CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Everything changes
KNOCKING ON SAMUEL'S front door, Arlo waited, tapping her foot on the ground. The door flung open to reveal Nano, his eyes wide in alert. He relaxed when he saw who it was, but the displeasure on his face still remained as he glowered down at her. "What do you want?"
"For people like you to stay away from underage girls." Arlo fired.
"Let her in, Nano." Samuel called and the girl peered in to see the boy sat at a table, holding a cloth to the back of his neck.
Nano glared at Arlo one last time before he moved aside to let the girl in. As he did, she glanced around the apartment and her eyes widened at the mess and destruction that was in front of her.
"What happened?" She questioned.
Samuel jerked his head to the direction of his room. "My room. Come on."
Arlo followed Samuel only for Pilar to poke her head out of the kitchen and force a smile as she waved at the teenage girl. Arlo returned the smile and wave before she walked into Samuel's room, the boy shutting the door behind him.
"I'm sorry Guzmán showed up like that the other day." Arlo sighed. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
Samuel shook his head. "No. No, he didn't."
Arlo nodded before she licked her lips and sat on his bed. "And I'm sorry. I knew Marina was cheating on you, I didn't know who with, but I should have told you. I just thought it would've been better if it came from her. I'm sorry, Samu."
"That's why you were avoiding me?" Samuel questioned.
"Yeah. I couldn't look you in the eyes." Arlo exhaled. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Samuel mumbled. "It would've been better if it came from her. But I'm glad that I know. Weirdly enough, it's all thanks to Guzmán."
Arlo chortled. "Yeah, that is weird."
The boy sat down next to her. "Have you spoken to her?"
"No. We're still not on good terms, but I will."
"Why would you?"
Arlo shrugged. "Even after everything she's done, I still care about her and her world has probably collapsed on her. I guess, I just wanna see if she's okay. How long until I talk to her is the question. How are you doing?"
"My brothers an asshole." Samuel hissed. "And you know what the worst part in all this is, is that I'm not even surprised that he did what he did."
"Yeah, I know the feeling." Arlo whispered. "So, what happened to your apartment and your head?"
"Do you know about the watches?" The boy inquired and Arlo nodded. "Someone was looking for the one my brother kept. I guess I came in early during their search and someone hit me from behind."
"Carla's father." Arlo solved with a hiss. "What a douchebag. I've always hated him. He knows no boundaries."
"It doesn't matter now. At least they got what they wanted and my brother can be out of here soon. I can't look at him anymore. Every time I do, I wanna take a page out of Guzmán's book and hit him with a fucking bat." When Arlo didn't say anything, Samuel raised an eyebrow. "What? No 'violence isn't the answer' speech?"
The girl shook her head, her lips pursed slightly. "Nope. Though, it isn't. I'm working on the lectures."
"This is weird. I weirdly miss them."
"I mean, I can give you one if you want."
Samuel's eyes widened slightly. "No. I'm good."
Arlo smiled in amusement. "That's what I thought." She then looked up at hesitantly. "So are we good?"
"Yeah." The boy smiled. "We're good."
"Cool." Arlo beamed before she hugged him. "I've gotta go. I'm going shopping with Izzy and she's waiting in the car downstairs. I'll see you at school."
"Bye, Lo."
As Arlo walked out of the boy's room, she looked around to see Pilar was no longer in the kitchen or living room as she went to the front door, carefully not stepping on anything. She placed her hand on the door knob but Nano's voice stopped her from opening it.
"I care about her." He spoke up, getting up from his position on the couch. Arlo stopped in her tracks, not turning around. "I know you might think I'm just an asshole and I am. But I care about her. I'd do anything for her and I would never hurt her like that Pablo did."
Arlo tensed at the mention of Pablo's name before she finally turned to face him to see nothing but sincerity in his face and she inhaled a sharp breath, not knowing what came over her. "I believe you."
BEFORE ARLO KNEW it, the last day of school had come and she was now sat on the small staircase, reading with her earphones in. Her grades had been better than she was expecting. Martín had really helped and it sucked that she wouldn't have him next year to help her.
People were chattering all around her, buzzed about the last day of school and talking about the party that would happen when the school day ended. Girls were talking about their outfits while boys were talking about what girl they were taking. The girl briefly glanced around at the decorations before she went back to her book.
Someone then sat down next to her and the girl turned her head to see Guzmán smiling at her. Arlo returned the smile as she took her earphones out. "Hey."
"Hi." Guzmán greeted before he kissed her forehead. "What are you reading?"
"Pride and Prejudice." Arlo informed, holding the book up to show him.
"It's the last day of school and you're reading?" The boy asked. "You enjoying it?"
