white-passing- jamal turner

ten

Chivo was in the hospital, and he still hadn't woken up. Jamal was convinced he was still fucking with us, but I wasn't so sure. He even slapped him a few times, which I slapped Jamal for.

"The dude just had a heart attack! Stop that!" I said.

"Ari, he's faking it!"

I rolled up my sleeves and smacked Chivo. Hard.

"Nope. Not faking it," I said before looking back at Chivo, "But yeah, that's for beating around the bush, dickhead."

"I'll call Monse," Jamal said, pulling out his phone.

"Yes, please do."

After a chaotic conversation with Monse, Jamal hung up.

"Alright, what's our next move?" I said.

"We go to the nursery," he said, dangling the keys that the nurse gave him.

________________________________________________

We got to the nursery and went into the abandoned trailer park.

"Jesus, this place gives me the creeps," I said.

"Let's start looking."

I looked around, trying to find a place where there'd be a keyhole when Jamal found it first.

"It works," he said, slowly opening the drawer, and then he screamed.

 "What!"

"Juanita!" Jamal said, pulling out a curvy gnome with a red cap, "That sick bastard held her captive."

While he placed her on the table, I rummaged through the drawer, finding an envelope.

"In case of my demise, R.G," I said, "Ricky Galindo!"

I opened it carefully, only to find a paper with a date and the name Rollerworld, the Santos Cross, and a nursery rhyme.

"What the hell is this?" I said.

"I don't know," Jamal said, "20, 7, 42."

We both went outside, trying to figure out what it meant. And then, it hit me.

"Wait! What if it's a locker combo?" I said.

"But where is the locker?" Jamal said, holding Juanita, "Where is the lock baby girl? Tell me."

I gave him a look, "Jamal, did you just call a doll baby girl?"

"I'm sorry. I'm tired. It's late."

"Look!"

We walked over to a shed with a locker on it.

"20, 7, 42," Jamal whispered as he turned the lock, and the door opened.

 We smiled, but our victory was short-lived. Within the shed were a bunch of other items with locks on them. I wanted to drop to my knees and sob. But we had to get to work. 

________________________________________________________

We were up all night, and neither Ruby nor Monse were answering us. I had to take breaks because if I didn't I'd lose my mind. At one point, I was so tired, I didn't even notice I was crying until Jamal pointed out the tears on my face.

By the time Monse came, the sun was already out. 

"Dude, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!!" I said.

"I'm sorry!" Monse said, "I didn't see any of your messages until this morning. What's all this?"

Jamal pulled out the nursery rhyme, "Ricky gave this to Chivo. It holds the answers to Rollerworld. I know it does."

Monse started helping us, and she must've had the best luck ever because the first box she opened had a message in it.

"I hate you," Jamal said.

"Ditto."

As we looked at the slip of paper, Ruby came in.

"What are you guys doing? This is trespassing!"

We all took a hard look at Ruby, who was wearing half a face of the worst makeup ever. 

"Um," Jamal said, "Is there anything you want to tell us?"

"What?"

I pointed to his face.

"I was helping Olivia with her makeup test for her quince when Jamal texted. Right side's glamour, left side's chic."

"Oh my god. You're joking, right?" I said.

"Hey, I wouldn't be doing this if your sister-

"Don't bring my sister into this!" I said.

"Why is he here anyway?" Monse said.

"Because SOMEONE wasn't answering our calls and texts!" 

"My phone was dead! And I'm here now. That's all that matters," Monse said, "I think the naysayer needs to go home."

"No! Why do I need to go home?" Ruby said.

"Rollerworld."

"I'm out of here!"

"Rollerworld is real!" Jamal said, making Ruby slowly turn around.

"So were the chupacabra bones you found in sixth grade!"

"It's the only way to save Cesar!" I said.

"Save Cesar?"

"Before he's forced to kill Latrelle!"

Ruby didn't believe us, so Monse told him Cesar had a gun. Jamal looked up the numbers, saying they were either lottery numbers or extremely unrealistic body measurements. 

"I don't know," Ruby said, "I don't have a math degree."

"Degrees," Monse said, "Degrees! These are coordinates!"

_______________________________________________

We ended up at Freeridge Community Park. Jamal pulled out his metal detector while Monse and I walked around looking for clues.

"So," I said, "Am I supposed to believe the reason you didn't respond was that your phone died?" 

 "Not now," Monse said.

"Oh, so your phone didn't die?" I said, "Ok, then I wanna play a guessing game of what was Monse doing last night?"

I looked at her, "Or who."

"Alright, alright!" she said, "Cesar came over last night. And he slept over. And uh-

"Did you guys bone?!"

We turned a corner only for two dudes to catcall us, so we turned around the way we went.

"I don't think I'm at liberty to answer that question," she said as my phone dinged. Olivia texted me asking what was going on and if I'd heard from Cesar.

"Are you at liberty to sort this out?" I said, showing her the text.

Monse sighed.

"Dude, after we fix this whole Cesar sitch you have to. She's our friend, and she and Cesar are still dating. It's not fair to her!"

We pretty much hit a dead end on any clues and regrouped to the bench Ruby sat at. He tried to talk us into getting Cesar to Fresno, but we weren't buying it. 

Jamal pulled Ruby off the bench, and on that bench was a plaque with a Santos cross.