Best Part || Jamie Flatters

03

Valeria Castro

I grew up most of my life in a country where the primary language wasn't Spanish. I was born in El Salvador, and instead of being like everyone else and moving us to the United States, my mom and aunt took me and my cousins to London, England for a big job opportunity. But when I was sixteen, my mom and I moved to California so I could begin my acting career. Since then, my mom has moved to North Carolina and found a great man, who she's marrying soon.

I've always known I wanted to be an actress. When I was little, I always watched Telenovelas with my mom, and once I understood what acting was, I knew I wanted to do it.

Back to how hard it was with Spanish being my first language and not English. When I started school, not a single teacher at the school spoke Spanish. I had to learn English by myself, with the help of the only girl in the whole school who actually spoke to me. That friend was Sofia. She was born in the UK, but her parents spoke Spanish with her all the time, so she was able to help me a lot.

Since then, we've never spent more than a couple months apart. And that was only because it took her parents that much convincing to let her come to California and that much time for her to get all the paperwork done then she came and lived with me and my mom. She lives in California still and is also pursuing her acting career.

Now I'm on my way to see her at her apartment.

I'm taking Bailey, Trinity, Jack and Jamie with me since she grew close with them while I was filming too.

We decided to take an Uber which caused a fortune and took forever because of LA traffic. Our hotel would have been a fifteen minute drive but we've been in the car for almost thirty. I start to recognize streets, we're almost there. I haven't seen Sof in a month and a half. I miss her.

I've been pretty silent the ride. Everyone else has been talkative and excited to see Sof. I am excited to see Sof too, it's just the last time I was in California I was breaking up with Heath. It's been that long since I came here.

I look out the window once more and realize we should be stopping in five minutes. I feel a tap on my leg and turn to look at Bailey.

"You okay?"  I nod and give her a tight-lipped smile, but she doesn't buy it.

"I just haven't been in California since I broke up with Heath." Her face softens in realization.

"Really?" I hear Jamie ask from right in front of us. I look at him. "Yeah," I respond quietly.

I feel Bailey lean in to speak to me quietly.

"You know he's trying." I nod.

"I know. It's just that sometimes I get so mad at how he ignored me for two years because he believed Heath." I whisper so he won't hear me.

"And I know there's something else, he's more distant, but he won't tell me why."

"Something else?" She asks confused.

"Yeah, when we were walking to the cafe the other day, he was going to say something and we got interrupted, but I waited for him to say something later about it, he never did."

She looks forward with furrowed eyebrows thinking. I watch as she realizes something. She looks back at me.

"I mean he mentioned something about sending you something, a text I think but that was it. He never mentioned it again." She says quietly leaning back in to speak to me.

A message?

I grab my phone out of my lap and go to Jamie and I's messages. I scroll up looking for something important but it's just 'happy birthday' messages.