𝑾𝒆❜𝒗𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑭𝒂𝒓 - 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒔 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒔

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒘𝒐

Camila was explaining her trouble with recruitment to Lola when her baby daddy came sauntering over. Camila glared at him over Lola's shoulder as they sat at the cafeteria table.

"Hey, baby." He jeered as he slung his arm around Lola.

"I told you to leave me alone." She muttered, shrugging out of his embrace. He frowned, nudging her shoulder aggressively.

"You should be grateful. I'm sitting here next to you and offering to stay with you even when you got your whore self pregnant." He snapped.

"Drop dead, cabrón." Camila growled, standing up from the table. "Leave her alone."

"Yo man, I told you to stay away from my sister!" Thomas yelled as he stormed over. Lola stood up as Thomas hauled the kid out of his seat, throwing him to the floor.

"Thomas, don't do that!" Lola cried. Thomas ignored her, taking the kid by his shirt collar and slamming him against the table. "Tommy, don't do it!" A crowd formed quickly as the two struggled against one another, throwing punches.

"Thomas, stop!" Camila called, trying to move forward. She grabbed his arm as he pulled it back to swing another punch. He looked back at her, a lethal stare in his eyes. "Thomas." She repeated.

He looked between Camila and Lola, whose tears were now streaming freely down her face. An expression of guilt fell over his face, and he dropped the kid's shirt collar with a thud. Camila shot Lola an apologetic look as she dragged Thomas out of the cafeteria.

"Why'd you do that?" He snapped, snatching his elbow out of her grip. Camila scowled.

"You can't just solve problems by starting fights. You're upsetting Lola." She said in reply.

"How could you understand? You don't know anything." He grumbled in reply, folding his arms.

"Thomas, how do you think I was born? My mother is 31 years old. She was fifteen when another idiot from her high school knocked her up. Believe me, I've seen this shit first hand." Camila snapped. "Every fight you get into gets you hurt, and Lola ends up blaming herself. She blames herself for enough already without you making it worse."

Thomas scowled as he bit the inside of his cheek. He opened his mouth to say more when Coach White came around the corner. He waved his fingers at Thomas.

"Come on, Valles. You and I are taking a trip to the principal's office." He called. Thomas frowned before picking up his bag and following after, not sparing Camila a glance. She frowned at their retreating silhouettes, and went back into the cafeteria to find Lola.

-

After a couple more days, Coach White called the team to the side of the school to chat. Even Thomas was there, though he was standing off to the side, alone. Camila sat on the wall beside Johnny as Victor exchanged handshakes with a few of the guys. He laughed when he got to Danny.

"Danny Diaz?" He asked.

"Hey, we needed seven." Johnny protested.

"Yeah, seven runners. Not six runners and Danny Diaz." Victor retorted.

"Hey, he's our anchor." Coach White called from beside him.

"Yeah, and he'll drag our ass down."

"Knock it off, Puentes. Let's see if those legs work as fast as your mouth." Coach snapped. He stood up, facing the team. "Elmo Bridge and back. Go." Camila stood up, rolling her shoulder once before she started running. The group ran in a steady jog all the way to Sammy's store before Coach had to stop running with them. "You guys keep going! Down to the bridge and back! I'll time you from here!" He called. Camila shook her head with a small smile as her feet continued hitting the pavement.