CHAPTER TWO
"The point of playing football, Jamal, is that you catch the ball and pass it to others," Monse told off her friend. "Not to get hit and tackled over and over again," she added harshly as she readjusted her grip on her limping friend.
"Well nobody told YOU to keep hitting and tackling me," Jamal snapped turning to face his other friend, Cesar.
"I mean, isn't that the other point of football? Expect to get tackled and run over by big dudes?" Cesar retaliated readjusting his grips as well. Him and Monse were practically dragging Jamal because of his tall frame.
"I could've taken it if Cesar wasn't the one who kept tackling me!" Jamal argued.
"Even Ruby tackled you and you still fell over," Monse shot back making the group laugh except Jamal.
"Yeah, Jamal. Just face it man, maybe you aren't cut out for football," Ruby, the smallest of the group, spoke as he continued to play with the football with his hands, walking in front of Monse and Cesar who continued to drag Jamal.
"¡Compas!" Ruby suddenly stopped walking making the ten year olds behind him to stop in their tracks.
The abrupt stop caused Jamal to trip a bit. "Ow! Fool, can you not see that I am injured here!"
"Compa, what is it?" Cesar asked looking at Ruby.
"Look!" Ruby said before pointing ahead to three ladies moving into the house right across from Cesar's. "Damn, two of them looking like some fine ass hynas," Ruby began drooling as he watched them unload some boxes. "We should totally help them out."
"Yea, we should tell them to get out while they still can. Who in the right mind would move into Freeridge? Let alone in front of the Santos house?" Monse questions shifting her eyes to Cesar who seemed to be so starstruck at one of the girl moving in.
"Ruby's right we should help them settle in," he said before nearly dropping Jamal and running off with Ruby to the teenagers, leaving Monse and Jamal to fend for themselves.
Nina pushed one of the boxes further into the living room, still feeling a little uneasy about the sights in their new neighborhood. "Nina! Can you take the last few boxes? ¡Victoria todavía no se siente bien!" her mother yelled from the bathroom as her sister continued to barf. From that moment on, their family figured out that one of them had a fear of flying.
"Okay!" Nina yelled back before returning to the van to get the remaining boxes.
"Let me help you with that," two kids came up to her as she grab hold of one of the boxes. She turned to see who spoke.
"Oh, no. It's okay, I got it," Nina smiled.
"We insist," the other one smiled. "I'm Ruby, but my friends call me Ruben, and this is my friend Cesar," the boy tried to say smoothly. Nina tried to suppress a chuckle.
"Hey!"
Nina looked beyond them to see two more kids struggling to get closer to Ruby and Cesar. "I think your friends need more help than me," she said to the two boys before her.
"Monse and Jamal? No, they're fine," Cesar smiled.
"Well you can tell your friend to rest in the house a bit while you guys can help me out. These last boxes are a little heavy so I think two or three of you should focus on carrying one," Nina replied giving in to the kids' offer. After which she proceeded to carry the boxes into the house.
"Never leave me with him like this again," Monse sneered at the boys as she and Jamal we're finally able to catch up to them.
"Are you guys alright?" Nina came back outside to check on Ruby and Cesar who were still trying to lift one of the boxes from the car.
"I am. He isn't," Monse replied before motioning to Jamal who just smiled. "I'm Monse. This is Jamal," she introduced.
"So I've been told. I'm Nina, it's a pleasure to meet you," she smiled reaching her hand out for a shake which Monse took. "I think we should settle Jamal inside, he looks like he could use some ice and rest."
"Thank you!" Jamal praised as his eyes lit up at Nina's offer.
"What did they do to you?" Nina chuckled as she helped Jamal into the house. Monse went to help Ruby and Cesar with the box.
"It was terrible, Nina!" Jamal began but his voice began to drown in the sound of his friends comments. As Nina sat Jamal down on the couch, the three kids were explaining that they were playing football for Jamal's benefits. Their rounds of games had caused Jamal to go limp like this.
"You play music?" Monse asked as they set down a large box labeled V's instruments that had a keyboard, an amplifier, and electric guitar inside. Her eyes also wandered to another guitar case along with some of the luggages on the side.
