Juju POV
"Happy new year!!!! y'all know there's a white pregnant girl out on your porch?" I said to them.
The Martinez looked at their son like they wanted to kill him.
...
We all sat at the table except for the kids. The girl was slurping her drink and everyone was staring at her.
"I'm so sorry about your recent lost, my heart goes out to all of you and as a beneficiary of white privilege these kinds of tragedies are like foreign to me. So on behalf of my people, I am sorry for keeping your people down." She says.
We all couldn't believe what she said.
"Okay, thank you amber. We.. we appreciate that." Mrs. Martinez says.
"Mama this all looks amazing." Amber says.
We all gasped.
"Jamal can you pass the bread?" Mario asked.
"What bread? I don't have any bread." Jamal says.
"Jamal, calma." I whispered yelled so he can hear.
"I know you don't. But can you pass it?" Mario says.
I passed Mario the bread.
"I feel like I should clear my conscience since we're about to come into a new year and uh I'm about to be a mother to a 'whitina"
"A What? Abuela says.
"A white Latina." I clarified.
"So there were not a lot of POC in my high school which is really such a shame because there's a lot to learn when you just break down those cultural barriers. Anyway, I can't believe this is part of my personal history but -"
"Babe right now is probably not the best time-"
"Continue." Ruby says cutting off Mario.
"Grassyes. So I had this friend and he was Latino. Or Hispanic? Which one is it? Whatever doesn't matter it's all the same right babe? Anyway, we call him Ockie and I thought it was just short for octopus, because he had an extra finger, but it wasn't about the finger. It was because every time a teacher took roll, he'd go "Aqui" she said.
I can not believe Mario brought this home.
....
I was helping putting away food and washing dishes while everyone else was waiting for 12.
"Heating up our New Years luck?" Jamal asked.
"Hmm this is bull shit, every year we eat these collard greens and black eyed peas and nothing. These don't bring dollars and sense, just heart break and heart burn." Abuelita says.
"Oh don't say that Abuelita... Jamal." I whispered the last part so he can tell her the news.
"Look at me. Do I look like someone's great grandmother?" Abuelita asked us.
"Yes?" Jamal says and I hit him.
"Exactly! That's because I can't afford a good skin cream, this tradition is crap!" Abuelita says.
"Abuelita." I say.
"That's all going to change, you just need to trust and believe." Jamal says.
"I'm don't believe. Believing is bull shit! We are who we are and it's never gonna change. We're not special." Abuela says.
"Abuelita, ven aqui." I whisper.
"We are special and I can prove it." Jamal whispered as he stuck money into her boobs.
Abuelita slapped Jamal and grabbed the money.
"Is this-"
"Yes." Jamal says.
"Yes?" She questions.
"Yes." I says.
"Yess?" She questions again.
"Yes!" Me and Jamal say.
"Jamal, juju! You have to keep it safe!" Abuelita told us.
"Girl, who are you talking to? I got eyes on it 24/7" Jamal said as he showed us.
"Everyone! It's almost midnight." Mr. Martinez told everyone.
Everyone gathered in the living room all cheery.
"I wanna say something real quick before the new year rings in." Ruby says.
"You have 30 seconds, andale." I said.
"I know you're worried that I'm just fronting and putting on a good face but I'm not. No, I'm not a victim. I'm a survivor. I don't wanna live the rest of my life in fear or with regret because it's a choice. And everyday we can choose to focus on our gifts instead of our misfortunes. We can choose to... to turn our worst tragedies into our greatest blessing and we can choose to love instead of hate. By the way shout out to whoever brought that pie. Tonight I want to look at my future and not my past. Tonight, I want to make every second count, because tonight I'm alive and okay." Ruby said his speech.
"9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!" We all chanted.
We were all celebrating and I gave my baby Josiah a New Years kiss.
"Mommy stawp your embarrassing me." He says giggling.
I noticed Jamal and Monse walking outside so I followed. I seen Cesar and ruby there too.
"Olivia, I'll never forget your kindness." Cesar says.
"Your encouragement and support." Jamal say.
"Your beautiful heart." Ruby cries.
"Your unconditional friendship." Monse cried.
"And your good leadership." I say.
Ruby pulls out a gift.
"You should unwrap it." Monse says.
Ruby unwrapped it and Jamal helped.
We all chuckled at his gift. Spanish-English dictionary.
"What? What's so funny?" Ruby asked.
"That is a terrible gift." Monse said.
"Why? What's so wrong about trying to better someone's skill set?" Ruby says.
"I'm with ruby, the girl was many things. But definitely not a linguist." I said.
"Yeah, she called horchata-"
"Huaracha. It wasn't just once." Monse finished Cesar sentence.
"I miss her." Ruby says.
We all had a group hug.
"Guys we been hiding something." Jamal spoke for us.
"Me too." Cesar said. "I've got no where to go."
"You said your brother was-"
"No, I lied. I'm... dead to him" Cesar cut off.
"Not to me.ill figure it out. I promise" Monse says and they both kissed.
Ruby, Jamal and I had questioning looks.
"Oh right. This happened. We've been hiding this too." Monse said.
"We don't care. We kissed you first." Jamal says giving ruby a hug five. "Anyways. As I was saying before y'all interrupted-"
"Hell, I've been high alllll night." Ruby blurted out.
"Oh my god." I annoyingly say.
"Are you... kidding.... me!? I'm literally trying to tell you guys something! Something important! Something monumental! Something that could probably, no scratch that. Positively will change your lives! And y'all keep interrupting me! Like some dumb comedy run! What is wrong with y'all!." Jamal flipped.
"Okay. Tell us." Ruby said.
"No I'm done!" Jamal says.
"Well shut up." Monse said.
"You don't deserve to know." Jamal said.
"Please." Cesar poorly begged.
"We found the rollerworld money." I said.
"GOD DAMN IT JUJU!"
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