Another Lifetime

Chapter Eight:

Monse's POV:
"Our dads played for the 'Ridge together for four years and our mom, she was a cheerleader just like you." I explain and Odessa smiles. "So this is literally where everything started." She walks into the middle of the field.
**** October 2003 ****
"Touchdown!" The announcer screams and everyone cheers. "Number 22, Dwayne Turner-" and the cheers get so loud I can't even hear him. Everybody knows my name. "Ready to celebrate?!" I run over to Monty. "Fuck yeah man!" Homecoming game parties are even better than the games. "Undefeated since freshman year." I say. "And not stopping anytime soon!" He laughs. After the crowd gets a little less crazy our girls come down to the middle of the field with our babies. "You ready to have two kids?" I ask Monty and he shakes his head. "No! But I'll figure it out. I'd do anything for Selena." He tells me and down I feel guilty. I know that baby's mine.
**** Present ****
"Weird to think they had a whole life here." Odessa says and I nod. "Yeah, I couldn't imagine my dad being our age." I laugh. "My mom told me our dads were inseparable."  She tells me. "Really? I guess my mom sleeping with your dad messed it up." I shrug. "Apparently when your dad told my dad that he was a Prophet, things changed." She says.
**** Summer 2004 ****
"What do you mean? All you ever wanted to do was play for UCLA! How the fuck are you giving up college for some stupid ass gang." I yell at Monty. "I gotta protect my daughter." He says, seriously. "You can't protect her when you get killed." I remind him. "Yeah, but we can't all just go. Some of us don't have our girl around everyday to watch our kids." He glares at me. "How many times do I gotta say I'm sorry?" I ask. "You don't. I lost everything because of you." He reminds me. "Selena left 'cause she wanted to. I-" Monty stops me. "You know I was the first one to hold Nia? I didn't wanna let go for a second and then Selena tells me she's not even mine! I don't give a fuck that she left me. Nia was my daughter, mine, and then she just got ripped away from me. So don't come over here again trying to apologize 'cause you knew and you didn't say shit. You let me love her just so you could fuck with me." Monty screams in my face and he looks like he's ready to cry. Why is he acting like this is my fault? I'm not the one who wanted to keep it a secret! "I changed her name." I tell him. He named Nia after his aunt, she died a while back, and telling him I changed my daughter's name is the worst way I knew how to hurt him. He curses and screams but I just walk away.
**** Present ****
I drive us to my mom's old house. "I grew up there after my parents broke up. My dad would drop me off in the mornings so my grandma could watch me and he'd pick me up at night. After the Prophets and Santos started fighting over everything, I stopped coming here." I explain. "Wait, I know this place." She gets out of the car and I follow her. "I used to com here like once a year and visit my parents friends." We stare at the house. "Or maybe you were visiting our mom." I look at her and she gets right back in the car. "Nope. I'm not thinking about her today." She shakes her head. "Tomorrow?" I ask. "Sure." Odessa nods. "I have one more place." I drive her to the new RollerWorld. Some guy remodeled it and there's apparently there's this whole secret room with clues and shit. "No way. Jamal is gonna be so jealous when he finds out I came here without him!" She smiles. "I thought some gang money would be a good birthday present." I laugh. We open the door and try and find the secret room. "There's a gnome guarding this door." Odessa points. I push the door open and there's maps, pictures, a safe, and a whole bunch of other shit. "Julio, you were supposed to stop anyone from coming in." A man walks out from the shadows. "Chivo?" Odessa says. "Jamal's sister." He says. "You guys know each other?" I ask. "Yeah, he's like my brother's best friend. I should've know you were here when I saw that." She points at the gnome. "You're just jealous." Chivo says. "So can we go into the creepy room or what?" I ask. "No." He shuts the door and then opens it again. "Here's a birthday voucher for a free day of skating. Enjoy your day at RollerWorld." He says with a blank stare before he closes the door again. "Thanks for remembering, Chivo." She says. "That was weird." I laugh. "Trust me, everything with Jamal is weird." She explains. "Speaking of your brother... how was it growing up with a sibling?" I ask. "I love having a brother. He's a pain in the ass but he's kind of my best friend. Tell him any of this and he'll probably be extra gross and annoying for a month. I wouldn't trade him for anyone else." She says and there's an awkward pause. "I didn't mean like you or anything! I just meant hypothetically. Obviously you're my half sister so we're siblings but it's not the same it's just we didn't grow up together and we just met-" I cut her off. "I get it. I think we're more like friends." I laugh and she nods. "Thanks, I didn't wanna make things weird." She smiles. "Yo, I kept on calling you guys!" Lola walks over with Ky. "Jamal and I have a surprise for the birthday girl." She tells us. "I'm not really in a party mood." Odessa explains. "Good." Lola says. We all drive over to the Hollywood sign and hike all the way up where there's a picnic set up for her. "Happy birthday loser." Jamal gives her a hug. "He called so I left the other party early." Lola tells me. "So he knows about Ky?" I ask. "Yeah. He was actually pretty cool about it." She says.