"Oh my God, why'd you carry that box," Nina chuckled softly. "But no, my sister's the talented one," she replied walking over to the kids as she inspected the box. Victoria would kill her if anything happened to these things.
"You got a sister?" Ruby smirked as his eyes shone bright. In that moment Monse smacked him in the arm causing the young boy to flinch and yell out in pain rubbing his arm as he did.
"W-Well what other interests do you have?" Cesar asked and Nina turns to face him for a moment. Ruby and Jamal shared a look watching Cesar make that face every time he looked at Monse. The two other boys knew he was crushing on Nina.
"I-I like reading and I like fixing stuff," Nina replied simply.
"What kind of stuff?" Jamal asked in interest.
Nina shrugged in response. "All kinds of stuff-- cars, old appliances, computers, other random stuff."
"Like a mechanic? And does that mean that box labeled books and textbooks are yours?" Monse asked as Nina nodded in response. "Mechanic? Yea, I guess you could say that," Nina smiled at the kids.
"¿Quienes son estos?" Everyone turned to Victoria who emerged from the bathroom. Her eyebrows furrowed seeing her sister surrounded by four small children in the middle of their living room. The three boy's eyes were shining again, Monse could only roll her eyes at them.
"You guys, this is my sister, Victoria. V, this is Jamal, Monse, Ruby and Cesar," Nina added pointing to each kid as she said their names.
"¿Cómo se siente? ¿Donde está mami?" she asked and the kids ears perked up hearing Nina speak Spanish. Another Latino family had moved in the neighborhood.
"I've been better. Mami's freshening up in the bathroom. Says she has a meeting with Cortez," Victoria answered. "Hey you guys," she greeted them as she sat down next to Jamal on the couch.
As Victoria began making conversation with Jamal, Nina and the three remaining kids went back outside to get the remaining boxes in the van. Nina grabbed one box as the three kids worked on another. As they shuffled into the house, they couldn't help but hear yelling across the street.
"¡Eres igual que tu padre! ¡No es un buen pedazo de mierda!"
Ruby, Monse, and Cesar shuffled quickly into the house at the sound of yelling. Nina peaked through the door to see what was going on. It was an older woman and a teenage boy that looked about her age or maybe a year older. He had tattoos on his body, one of which was a prominent neck tattoo of a cross that wrote Santos.
"¡Al menos uno de nosotros cuida a la familia!" he yelled back, which Nina assumed to be his mother.
"Fuck you! I'm going out for a drink!" She said before walking out on the teen.
"Don't bother coming back!"
Nina froze when she locked eyes with the guy across the street. She didn't want to judge but from the way he was dressed, Nina figured he was a cholo. Little did she know that a scared little Cesar came peeping through the door as well. Followed by his trio of friends.
"Cesar!" He yelled making Nina jump and look behind her. "Get inside the house!" With a scowl on his face he retreated inside his house.
Cesar took small steps towards the house across the streets. Nina felt scared for the kid so she quickly stopped him from going any further. "Cesar," Nina spoke in warning.
"It's fine, Nina. That was just my brother. He's just looking after me, thats all," the kid sighed as he forced a smile. "Welcome to Freeridge," he flashed a smile before walking across the street to his house.
It finally began to sink in that Nina was far away from Washington Heights, New York.
-
Nina and Victoria were furious with their mom. This move was not something they expected. Getting out of their barrio was something great but to be put into a place probably ten times worse was just a knife to the chest.
Gangs and violence was a norm here in Freeridge. Despite her mom being a cop, she and the rest of her new squad weren't doing anything about it. Carmen knew all to well that these gangs weren't easy to meddle with. And considering Freeridge was housing them in numbers, going in that was nowhere near easy.
Funny as it was, she took it to the four kids she had met to teach her the history about their neighborhood. Monse kept calling Nina and her family crazy for moving here. Nina couldn't agree more.
"I don't know if you're lucky or unlucky that you live in front of the Santos house," Ruby said to her.
"Yea but the Prohphet$ are just as bad as the Santos. All these gangs can suck a butt," Monse retaliated.
"But living in front of the Santos means automatic protection! Cos no way would the Prophet$ enter this territory anyway," Jamal pointed out.
