STEAL MY GIRL | Nini Salazar-Robert's

T H I R T E E N

ALL THE boys sat in Big Red's basement, eating pizza and laughing. EJ and Dylan were sitting at one of the tables, Jordy and KJ sat on the floor, Toby and Carlos were sitting on one of the countertops, while Forrest, Logan, and Caden stood by the chairs Big Red and Ricky were sitting in. All of them sat there after the laughter had died down. Then, Carlos spoke up. "You guys, what are we making?" He asked, getting off the counter and walking to the center.

KJ then got a text. He pulled out his phone. "Oh, a text from Ash. They want us to construct something to slowly spin Toby around on, so that we can change the fabric on his cape while he spins." KJ read and looked back up at everyone.

"That sounds promising." Carlos said, hesitantly.

"What do I have that spins?" Big Red stood up and searched his basement.

"Wait, there's a bunch of these back here, we could use, maybe..." EJ said, grabbing skateboards that were left on a shelf. Ricky looked up at Big Red nervously.

"Oh! My retired skateboards." Big Reds eyes widened. Ricky then cleared his throat before speaking.

"I mean, if it's to help Miss Jenn finally win her award."

"I'm wrapping my head around it. Emotionally." Big Red fiddled with his phone.

"That could take all night." Dylan rolled his eyes. EJ snickered and nudged the boy with his elbow.

"I could do that. Stay all night." Toby spoke out, jumping off the counter and crossing his arms. "Carlos?" Toby turned to Carlos.

"Yeah, I need to talk to Seb at some point, but it can wait." Toby tilted his head.

"Are you sure?"

"It's waited all week. Let's spin Toby around for a few hours." Toby chuckled awkwardly before turning back to the other boys.

"Let's get this started, bros, brothers? Bretheren?" Eli walked up to his older brother and stood infront of him.

"Stop talking. You'll end up embarrassing yourself." Eli patted Toby's shoulder before walking to Carlos.

+

"Ooh, this is going to be so good, Carlos would wear it." Kourtney gushed, placing the fabric around Seb. The girls chuckled.

"Does he just walk around in Armani sweatpants?" Ashlyn joked.

"I guess." Seb shrugged. The girls noticed Seb's solemn expression and became concerned.

"Is something going on with you guys?" Nini asked softly, folding some of the fabric. She turned around.

"I guess you could say, he met a group of extremely photogenic guys when he was down in Mexico, and he seems pretty happy. So, now I'm pretty sad." He frowned, looking at all the girls.

"Seb, come on. You want to see him happy. That's with you." Audrey spoke.

"Mmm, but I guess he has to be, out of default, right?" Seb asked.

"What does that mean?" Kourtney questioned, tilting her head to the side.

"There's not a lot of other choices for a boy like Carlos here at East." He explained, sitting down on one of the couches.