Another Lifetime

Chapter Twenty-two:

Monse's POV:
The next morning we do everything like normal. We go to school and ignore each other until lunch. I sit with the Santos 'cause if I'm alone the Prophets are definitely gonna come for me. "So you gonna go to the game?" Jasmine asks. "What game?" Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy. "The homecoming game." Ruby laughs. "I barely know what month it is, how the hell am I supposed to know when homecoming is?." I ask them. "It's next Friday, this is just the game." She says. "How does that make sense?" I ask. "It doesn't but it's been like that for a while. Have you never gone to homecoming?" Cesar asks. "No, Latrelle wasn't into that." I explain. "Well even if you don't go to the dance you should go to the game." Ruby says. "What school?" I take a bite of my pizza. The food here is gross. "Beverly Charter." Jasmine says and I almost spit out my food. "Freeridge vs. Beverly? Why didn't Jamal say anything?" I ask. "He didn't wanna make it a big deal and distract us from RollerWorld." Ruby says. "We have to go." I look at Cesar. "Yeah, I'll get a few other Santos there in case the Prophets decide they wanna show up." He agrees.
When we get to the game it's hard to pick a side. "We can't sit with Beverly but we're only here for Jamal." Jasmine says what I'm thinking while we look at all the rich kids dressed as "cholos" and "gangsters". "Let's just stick with the Ridge. I don't wanna be near that." I roll my eyes at them. "Yeah." Cesar nods and we walk up the bleachers. "Why are they even dressed like that? They know they're not in Beverly Hills, right? They're gonna get jumped." Ruby laughs. "They're dumb asses, they think we're jokes." I tell him.
Me and Cesar go grab some snacks at halftime and we end up behind Odessa and some other cheerleaders. "Yikes, looks like we should've just starved." One of the girls looks me up and down. "Anything's better than being around these ghetto ass Freeridge kids." Another says and Odessa just stands there. "You're really gonna let people say that shit about us?" I ask her. "Monse, just forget it." Cesar tells me but I don't listen. "Seriously, do they even know your sister's one of the "ghetto" people?" I ask her. "Your sister?!" The first girl laughs. "Let's just go." Odessa starts to walk away but I pull her arm. "So one minute you wanna date a cholo and hangout with Santos but not when rich people are around!" I laugh. "Seriously Monse, stop." Odessa raises her eyebrows. "Come on." Cesar holds my hand and the other cheerleader notices. "Wait, didn't you used to date him?" She asks. "Yeah, I guess he realized he wanted someone who likes him as a person instead of a fucking accessory." I tell them and Odessa slaps me. "What the hell?!" I get in her face. "You boyfriend stealing bitch!" She tries to hit me but I dodge it and I punch her right in the jaw. "You only like being around us when it makes you look cool. Does your girlfriend know that? Did Cesar? 'Cause I know I had no fucking clue." I laugh and she screams. "Just leave me alone!" She pulls my hair and I elbow her in the chest. "I'm not trying to fight you. I'm trying to get you to admit that we don't mean shit to you." I try to walk away and she kicks me. "Did you just kick me?" I laugh. "You got everything! You got our mom, you got Freeridge... bitch you even stole my boyfriend!" She yells. "Our mom left me, half of Freeridge wants me dead, and I am just now figuring out if I even have feelings for him. Stop acting like I have this perfect life when I literally have to fight every damn day." I punch her again and a security guard from fucking Beverly drags me out. "You got lucky this didn't happen at our school or we would've called the police. We both know how cops feel about people like you." He walks away and it makes me feel small. I know how fast people like Odessa can ruin my life. Hell, the security guard could've beat me and no one would've cared. This whole fight is gonna be blamed on me. "Hey." Odessa sits on the curb with me. "What are you doing here?" I ask. "I explained what happened and my school has a zero tolerance policy for violence... I'm pretty sure I just got expelled." She says and I look at her. "Why didn't you just say it was me?" I ask. "Because I fucked up. You were wrong, I do care about you guys but sometimes I forget not everyone loves Freeridge like I do." She says. "That doesn't change anything. We obviously don't like each other as much as we thought." I tell her and Odessa nods. "I think we tried jumping into the whole sister thing way too fast without actually talking about our issues and, you know, you did steal my boyfriend." She tells me. "Yeah, I guess we had a lotta shit we never talked about... and I'm really sorry about the whole Cesar thing." I say. "Well I honestly doubt we're gonna have a lot of time to work through all this. There's no way my dad isn't sending me to boarding school." Odessa laughs. "Come on, your dad's not gonna split us up after we just met." I shrug. "After we just fought?" She laughs. "You Can always ask to transfer here if you love Freeridge so much. I bet your parents are gonna say yes. Who say no to this face." I squish her cheeks. "Ouch. You already forgot how you almost broke my jaw?" She asks. "Sorry." I take my hand off her face and she laughs. "Hey, can I talk to you?" Cesar asks and I look at Odessa for answer. "I'm ok... and I'm sorry." She says and I stand up. "What's up?" We walk for a few seconds and then stop. "Monse, if you don't wanna be with me just tell me." He says and I furrow my brow. "Why wouldn't I wanna be with?" I ask. "You told Odessa you didn't know if you had feelings for me." He explains. "It's just taking me a minute to get what I feel. I definitely wanna be with you." I kiss him slowly. "Good 'cause I wasn't kidding when I told you I loved you." He says. "I know... I just don't know if I'm there yet." I admit. "It's ok." Cesar kisses me. "I don't know why I was so worried about the Prophets coming here and fucking shit up. You can really handle your shit." He looks at my knuckles and laughs. Before I can say anything we get interrupted. "You and Odie got in a fight?!" Jamal says with a high pitch yell and we all laugh, including Odessa.

Author's note:
I totally forgot to add this part but I couldn't have wrote this without babeesierra