The girl grinned. "Yeah, it's great." She then shut the book. "How are you doing? How's Marina?"
"I'm okay. And I really don't know. She got all sentimental with us this morning and apologised."
"Maybe she really is sorry, Guzmán."
Guzmán scoffed. "I don't care anymore. You were right. It was her choice to do all that crap and I no longer gonna try and fix her mistakes. Are your parents coming to the party?"
"No." Arlo shook her head, feeling it best to go along with his change of subject. "Neither are Izzy and Diego. I didn't even wanna go myself, but someone managed to rope me in."
The boy grinned, shrugging in victory. "What can I say? I'm pretty persuasive."
Before Arlo had the chance to mock him, Samuel walked up to the two. "Sorry to interrupt, but Guzmán, can we talk?"
"I'll leave you to it." Arlo said, getting up to leave, but before she could, Guzmán took a gentle hold of her hand.
"Save me a dance later?" He requested.
Arlo grinned. "Sure." She then squeezed Samuel's shoulder before she left the two boys to it.
The rest of the day flew by just as quick as the year did and Arlo was in the locker room, putting on her party clothes which consisted of a short sleeved black dress that stopped above her knees with daisies scattered all over them, accessorised with black heels.
She looked in the mirror and put on some mascara, concealer and blush, too lazy to go all out. She then looked at her straight hair and decided she needed to do more than to just let it sit there as usual. She opted for tying half of it up, leaving a few strands down to frame her face.
"You look cute." A voice complimented and Arlo's eyes flicked from her reflection to Carla's and she smiled.
"Thanks. So do you. I love your dress."
Carla returned the smile. "Thank you."
Arlo put her stuff in her locker before she went to the sport's hall and she smiled at the decorations put up along with the food set on tables and the music playing. It had been a long year and truth be told, Arlo couldn't wait to have one relaxing night before she was stuck looking after her siblings for 2 months.
Spotting Ander, Arlo walked up behind him and poked his sides. He yelped in surprise before he turned around and tackled Arlo in a hug who laughed. He pulled away and scanned her. "Don't you look hot?"
"Why thank you." Arlo smiled.
"If I was straight, I'd bang." Ander commented, raising his eyebrows at her.
"And if I was a guy and gay..." Arlo trailed. "I still wouldn't bang."
"Hey!" The boy exclaimed as he ruffled her hair.
"I'm joking! You know I had a crush on you when we were 13!"
Ander smirked. "Yes, I do. I'm never gonna let you forget it."
"Gorgeous!" Christian greeted, swinging an arm around Arlo as he handed her a cup of punch. "You're looking sexy."
"Thanks." Arlo said, taking the cup out of his hand before she took a sip from it, nearly choking on it. "Jesus Christ, did you spike the punch already? The party just started."
Christian winked at her. "I work fast."
Arlo snorted. "Thanks for that." The girl then spotted Nadia who had walked in with her father and Omar. Arlo beamed at her as she waved and Nadia came over while Ander walked away and Christian went to Carla. "Do you really have to leave?"
Nadia nodded. "My dad made up his mind and once he does, he never changes it. I just wanna say thank you by the way."
"For what?" Arlo wondered.
"For being the only friend I made here who never made a bet at my expense or screwed me or any of my family members over." Nadia joked.
Arlo laughed. "You're welcome...I guess. We'll still be able to meet up and stuff, right?"
Nadia laughed. "Of course. Who else is gonna tell me all the secrets on rich people soda?"
Arlo snickered as the two girls hugged, smiling over each other's shoulders. Seeing Polo look at Carla and Christian in sadness over Nadia's shoulder, Arlo felt bad for him. When they pulled away, Arlo beamed at her, putting her cup down on a table. "Enjoy the party."
"You too."
Arlo then walked up to Polo and held her hand out with a wide grin. "Wanna dance? I can't promise that I won't step on your feet, but I can promise I'll be so bad it's laughable."
Polo looked down at her and chuckled, taking her hand. "Then how can I say no?"
The two then started dancing for many songs and turns out Polo was just as bad as Arlo. The girl laughed loudly as his arms started flailing about, scaring off some of the people around them.
"You're gonna hurt someone, oh my god!" Arlo exclaimed as she continued laughing.
"That's how you know you're doing it right!" Polo insisted.
The upbeat song transitioned into a slower one and Guzmán suddenly moved his way through the crowd and tapped Polo's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cut in." He then looked at Arlo. "If that's okay with you."
She smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"Have fun." Polo winked before he disappeared.
Guzmán gently placed his hand on Arlo's waist as her's rested on his shoulder while their free hands clasped together. He smiled down at her. "I haven't told you yet, but you look...incredible."
