LOCA POR TI ✗ On My Block

NUEVE

just as the four latinos turned the corner, ruby noticed monse and jamal first, and yelled a quick "run," while both jamal and monse asked "why" before getting pelted with eggs.

being pulled by cesar, esperanza tried to keep up, her legs shorter than everyone else's. passing more houses, the group of white boys shouted, "get out of here! back to where you came from!" which made esperanza's blood boil.

when the six stopped running and caught their breathes, cesar pulled out his phone and began typing.

"you guys, this is all my fault," olivia began, "i let that asshole get the best of me,"

"it wasn't just you. it was also me, so i should be sorry," esperanza said, shaking her head at the thought of olivia feeling guilty.

"don't apologize," ruby said, mainly at olivia, "we just got to get home. jamal, get a lyft,"

dropping his arm sling, jamal said, "my dad said lyft was only for emergencies," making almost everyone give him a 'are you serious?' look.

"really? and what makes up this so-called emergency?" esperanza asked, crossing her arms, feeling the egg on her tiny biceps as she held them.

"don't get a lyft," cesar interrupts, "it's handled. it's handled," nodding his head at espy who had given him a knowing look.

⌑

walking up to the party – again – esperanza and cesar took the lead, as they confidently strolled up the walkway.

"you want some more?" the gringo asked, getting in cesar's face this time, "oh, you guys think you're hard. okay,"

"oh, trust me, we're not. but they are," esperanza said, moving aside as spooky's red impala pulled up.

stepping out of the car, both spooky and derek walked towards the group of white boys. finally stopping infront of the main gringo, derek and spooky sized him up, looking at his figure.

without saying anything, spooky wet his finger a second before wiping the fake tear drop tattoo off the boys face. then wiped his own, showing that his was real. derek crosses his arms, still sizing the white boy up and down.

finally, spooky spoke up, "this shits real," as he stepped closer to the, well, scared boy.

"please. what do you want?" the boy whimpered, before both spooky and derek looked at their siblings knowing what the pair had in mind.

⌑

after getting dressed and drying her hair, esperanza laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling. another night, where the house was empty, due to her mother, brother, and sister not being home. this had became a common thing, since eva moved to san francisco to pursue her dreams of becoming a designer; derek spent most of his time tagging and running for the santos; and victoria was always out at a some bar, getting drunk.

it wasn't always just the four of them. no, there was five, but cristian had been taken on the streets, while his family was in mexico.

pulling out one of her cajones, espy grabbed the small box that had some pictures and items that her dad had left behind. opening the box, she held the picture of them together at her sixth birthday party. smiling at the memory, she placed it back and grabbed the necklace that he had given her which had alma written in cursive. holding it close to her, she felt hot tears stream down her face, as she hugged her knees to her chest.

as she had began to sob, her phone went off with text.

cesar 🔪❤️
monse was right, espy.
i'm not safe.
i'm sorry.

after a few minutes, esperanza had gathered herself together and called cesar.

"uh, hey. no tienes que decir that you're sorry. let's reset everything, including us. like, just forget that both of us said anything. cuando tengas un minuto, llámame por favor."

⌑

okay so really quick alma means 'soul'. so, no – alma isn't a random girl!!