"That goes for staying inside her house. What if she goes outside?" Monse interjects. As a matter of fact, Carmen had forbidden her and Victoria from leaving the house without her permission. Although, that never really stopped Victoria. Nina on the other hand felt alright staying inside.
"We'll protect you," Cesar smiled at her. She had forgotten that he was the little brother of the mighty Santos gang leader.
A week had passed from their move. Carmen reported for work while Victoria went to check out her community college. Meaning, Nina was left alone in the house for the first time here.
Pre-usual, she sat by her desk going through a few textbooks just for the sake of keeping her busy since nothing was interesting on tv. Her desk was situated by a window that faced the street, giving her a good view of the Santos house.
Every now and then her eyes would shift to the group of cholos outside the house chilling. She would see Cesar also sitting outside as well. There would be times where she would make eye contact with Cesar's brother from across the street. Each time she would remind herself to get new blinds for her room.
She went back to her Physics textbook, reading something about electromagnetism. Her eyes would sometimes shift to her laptop as it displayed the MIT website homepage. Nina couldn't wait to get out of here.
All of a sudden she heard a knock on her window. She looked up and jumped a bit to see Cesar's brother with his eyebrow arched. Nina was hesitant but she found herself opening her window.
"Can I help you?"
This was the first time she had seen him up close. She was intimidated by him but she had to admit that she wasn't as scared as she thought she would be. He looked younger up close, all his tattoos made him look mature. But above all of that strong nature, Nina noticed his brown and youthful eyes. Eyes that showed promise.
He has pretty eyes, Nina thought. She could only wonder now how someone like him got dragged into this mess with all these gangs. Let alone be leading them at such a young age.
"My little brother's worried that you're gonna be stuck in there forever," he said before taking a drag of his cigarette.
His rep made Nina suppress her eye roll. "You can tell him that I'm fine staying indoors. Thanks," she says before attempting to shut her window only to be stopped by Cesar's brother.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" he spoke aggressively. "What are you even reading anyway? You in summer school or something?"
Nina sighed. "No," she crossed her arms over her chest before placing them on top of her textbook.
"Is that it?" He chuckled as Nina stayed silent. He shook his head at the fact his little brother was crushing on a nerd. But he did have to admit, she looked really pretty. "There's a party over at my place tonight if you're interested," again he takes another drag.
"Dude, quit smoking!" she complained before wafting off the smoke that was entering her room earning another laugh from him.
"Does it bother you hyna?"
"What did you call me?" She replied getting more pressed by the second.
"¿No hablas Español?" He asked arching his eyebrow.
"Yo hablo Español, its just no one calls me that," she said avoiding eye contact. She admits he was somewhat attractive but she was growing disinterested the more he kept talking.
"Well you better get used to it then," he smirked trying to get her attention. "I'm Oscar but the rest of the Santos call me Spooky."
Nina snorted before pursing her lips together.
"Is there something funny?" He asked in a threatening tone what surprised him was that this girl seemed unbothered by his tone.
"Spooky sounds a little cute for gang leader's name," she admitted with a small smile on her lips. Cute? Since when has Spooky ever been called cute?
But Spooky had to admit the sound of her giggle, the tinting on her cheeks, that small smile that graced her lips made him feel a certain way. Looking at her up close made him think of how innocent she looked. He knew that she was one of those people. The ones who were too good for this place.
Then again, he was slowly understanding why his little brother was crushing on her. She was pretty... beautiful even.
"I'm Nina," she introduced with a nod. Nina found herself observing the cholo and concluded that he looked better up close. The glow of his skin, the stubble on his chin, his eyes, his tattoos. He looked intimidating, scary even, but attractive nonetheless.
Spooky runs his hand over his mouth before taking a step back. "Offer stands if you're interested," with that he turns his back on her and walks away.
Little did Nina know, the Santos had placed a bet whether the girl in the window would finally come out of her house to party. The members of the Santos bet that if Spooky did the talking she would come over later that night. Spooky had bet otherwise.
Spooky gained a little cash that night.
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SO Nina and Oscar find each other attractive and can be very observant in their quiet moments. Tell me what you guys think :))
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