Arlo felt herself blush as she grinned up at him. "Thank you. So do you. I like the vest."
The boy arched an amused eyebrow. "Thank you."
"Where you been? The party started a while ago."
"I've been...thinking."
"Thinking?"
Guzmán nodded. "About us. And we haven't really spoken about what happens next or what happens now."
Arlo smiled. "Well, what do you want to happen?"
The two were then interrupted when the winner of the trophy was being announced as the music stopped abruptly and the mic had been turned on.
Guzmán swore in annoyance and the two dropped their hands from each other and faced the stage as Arlo turned to him and kissed his cheek, earning a wide grin from him.
Marina was then announced as the winner and she reluctantly walked through the crowd and up on the stage and Guzmán's grin had dropped in an instant.
"Hi." She smiled. "Thank you for the award, but I think someone else deserves it more. I don't really have much to be proud of this year. So I wanted to take this opportunity to apologise. I'm sorry for all the damage I may have caused. For letting down those I love the most. And the person who's made me feel so much in such a short time. I tried to stop it all. I tried...to be a good daughter, a good sister–" she said looking at Guzmán, who's face remained serious. "–and a good friend." She added, her eyes flicking to Arlo who smiled slightly in sympathy.
Marina then looked to Samuel and continued. "I tried to live up to your feelings, Samuel. I wish we had our time machine to go back and start from scratch. But I was myself. Stubborn, I afraid of danger. And...always getting in trouble. I'm sorry."
As Marina made her way off the stage with the trophy, a wave of sadness hit her as walked out the gymnasium. Arlo started after her, instantly feeling bad for her and just when she was going to follow her, Samuel pulled her aside away from Guzmán before the two could finish their conversation, whispering something in her ear.
She looked at the boy with wide eyes. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah." Samuel mumbled.
"Shit." The girl exclaimed before she attempted to jog out of the gymnasium, but her heels weren't doing her any favours. Rolling her eyes, she stopped and took them off before she jogged out the gym and down the empty hallways on her bare feet. She spotted the red head entering the pool and she ran after her. "Marina!"
Marina turned around once Arlo ran into the pool room. "What are you doing here?"
Arlo picked up the trophy and it was a lot heavier than she expected. "It's really quite ugly."
"Yeah, it is." Marina concurred with a laugh before her smile dropped. "Arlo, what are you doing here?"
"Don't leave, Marina." Arlo pleaded suddenly, putting the trophy back down. "Please. You have your whole future ahead of you. Here. Your whole life is here! Your family, your friends!"
"Everyone hates me, Arlo." Marina said, shaking her head. "And they have a right to."
Arlo shook her head as she walked closer to the red head, dropping her heels. "Look, I overreacted the other week. What you did still wasn't right, but I overreacted. I still care about you. And I'm telling you now, running away isn't going to make anything better. You still have a chance to make things right, Apologise to Samuel Give back the watch. Apologise to your family and Carla's. I can't promise you you'll be forgiven right away, but it's the first step!"
"I can't, Lo." The girl insisted. "I can't. You didn't see the way everyone else looked at me. Nano is the only one I have left. He's the only one I haven't managed to push away. We have a real chance at getting out of here."
"That's not true." Arlo said sternly. "How well do you even know Nano, Marina?"
Marina gulped. "I'm in love with him, Lo." She admitted, something in her eyes glimmering. "He's the only person that's ever wanted me to be me and if I leave with him, we could have a fresh start. Together."
"What about Oxford? That's your dream. And you can't achieve it if you run away."
"Dreams change, Lo. Do you still wanna be an astronaut?"
Arlo licked her lips. "No."
"Exactly. What I want is to raise this kid away from all this– from all the damage I've caused and from the people that hate me."
"I don't hate you. I wanted to. But you're my friend." Arlo breathed out, tears welling in her eyes as her voice cracked. "Despite everything you did. I...I still don't want you to go."
Marina wiped the tears that fell on to her cheeks before she hugged Arlo tightly, burying her face in Arlo's shoulder. Arlo really was the only friend she had in this shitty town, but not even she could change her mind. "I'm sorry." Marina murmured. "I'm sorry for everything. You deserved a much better friend. I'm so sorry."
Tears dropped on to Marina's shoulders as Arlo knew she hadn't been the least bit successful in changing Marina's mind. This wasn't a 'thank you for stopping me from doing something stupid' hug, it was a goodbye hug.
Arlo left the swimming pool a mess. Her mascara was smeared all over her cheeks and made even worse when she wiped her face. She looked up at Samuel who was stood waiting for her and shook her head, letting him know she wasn't successful.
