The Artist (Latrelle)

Chapter two

About two weeks I convinced cesar to tell the guys about him getting jumped into the santos but before he could Monse being Monse told Jamal and Jamal being Jamal told Ruby. So no we're in rubys room trying to find a way to 'save' Cesar I'm sitting next to Cesar while Ruby, Jamal and Monse are sitting opposite us and the three of them are bickering like a married couple "yo! One at a time, I'm not following." Cesar stops them and I nod and Ruby puts his hand up and Cesar motions to him and Monse gives Ruby a dirty look "sorry, it's excitement. We've been chewing on this the last two weeks. And it's finally time to move forward with a plan." Ruby says excitedly "a plan for what?" Cesar asks "getting you out of the gang." Monse says and Cesar laughs "they're being serious." I say "you're being serious?" Cesar clarifies and they nod "oh, my gosh. No! No, no, no, no. There is no way out. You guys are being naive. Once you're jumped in, you can't get out. Unless, you get jumped out, and that's not, you know, an option. " Cesar says seriously and quickly I rub his back having heard all this before and knowing why it isn't an option "why not?" Jamal asks "they beat you till you die." Cesar says and I nod "oh, I see your dilemma." Jamal says "yeah."Cesar says "death isn't your only option, Ruby?" Monse says "so, after copious amounts of research, I've formulated a theory that all great things comes in threes: The Holy Trinity, Primary colours, destiny's child..." Ruby says standing up and grabbing some books "D.C started with four members." Jamal corrects "but they weren't big until they were there three." Ruby says matter-of-factly "which is why there are three common denominators to end any and all hostile situations. I call them the three 'M's': Money, murder, manipulation." Ruby says handing as all a binder "no, not that one. They're watermarked." Ruby says as Jamal and Monse switch binders and he hands me and Cesar one each as he sits down and I open mine to see 'Juniper Miller.' I look back up "clearly, murders off the table. The irony would be to much." Monse says and I nod "and there's no way we can hustle up enough cash with a car wash to make worth Oscars while." I say "unless..." Jamal starts "Jamal, don't. Please don't say it." Monse tries to stop our friend "getting a lot of cash isn't outside of the realm of possibility." Jamal starts "what are you talking about?" Cesar asks as Jamal stands up walking over to toward me and Cesar "RollerWorld." Me, Ruby and Monse say at the same time and Jamal sits next to me "it's real 50K is still out there. Those dudes that robbed RollerWorld got put away, but the money was never recovered." Jamal says as Cesar looks over at him "in the '80s." Ruby stresses "and the rumours still rampant! What about the Goonies?" Jamal asks and I shake my head "some of those kids thought it was B.S until they found the treasure. And they weren't even—" Jamal gets cut off "brown. We're brown. With the exception of our Romani friend. Only white Kids find treasure." Monse says and I nod "plus that was just a movie Colega."(mate) I reason "true." Jamal says "what are you looking for?" Ruby asks abuelita who was digging around in the draws behind him "baby Jesus. He's missing. The special one blessed by the bishop. I put him in here before i started to move into my room." The woman explains "dude, you're holding it." Ruby turns to Jamal who is holding a baby Jesus "no, this is Toddler Jesus. Babies don't stand. This Jesus is probably already potty trained. And this isn't a diaper, these are booty shorts." Jamal explains standing up as abuelita holds her hand out for the baby Jesus and Jamal walks over handing it to her "sit down. Sit." Ruby says through gritted teeth to Jamal and Jamal sits down in his original spot "all right, I'm out." Cesar says "we haven't even pitched the final 'M'." Monse complains as Cesar stands up "don't need to." Cesar says and Monse sighs "'manipulation." She says as I stand up pulling Cesar back down beside me "through negotiation." Jamal adds "with cogent, we'll-articulated arguments." Ruby says "so, that's it? That's the plan?" Cesar asks and I nod "that's the plan? You're gonna get me out of the gang with cogent, we'll-articulated arguments?" Cesar asks "yes." Monse, Ruby and Jamal say "never gonna happen." Cesar claps "good talk." He adds stand up and he walks out patting Jamal on the shoulder "I did my part getting him here." I say standing up "let me know when you figure something out. I gotta make sure he doesn't do anything Estúpido." (Stupid) I shrug following Cesar out.