Babe.

13.

Blanca.

When I woke up my head was pounding like someone had beat it in with a sledgehammer. I groaned turning around, I had made such stupid decisions last night. I never should have had so much to drink and I NEVER should have told Benny all of those things. Things I didn't even admit to myself until I was in a state of complete deliriousness like last night.

Nika rolled over a lazy grin on her face, "how was your night?"
I scowled, "so bad Nika, I basically poured all my secrets out to Benny Rodriguez."
She grimaced, "oh, that's not great. How's the hangover?"
"Even worse." I complained.

Tilly stirred on the other side of me, "I don't even remember getting into bed last night."
"Yeah, because you passed out in the garden." Nika told her snickering, "and George had to carry you up."

Hangover temporarily forgotten Tilly sighed a grin stretching on her face, the look she usually got when she thought about her boyfriend. "Isn't he just the best?"
I bumped my shoulder into hers , "you guys are really cute together. I can tell he really likes you."

"Blanca!" Emanuel yelled bursting into my room and totally interrupting us, "did you-."
"Get out!" I snapped throwing a pillow at the door. "We could have been naked! Knock next time!"

He snorted, "drama queen. Dad wants to talk to you."
"Why?" I asked confused.
Emmanuel shrugged, "no idea. And get changed before you come downstairs, he'll freak if he sees your costume."

I hadn't even realised I still had it on. "Yeah I'll be right down." I answered. Not that I was in any mood or state to do so.

I pulled off my costume and and grabbed a T-shirt and pyjama shirts before going downstairs. "What's up?" I asked sitting down around the kitchen island.

"I need a favour." He started.
My least favourite sentence ever. I shoved the thought down as quickly as it arose, and forced myself to ignore it. "Of course what do you need?" I replied instead.

"Will you come okay tennis with me and my clients son this weekend? I know you were supposed to work but-." He started.
Now that was a favour I would gladly fulfill, I grinned this time my smile real, "sure. As long as I don't have to pretend to lose."

My Dad snorted, "never. Who do you think I am mija?"
My Dad wasn't a bad guy all round it was just this last year that things had started to change for him. That he had started to change.

With the crisis I had feared averted I was free to go back to tending to my hangover and equally hungover friends. Nika and Tilly stumbled down the stairs when he left for work, "all good?"
I nodded, "yeah all good."

Benny.

I was the opposite of good. After my little talk with Blanca I'd gotten completely shitfaced so that I could forget the fact that the girl I hated most understood my outlook on life better than some of my closest friends.

It handy helped. Not at all. Instead I'd gotten a hangover that seemed to want to make me pay for ever being born. In other words ungodly.

Ty snorted when Nico and I came down for breakfast looking like we'd just worked the Night Shift picking up trash. "You look like shit."

"Ty, langauge!" My mother snapped, "morning hijos."
"Morning." We mumbled sitting down at the table, "¿Qué hay para desayunar?"
She gestured to the set up of food in the table, "anything you want."

Breakfast didn't help much but at least I wasn't hungry anymore, I barely managed to drag myself to the sandlot but I couldn't exactly lose face after I'd forced everyone else to show up. Yeah-yeah - the little bastard - hadn't bothered to show up. I couldn't blame him because I'd wanted to go back to bed after breakfast but I was pissed because I was here and he wasn't.
Traitor.

"Base up blockheads!" I called stifling a yawn, "we have a game to play."
Squints shot me a once over, "yeah like you're in any star to play, go take a nap Benny."
I opened my mouth to complain and then clamped it shut, they had given me my out and I would take it.

I climbed up into the treehouse collapsing in a heap on the mattress in the corner. Squints was right I was in no state to play anything right now. I was dizzy and nauseous and had a killer headache. Even for me that would have been pushing it.

I can't wait to get out of this stupid town.

I couldn't get the words out of my head, mostly because I rated to them so well. I loved The Valley and the people in it I did. But nothing ever happened here, no big dreams were fulfilled or anything. I wanted more.

What I hadn't been expecting was that she did too, as the closest thing we had in our neighbourhood to a celebrity I would have thought she loved it here. But it was the opposite of that, she wanted out too.

It made her a hell of a lot more interesting than she had been before, when she'd been little Miss goody-two-shows who took care of old people for fun and magically got A pluses on every exam.

At least this new side of her had something to say. Something I cared about hearing anyway, she'd been plenty opinionated before. It was just two bad it took half a vodka bottle and god knows what else for her to say it.