"I'll talk to her." He whispered. "Wait for me out here?"
"Yeah, of course." Arlo nodded, wiping her nose on her wrist. She was not a pretty crier.
Samuel cracked an amused smile before he took out a handkerchief and gave it to her. "Here."
Arlo let out a small laugh, taking it from him. "Thanks."
As Arlo stood outside the pool room, waiting for Samuel, she looked down to see she had forgotten her heels, but at that point in time she didn't care. And she wasn't about to enter what she assumed was an awkward and sad conversation.
It was only a few minutes when Samuel stormed out, tear stains on his cheek. He didn't even stop to talk to Arlo and walked past her, heading for the gymnasium, leaving her to jog after him, but this time she was more conscious about where she stepped than she had been before. When she finally reached the gymnasium, she spotted Samuel and Guzmán talking, the latter pushing the boy away from him.
Arlo rushed towards them, trying to avoid being stepped on by any heels or shoes. When she finally did, Samuel once again stormed past her and Arlo turned to Guzmán. "What happened?"
Noticing Arlo's mascara smear, the boy shook his head. "Forget that. What happened to you? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Arlo brushed off. "I tried to convince your sister not to run away, but she didn't budge. Maybe you could talk to her."
"No." Guzmán deadpanned. "Let her do what she wants. She's caused too much damage."
Arlo furrowed her eyebrows. "Guzmán, she's your sister– she's your family."
"Who stole from us and brought drugs into your home where your siblings live." The boy reminded and Arlo's breath hitched in her throat. "Come on. Let's dance and we never managed to finish our conversation earlier."
"No," the girl shook her head. "I'm not in the mood. I'm just gonna go home. I'll see you later."
Arlo turned and walked away, ignoring as he yelled her name. She left the gymnasium and went to her locker. She leaned her head against it and huffed. Tonight had not been what she had expected. In fact, it had turned out a whole lot worse. When she finally opened her eyes she looked at her feet. "Shit."
Remembering that she forgot her heels at the pool, Arlo once again hesitantly entered the pool room again, hearing loud distant footsteps running, but she ignored them. The girl turned her head, hoping Marina had already gone, not in the mood for an awkward run in. But she was still there, but instead of seeing her pacing like she had been previously. Marina was lying on the floor, not moving. Arlo's eyes widened as she ran towards her friend and knelt down next to her, her knees landing in thick liquid.
"Oh my god." The girl breathed out, realising it was blood seeping from Marina's head and she took out her phone calling an ambulance. She then cupped Marina's cheeks. "Marina. Marina, hey. Look at me. Look at me, hey." The red head managed to look up at Arlo, her eyes dropping heavily and Arlo offered a smile, tears falling from her face as she swallowed. "I'm here. I'm here. It's okay. It's okay. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay."
Marina looked like she tried to smile, but couldn't as she took one last breath before her eyes fluttered shut and her arm landed on the floor with a thud that Arlo was certain she'd never forget. She sobbed loudly as she brought her hand up to her face, smearing Marina's blood all over her cheeks. None of this was real. This couldn't be happening.
"Marina?" She called, sobbing loudly. "Marina? Wake up. Come on. Helps coming! Marina! Wake up." She yelled as she shook the red head. Her voice lowered to a barely audible whisper. "Please."
Arlo didn't even notice Samuel running towards her, taking Marina's face in his hands as begged her to wake up, crying loudly as he did so. The girl didn't even reply when he started screaming at her, asking what happened, drops of spit hitting her face. She couldn't hear anything else– not the sound of Samuel crying, not the sound of the music from the party happening at that very second, but the sound of Marina's limp arm hitting the ground over and over again.
She didn't know how long she knelt there, drenched in blood. She didn't even try to resist when the ambulance and police eventually arrived on to the scene and she was dragged away, leaving a trail of Marina's blood behind her.
Arlo was set down on the floor again, behind the glass as the police set up the crime scene and the girl watched, still in shock. Her whole body shook as she stared at the blood on her legs and hands. Not one drop of it was her's. Samuel stood next to her, unblinking as he stared at Marina's dead body.
When the main detective arrived, she was directed to the two teenagers found on the scene, covered in blood. She eyed Arlo in particular before she picked up a few objects from the floor near her and walked towards them.
The woman walked up to the girl and scanned her appearance, arching a suspicious eyebrow as she looked at the girl's feet. She then held up Arlo's heels which were now covered in Marina's blood. "Missing something?"
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A/N: this is the longest chapter I've written for this book and I hope you enjoyed it! Also, unfortunately, updates may not be so regular from now on as I've procrastinated from doing work long enough so I hope you can bear with me!!
Once again thank you for all the support!