a british ghetto accent
"Yep" i look back and check up on the kids,mateo is looking out the window and lucy is just coloring, finally we pull up to my grandma's house
"Thanks girl, give me a sec?" I asked
"Um...yeah! I'm not gonna let you walk to school, but hurry up we gotta pick everyone else up" so i quickly get out of the car i get my siblings and we go inside and i see my grandma in the living room reading
"Hola Abuela" i say
"Hi Mi hija, ay mis pequeñas, Lucianna and Mateo are getting so big, did your mama come home last night" my grandma asked in her sweet voice
"No she didn't she had to work, by the way here grandma" I hand my grandmother 200$
"What is this?" She asked me
"It's money, for watching the kids i don't know if i'm gonna be able to pick em up tonight, i have to work so this money should be able to get you some groceries for dinner"
"No mija, take it back you need way more than i do" my grandma begged me
"No,no that's for you, I love you, I gotta go okay? I'll see you tomorrow" I give her a kiss on the cheek as i walk towards the door i look back on my little siblings
"Bye babies, I love you!" then i leave i run towards lila car and we leave and go pick up our other friends
"So did your ma ever come home last night?" Lila asked
I gave her a certain look then i looked out the window
"So it's still the same old drama?"
"Please, story of my life, for once I just want my mom to be a real mom, you know like be there when I come home from school or be there when I wake up, Jeez! Forget me just be there Lucy and Mateo, but no she's out tryna act like Christina Aguliera and her freaking brainless bimbo boyfriend tryna to act like tupac''
"Wait, what!?" lila asked while laughing hard
"What?" i surprisingly asked
"You said he tryna to act like tupac?" lila asked
"Yes! I mean he's always trying to act ghetto and I'm like dude you were raised in a sucky, bougie, rich neighborhood where women throw little bougie tupperware parties and men just sit and complain for no reason!" then lila broke down laughing, i couldn't help but laugh with her, first we picked up Bones and AJ
"Hey-yo!" Bones yelled out
"About freaking time, i was fixing to start walkin to school" AJ said sounding annoyed
"Boy! Don't start with me today, trust me I will gladly go back there and kick your butt!" lila said threatening AJ
Bones and I started laughing and AJ rolled his eyes as always
"Alright, who are we picking up next?" i ask
"Dream, Emmett and Cole" Lila explained then i looked at her surprised
"Wait, Cole is coming to school today? He hardly ever comes" i muttered
"Yeah, well him and his mom got into a fight and she said if he wants to stay with her then he needs to stay in school" Alex added
"Did he call and tell you that or were you there when the argument started?" I asked
"He told me. He called me up and he was all like "Yo do you wanna go down to the 7\11?" and i told yeah i'm down so we meet up down the corner of the supermarket and we walked to the 7\11 and he told what went down"
"Was he mad?" Bones asked
"Pfft...he was trippin, like i've seen him get angry before but not like that"
And i started thinking why didn't Cole tell me
"I wonder why he didn't call me, he tells me everything" i added
"Yeah that's crazy, you guys are PB&J" lila said
I didn't let it get to me, finally we got to dream's house and emmett and cole were there waiting
"Hey Deedee!" lila hollered
"Heyyy! Finally my ol' man was ready to murder emmett" dream complained
Dream sat between me and lila and the guys were pretty much squished
"Okay i got one thing to say if i feel any kind of hokey-pokey, we're all gonna have problem, that's all i gotta say" Emmett announced all the girls rolled their eyes
"Emmett shut up, who's gonna wanna touch you?" Cole added
Lila and i started laughing, during the car ride to school me and dream were talking, and Cole and bones were doing last-minute homework, finally at last we made to the school from Hell
"Okay yal remember we are here to mind our own business so don't go startin stuff that i'mma have to finish, and Bones if anyone messes with you don't try nothin just let me know and i'll handle it" Cole explained to us
Once i heard that i immediately step in, everyone listens to Cole, not always but they do obey him since he's a bit older than everyone not only that he knows the streets ways and he's always there to protect us
"Umm...no you ain't" then everyone looked at me, Cole looked at me with a frustrated look
"What do you mean, no I ain't!?" he shouted
"Didn't you hear the judge last time you were in jail, if you go back they're gonna make things a lot worse for you, plus you don't always need to be fighting" i scolded
"So what! Screw what the judge said, it's my job to make sure that everyone makes it and that's including you!" i looked with anger and stubbornness everyone else went quiet
"Fine, i'll see you all at lunch" then i walked off
Narrative POV:
Ronnie and Cole hated fighting with each other, it seemed like everytime Cole went back to jail he just got more colder and that scared Ronnie, because she was tired of Cole always leaving her, always going back and forth to jail she missed him so much and they lost so much time
Ronnie made Cole promise her that his jail days were over and he did because Cole would've done anything for Ronnie, he would even kill for her, that's how much he loved her, Cole lost his dad, Cole lost his sister, he was gonna do whatever it took to keep Ronnie safe and forever his
Throughout the whole day Ronnie and Cole were bugged by their argument, but that wasn't the only thing that made Veronica upset, she felt more upset about how Cole didn't tell her about the argument he had with his mom, it really bothered her after five classes it was finally lunch break, everyone met up outside and sat in a patio lunch table they all got their lunch out and started trading snacks and they all talked about the teachers and all of the fake rich whites
"Oh my gosh, i almost forgot to tell you guys i almost got into a fight with Sofia Weston" Lila said
Sofia weston used to a very close friend of Ronnie and the group until her father came up with a multi-millionaire business idea and moved their family out of the hood, now she acts like she better than everyone
"What? Why?" Alex asked
