Edited by Brianna Pollard :)
Chapter 22
*Santana*
This is insane! It’s happening again. The party is on! I’m gonna die! I went through the bunch of people and went outside. Brian promised that he would not let go of me, but where is he now? He’s there at the dance floor moving his ass. What a show off. Carmen on the other hand is making some progress with her investigation. She told me about Criselda. She’s actually an orphan and she was a scholar at the Victorian Academy. I wanted to know more.
This is going crazy. I couldn’t think clearly because the music is so loud. How could Bret agree to this?! I was walking to the drive way when a car parked in front of me.
“Craig?” I said in grimace.
He waved his hands and got out of the car. “Hey, long time no see.”
I roll my eyes, he was just here yesterday. “What are you doing here?”
“Well… pops told me to keep an eye on you guys. You might wreck the whole place without an adult in here.” he said while smirking.
I shook my head and chuckled. “Yeah right.”
He chuckled too. “So what are you doing in here? I mean outside?”
“Well…. I don’t really like the loud noise in there. And it’s suffocating me.” I said, more like complained.
“Where’s Brian? Isn’t he supposed to be with you?”
“He got stuck on the dance floor.” I said.
“Oh… that runs in the blood honey.” He said and patted my head.
“Watch it! Don’t mess up my hair.” He laughed while I untied the knots that he made. That made me thinks, does Craig know anything about Criselda? “Ammm… Craig, I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?” he asked. People are going in and out around us, they might hear our conversation.
“Can we… like go somewhere private?” I pleaded.
He grimaces but nods. We walked to the nearby park where it is much more peaceful than at the house. I sat in one of the swings and Craig did to.
“So what do you want to talk about? It seems like serious.” He said.
“I was wondering if you know someone named …. Criselda?” I said. Craig looks like he is taken aback when I mentioned her name. That means he knows.
“Oh…. I… no… I don’t.” he said and avoided my eyes. I punch his shoulder. “OW!”
“You liar! It’s so obvious Craig; you know something… now tell me.” I demanded. I have never demanded like this before.
He sighed. “Brian should tell you this himself.”
“But he’s not. Damian said the same thing too.”
He jerked his head back to me. “Damian? What did he do to you?” he said, panicking.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Okay, now I take it back, you just don’t know about something…. You know it don’t you?”
He swallows a lump. “No… he’s just a dangerous guy. Don’t ever talk to him again.”
“Why not? What did he do to you guys?” I ask.
I’m confused. I understand why Brian is protective because as what Carmen said, Damian took Criselda away from him…. but Craig? Well yeah we had a thing before but his approach is much more different, like it’s really a dangerous thing for me to do. He looked at me. Gosh here we go again, his pretty face is blinding my eyes with so much brightness. I avoided his gaze and look at the ground. There, much better. I said to myself.
“He is something that you should not hang out with. Don’t be so stubborn Santana, just get away form him.” He said seriously.
“Fine, I will, but tell everything that happened.”
He releases a sigh. “I don’t know every detail about it. But I knew that Criselda was Brian’s girlfriend.” He pauses and looks at me.
“I-I know about it.” I said.
“How did you know about it?”
“Carmen… and it doesn’t matter. Now continue.”
“Geez, demanding much?” I rolled my eyes. “Fine. As I was saying, she was his girlfriend back in the day. I saw that Brian really loved her. I met her actually, she was often in the house because she was tutoring Brian. He is stupid by the way.” He said and chuckled.
I chuckled too, thinking that Brian needed a tutor. “Then what happen?”
“I am assuming that you also knew about Damian and Brian being best friends right?” I nodded. “Damian was always hanging out at our house before. They were like the best buddies around, they actually treated each other as brothers than Brian treat me as one. One day Criselda came running and looking for Brian, but he wasn't not at the house that moment. Damian was there waiting for him and he talked to her. I don’t know what happened after that because I left the place for a party.” He said.
“So … they hooked up?”
Craig laughed. “No silly. Criselda was nothing like that. I kind of liked her too… as a sister.” He clarifies. “but when I came back from the party, Brian was lying on the floor covered with his own blood.” He said.
I gasped. “What?!”
“He had some head injuries. The doctor said that If I didn’t come in time, he would be dead.”
