Mi Amor - Oscar 'Spooky' Diaz/On my block Story

22

I spent the whole evening glued to my phone, watching for a response from Oscar and firing off what felt like a hundred messages. Each text was pretty much the same: "Are you okay?" "Where are you?" "Please tell me when you're home." The silence was agonizing, and I couldn't shake the gnawing worry that something bad had happened.

By the time hours had ticked by and I'd nervously chewed my nails down to almost nothing, my phone finally lit up. My heart skipped a beat as I saw his name on the screen.

Oscar: "I'm fine and back home. Don't worry. Just want to crash, it was a long day."

Relief washed over me as I read the words, even if they were a bit curt. I could tell he wasn't in the mood to talk, so I decided to let him rest. Whatever had happened, I figured he'd fill me in later when he was ready.

The next day started like any normal school day. I dragged myself out of bed, grabbed a quick breakfast, and went through the motions of getting to school and enduring a few mind-numbing classes. By lunch break, I was more than ready for a change of scenery, so I met up with Jasmine, and we headed out to find a place to eat.

As we strolled toward the cafeteria, we spotted our usual crew huddled around a table, whispering intensely. They seemed deep in conversation, and as soon as Jasmine and I got close, everyone went silent. That was odd—they usually didn't clam up unless it was something serious.

Curiosity piqued, Jasmine pressed them for the scoop. At first, they tried to brush us off, but Jasmine wasn't one to take no for an answer. With a bit of nudging, they finally gave in. Turns out, someone had found a huge stash of money that was supposedly lost. Now they were strategizing on how to make it look legit without raising suspicion.

At first, I almost laughed—it sounded like some plot from a cheesy heist movie. But as I listened, I realized they weren't kidding. They were dead serious, and Jasmine didn't seem skeptical either, so I figured I'd play along.

We started tossing around ideas, but it didn't take long to see we didn't have many options. We were still just high schoolers, and none of us had a clue how money laundering worked in real life. But then, Jasmine and Monse had a lightbulb moment: Money Bunny.

The plan was crazy but brilliant in its simplicity. We'd send small amounts of money through Money Bunny, little enough to avoid raising any red flags. By passing it through their system bit by bit, it'd come out looking like clean cash.

The whole thing sounded risky as hell, but also kind of exciting. I knew it was a long shot, but I couldn't help wanting in on it.

After school, we followed Jasmine to her spot for fake IDs. By the time we walked out with fresh identities, I was feeling pretty optimistic about our plan actually working. On our way home, though, something caught my eye on the ID.

"Uh, Jasmine..." I held up the card, eyeing her suspiciously.

She turned, already smirking. "What now?"

"Care to explain why my new name is 'Elly Diaz?'"

She shot me a mischievous grin. "Just manifesting the future, girl."

I rolled my eyes, but honestly, I didn't mind. Diaz had a nice ring to it.

I was ready to dive right into our Money Bunny scheme, but Jasmine had other ideas. She dragged us to her place for what she called a "practice session." For hours, she drilled us on every possible scenario, making sure we knew how to handle ourselves when it came time to move real money. By the end, my head was spinning, but Jasmine finally deemed us ready.

Walking home later, I heard the low rumble of a car pulling up beside me. It was Oscar's Impala, rolling down the window with a smirk.

"Hey mamacita, what you doin' out here looking that good," he teased, eyes full of mischief.