"So i went to the bathroom and i was like the only one in there and so i guess sofia and her friends didn't know i was in there and i heard them talking trash about Cole" Ronnie immediately got serious
"What did she say?" ronnie asked
"She said "Oh my gosh did you hear what Cole Becker did, he deserves to be in jail him and his trashy friends" after she said that better believe that i was ready to throw hands" Lila scoffed
This anger Ronnie and Dream, then the girls started to exchange looks and Cole just knew what they were thinking
"I know that look girls, don't even think about it trust me, sofia is not worth you three getting expelled"
"Principal Harris isn't gonna expelled us for fighting, if anything we'll probably just gonna get detention" dream added
Then Cole gave a sarcastic look to the guys
"The way you three girls fight she probably will, she might even get the cops involved" emmett replied
"Yeah and no one can throw hands like Ronnie" Bones added
"Yeah why do you think we call her Rocky sometimes?" alex asked
Ronnie still felt angry and she didn't care what Cole said so did what she does best...fight
After lunch the guys went to their classes and the girls went to the bathroom and talked about Sofia
"So what are we gonna do about Weston?" Dream asked
"Well first let's wait for the right time to deal with her, i know she talks trash to everyone about us in class" Lila said
"Okay, so if i hear anything i'll let yal know that's it's gonna go down" Ronnie added
"Wait, what about her skanky friends?" dream questioned
"Please, them petty lil princesses don't know how to throw hands" Lila comment
So the girls got ready for the fight, they put their hair into ponytails and made sure that they were prepared
All the girls had history next and as they expected they ran into Sofia and her spoiled friends
"Oh look who it is, Ronnie and her skanky broke down whores" Sofia barked, once Ronnie heard that she punched Sofia hard and grabbed her hair and took her to the ground, one of Sofia friend tried to tackle Ronnie but Lila took her down then dream got involved
A ton of students noticed and all of then started watching and rooting out loud and it took five teachers to try to break up the fight but Ronnie wasn't going to quit she kept fighting Sofia
"Get her Ronnie! BEAT HER!" Dream cheered, the teachers grabbed ronnie and sofia friends and took them to the Principal's office
MEANWHILE WITH COLE AND ALEX:
Cole and Alex were in workshop class, everything was going good until a student started rukkus
"Hey y'all there's a fight going on!! Come check it out!!" then everyone started to run out of the room
The teacher tried to keep everyone inside
"Yo Bailey? Who's fightin?" Cole asked
"It's Delgado and Weston!" He shouted, Cole looked at Alex and they both took off running
"You gotta be freakin kiddin!" Cole shouted out in frustration
Once Cole arrived to the fight, the teachers were still trying break Ronnie from Sofia
Cole pushed the teachers out the way and grabbed Ronnie and threw her over his shoulder, Ronnie kept trying to break free so she can continue her fight
"COLE!! PUT ME DOWN!!" Ronnie demanded, so Cole did he grabbed her arm and started walking her to the principal's office
"Didn't I tell you to freaking let it go!?" Cole scolded, they made it to the office and he opened the door and dragged Ronnie in
"I told you to let it go, but no you had to start somethin, if you think you're bad enough to fight then you're bad enough to deal with your own problems" Cole let Ronnie's arm go and left, he slammed the door and that was proof that he was angry and showed that Ronnie really screwed things up
Ronnie went and sat right next to dream and lila, dream had bruises and cuts on her hands and knuckles, Lila had little bruises on her knuckles and ronnie had bruises and cuts everywhere but sofia and her friends had it way worse, jade she had a cut by her eye and had a lot of bruises, leah had a busted lip and her hair was really messed up, and sofia looked the worse her nose was bleeding she had bruises and cuts all over her face
They were in Principal Harris's office and she was furious
"Girls, this is absolutely unacceptable! Veronica you see me more than you see your mother" what Principal harris said hurt Veronica because it was true, sofia turned and looked at Ronnie
"You think you're so clever and cool don't you?" Sofia screeched, Ronnie looked back at sofia
"Yeah i do, and don't you worry, this just the beginning" Ronnie said sounding annoyed
"You three" Principal said while pointing at Sofia "You three had it coming, I'm tired of you girls walking around acting like y'all run the school, newsflash! You don't! Now go, your parents are here to pick you up" then sofia and her friends left the office
"Now you three, you girls are smart i don't wanna see you end up like Cole or any other like any other troublemaker here" Ms.Harris explained
lila looked at her lap and whispered "It's kinda hard to take her serious with her weave lookin like that" Dream and ronnie heard and then started snickering
"What was that?" Ms.Harris barked they all stopped laughing and looked at Principal harris
"What? We didn't say anything" Dream asked
"One of y'all said something" then the girls started look around all dramatically then Ronnie got up and went to the door and opened it
"Hey y'all need to be quiet, we in here talking!" ronnie exclaimed
"Yeah! Shhh!" lila added, ronnie sat back down and they all gave Ms.Harris their attention, She was so annoyed with them already
"So y'all haven't said nothing, nothing, you haven't said nothing, you thought you heard something" Ms.harris said pointing her finger around
"Ms.Harris, can we go now?" Ronnie asked
"Yeah, THEY can go, your mama is on her way here" Ms.harris added
"Oh my god, great, that's just great" Ronnie muttered, lila and dream looked at ronnie
"Girls go" then lila and dream looked back at Ms.harris "GO! I swear i can't look you two anymore" then lila and dream left
"Veronica, I know your life hasn't always been the easiest but that doesn't mean you can act like this. This is strike one. I'm done dealing with all this drama. Do you hear me?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Good now go, your mother is here"
Ronnie left and saw how angry her mom is, not to mention, of course, to make things worse, Jack's here