𝕵𝖔
𝕴𝖙'𝖘 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝖙𝖔 𝖌𝖊𝖙 dark while coco and I waited outside from them, and it was taking forever. I start to feel bad for coco as she slept on the ground, I currently couldn't believe this mess. I never thought Latrelle would pull a gun on someone— then again living in a gang can change person, it changed my dad and changed a little part of me. I also couldn't believe Oscar was forcing Cesar to take a life, killing someone does unimaginable things to your mind— through I've never killed anyone I've lived with the guilt of my brother's death for four years
Just then Monse, Ruby and Jamal run out of the library "Jo! Let's go!" Monse says, I got up and tapped Coco awake "you found something?" I asked as coco stretched out her legs "yeah" Ruby says, "where we going?" I asked on get on the skateboard
"Pimp Lane!" Jamal says
"That doesn't sound friendly" I say as I follow them
__
We arrived and I waited as they parked their bikes, I looked and gagged as the couple in the bench eat each other throats, I turned back to them as phone rings "It's Olivia. She's been blowing me up all day" Monse say looking at her phone
"So, answer it" Ruby says
"And tell her what happened with Cesar? No way I'm telling her about us" Monse says
"Us? She's calling about Cesar" Ruby says
"Yeah. Right. You know what I mean, I don't want her to worry. Here" Monse says handing the phone to Ruby but he rejects her "This is your phone, I don't want in on this drama" Ruby says
"Jo?" She says
"Not gonna happen" I wave her off
"It's Olivia. Answer it" Monse says handing the phone to Jamal but he stopped her "Oh, hell no! That's like giving Oxy to a junkie" Jamal says before walking away
"Hey! What's up?" Monse says answering her phone
"Me? No, why would he be with me?" Monse says
"I'm hanging with Ruby and Jamal—Ruby is dying to talk to you" Monse says before shoving the phone to Ruby
"Hey—Uh...We're working on a surprise for your quince—Monse wants the phone back" Ruby says before giving the phone back to Monse
"—Yeah, it's a real elaborate surprise, Lots of twists and turns—Can I call you later?" Monse say
"Yeah, no prob—I'll do that. Bye" Monse says before hanging up the phone, me and her went into the entrance of the tunnel where Jamal and Ruby is looking at a thermal video "What are you doing?" Monse asked
"We're trying to figure out if that's a boob or a butt" Ruby says
"I think it's butt" I say
"A boob" Jamal says
"Can we get back to saving our friend?" Monse asked walking further into the tunnel, with Ruby, Jamal and following behind her
_
"Nothing—There's nothing" Ruby says as we exit the tunnel
"Except a lot of STDs—That's why I didn't pull out the black light" Jamal says
"We must have missed something" Monse says
"So... you want the black light?" Jamal asked
"No, no. I'm talking about the elements—We must've messed up the name—It's not Pimp Lane" Monse says
"But it's got to be Pimp Lane" Ruby says as as him and Monse walked over to the bench and sat down next to the couple still making out "Oh, I wouldn't sit there" Jamal cringed
"Maybe we should go back to the library" Monse says
"It's closed" Ruby says
"What do you mean it's closed?" Monse asked
"As in not open. It's closed" Ruby says
"I swear when I get home I'm washing me and my dog" I say
"At the same time?" Jamal asked
"No!—not at the time!" I say giving him a look, causing him to shrug towards before looking away "Hey... it's a path!" Jamal says but Ruby and Monse are too busy arguing, I follow him instead, "I found something!" Jamal says getting their attention
"That's a Santos cross. But what does it say above it?" Jamal asked
"En las sombras del tiempo." Ruby read, "In the shadows of time" he translates
"Yeah, but what's six, four, seven, nine?" Monse asked
Jamal gasped "It's a sundial—Chivo said Lil' Ricky loved them" he says
"What do we do with it? There's no sun" Monse says
"Ha—Watch and learn, my crab-infested friends—Okay, so first, we take out a pen, Then we need a light to be the sun, So, a sundial is like a clock. So, if I position my light over the numbers, it'll cast a shadow onto the letter..." Jamal starts to explains
"Enough! Just do it" Ruby says
"Okay, you need to learn this in case of the apocalypse" Jamal says
"What?"
"I'm gonna follow the numbers to get a letter. Here we go.—Six o'clock: P.—Four: O.—Seven: O.—Nine: L"
"Pool—The money's at the pool, But where's a pool?" Jamal asked
-"The community pool!" Ruby and Monse say at once
"Lil' Ricky, you can suck it, because nothing gets past us!" Jamal says, we get up and make our way back to where their bikes are only to see Ruby and Monse's bikes are gone
-
"Our bikes!" Ruby says
Jamal laughs
"What the hell?" Ruby asked
"Rookies? What, were you guys raised in the 'burbs or something? Lock it or lose it" Jamal says
"Read the room, Jamal—How are we gonna get around now?" Monse asked
_
A few moments later Abuelita stops in front of them "What are you doing at Pimp Lane?" She asked
"Um...How do you know about Pimp Lane?" Ruby asked
Mijo, I wasn't always old. I was once, what they call, a sure thing" Abuelita chuckled
"I think I'm gonna throw up" Ruby gagged
"Don't slut shame me" Abuelita says
"Abuelita, we got to get to the community pool" Monse says
" ¿Por qué?" She asked
"We'll tell you on the way" Jamal says
They in the backseat as I sat in the trunk with my dog and Jamal's bike
_
We arrived at the pool and everyone gets out expect for me "Jo aren't you coming?" Jamal asked, "I need to take a break, my feet are killing me" I say, "weren't you homeless? You've didn't—" he started but I stopped him "Jamal it isn't a good idea to argue with me right now" I say
"Okay" he says closing the door and leaving
A few short minutes they come back "Jamal, why are you soaking wet?" Abuelita asked
"I don't want to talk about it. What just happened ain't right" Jamal says
"What's not right is there's no Santos Cross here, Every clue had a cross on it. Google says there's 19
more pools in Freeridge" Ruby says checking his phone
"Okay, so Jamal, you change into the clothes I have in the back and we'll check all the pools" Abuelita says
"No. I'm doomed. We're doomed. Cesar's doomed—I haven't slept in days, Julio's dead, and poor Juanita" Jamal says
"We're not doomed if we solve this, so stop being so dramatic" Monse says
"I am being dramatic" Jamal says
"We know"
"Like Nicolas Cage dramatic" Jamal says
"Odd reference, but yeah, so quit it" Ruby says
"I'm so dramatic that I tried out for the local production of Rent" Jamal says
"That was a rip off of La Bohème" Ruby says
"Whatever!" Jamal says, "My point is I tried out at the Robert Pool Theater" Jamal says but no one understood
"The P-O-O-L Theater!" Jamal says
It's a pool in the title" I say
"Oh" they say
Jamal looked back at me "that was my line" he says before the car started moving
..............................
✌🏾