“Did Damian…”
“No… I mean no one knows who did it to him. He kind of had a loss the memory of that moment. The doctors said that it was the result of his injury.”
“That is so horrible. Then what happened?”
“The next thing I knew was… Criselda… died.” He said.
“What?! W-why?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “Who knows…. The only people whom I assume knows about it is Damian and Brian. Whatever happened back then… it was all a mystery.”
“B-but how she died?”
“The investigation turns out that someone pushed her… her body was found on the river, floating.”
My mouth is slightly open. How could this happen to her? “Did Damian… push her?”
“He was accused but since he was minor, he only got rehab and got bailed by his parents. The mystery was, Damian never admitted it and yet never denied it.”
I grimaced. “What? So no one knows what really happened?”
“Yeah, they are the only ones who knew, but they'll never tell.” Craig said.
Now everything is all mess up. This is a big puzzle that needs to be solved. I have to investigate about this. I need to find out more. I will ask Carmen to accompany me, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.
“Whatever that is your thinking about, forget it.” He said and that brings me back to reality.
“Huh?” I said.
“Don’t do anything that will endanger you Santana.” He said seriously.
“I am not thinking about anything.” I lied.
“Whatever, just don’t do it.” He said.
“Fine, Dad.” I teased and he smiled. I stood up from the swing. “Let’s go back?”
He stood up too. “Yeah sure.” He said.
“Thanks…. For telling me.”
“No problem, just don’t make me regret that I told you about it.” He said firmly.
“Ay ay captain.” I said and made a salute.
We walked back at the house and the loud music greeted me. I looked at Craig and surprisingly I don’t feel dizzy anymore. Hhmmm Maybe I got immune or something.
“Santee!” Brian came running out the house. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you.” He said not even noticing that Craig is with me.
“I just need some fresh air.” I said. Some people were staring at us.
“Ahem” Craig coughed.
Brian looked at him. “Oh you’re here. Since when did you get here?” He asked.
“Just now.” He said and winked at me.
There’s an awkward moment and thanks to my dearest friend Carmen who at times have a perfect timing in coming.
“Hey Craig.” She said.
“Hey, nice to see you again.” Craig greeted her.
“Same here.” she smirked. “Can I borrow my friend for a while?” she asked Craig and Brian.
They look at each other, then to me, then to Carmen who pulled a puppy dog face.
“Yeah.”
“Sure”
Brian and Craig said almost at the same time, that I don’t know who said ‘Yeah’ and who said ‘sure’. Carmen grabbed me and dragged me to my room.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I have a big problem.” She said looking all worried.
We lock the door and sat on my bed. “Darren and Mario…. They confessed to me.” She said.
“What!?” I exclaim.
“I know, I know. This is insane, I didn’t know that Darren felt that way towards me.” She said.
“Are you blind or something?! Darren was so obvious, the shocking one is Mario! That doof!” I said.
“Wait… what? Darren? You knew that he likes me?”
“Yeah… but he never told me… it’s just so obvious every time he lays his eyes on you.”
“No way! Really?”
“Really.” I said.
“I never saw that coming.” She said. “They both confessed to me tonight.”
“That’s complicated.” I said.
“Santana…” she picked up my hand. “You’ve been in this kind of situation before… please tell me what to do.” She begged.
I rolled my eyes with her dramatic cry. “It’s totally different with yours… Brian didn’t confess to me, Craig did. I got confused with Brian so I took the wrong step of agreeing to Craig’s confession.”
“What should I do?”
“Well all I can give to you as an advice is that… check your heart. I mean… between Darren and Mario… who do you like the most?” I said.
“Wow… you actually know that?” she said and smirked. “Well I think you’re right.” She clicked her tongue. “Being pretty is so hard.” She said and we both giggle.
“I have a problem too.” I said after a while.
“What is it?”
“Well it’s not really a problem….”
“Just say Santana!” she said.
I told her everything that Craig said about Criselda. Carmen got so thrilled which made me so right about telling her. She agreed to accompany me on getting this issue unfolded. We made some plans and we thought that we should know about Criselda first… aside from the information I got from Craig, she was an orphan but did she had a foster family? Where did she live before? And what did she look like?
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