Chasing Ella

Prologue: Spanish Moms and the New Neighbors

Prologue
Palm Springs, California
11:02 pm | Third Person

There's a 104 days of summer vacation. Out of those 104 days, the Santiago trios never partied as hard as they have during the 103rd day.

Their 2-story simple, family house have turned into a not so family friendly home in just 2 hours. Red plastic cups were littered all over the floor along with wasted teenagers who passed out after drinking from the bottle of alcohol they stole from Mr. Santiago's beer room.

Every corner of the house were filled with couples aggressively making out, finally escaping their parents who had just given them the "talk" when they've known about it since 5th grade. But that's not going to stop them from doing exactly what they should not do.

"Woohoo!" the life of the party, Chase Santiago, cheered as he surfed the crowd with a red plastic cup in hand. He jugged down the remains of the cup, the alcohol both burning his throat and soothing his thirst.

The people led him out into the backyard where the football team, mainly Todd Dickson, were using the outcasts as weights, lifting them in the air before throwing them into the pool.

"Help! I can't swim!"

Chase's older cousin, Eric, quickly jumped into the pool once he noticed the kid was drowning. Everyone gathers around the pool as Eric pulled Todd's latest victim out. Chance, Chase's twin brother, walks up to Eric and shoves him back.

"What the hell is your problem?" Chance yelled.

Todd scoffed and said, "Here comes Chance, the ultimate party pooper. Why can't you be more like your brother?"

Some people laughed. Some people ooo'd. Others were watching intently, waiting for someone to throw the first punch.

"He nearly drowned, you fucking retard." Chance said, pointing at the kid who's coughing up pool water.

"It's not my fault he doesn't know how to swim." Todd laughed, his friends and a few others started laughing with him.

Chance glared at Todd, clenching his jaw and tightly closing his fists. It took him every muscle in his body to stop himself from sucker punching the shit out of Todd Dickson.

Chase walks through the crowd, and stands beside his brother.

"You're still and always will be a dick, son." Chase said with a mischievous smirk, crossing his arms against his chest.

A burst of laughter roared amongst the crowd. He fist bumped with his twin and cousin. Rage started being apparent in Todd's eyes. His jaw was clenched. His fists were in a ball.

Just as he was about to throw a punch at Chase's face, Chance grabs Todd's wrists and twists it behind his back. Todd groans in pain and hisses.

Chance pushes Todd towards the pool, but he regained balanced and stood by the edge. When he was about to charge again, Eric trips him. He lands on top of a huge beach ball, which Chase kicks, causing him to fall backwards into the pool.

Everyone laughed and cheered. Todd resurfaces and spits out water. He throws a ball, attempting to hurt one of the three but Chase simply catches it. He throws it back and it hits Todd in the face.

Once again, the crowd roared to laughter. But everyone became silent as Mrs. Santiago's heels clicked and clacked towards the stage where the DJ stood. She stopped the music and took the mic. She tapped the microphone and spoke.

"Party's over folks."

Everyone groaned. When no one started leaving, she yelled, "Get out of my house before I call the cops!" That did the trick. Everyone started flooding towards the house and out of the front door like a massive stampede.

She walked over to her sons and each grabbed them by the ear. She dragged them into the house, but sent a threatening glare at Eric's way.

"Right, I got you aunty." Eric said, grabbing himself by the ear and walking behind her, following them into the house.

"Ma! That hurts!" Chase yells, placing his hand on top of his mother trying to yank her hand off, but her grip was too strong.

"¡Por favor mama! (Please, mama!)" Chance begs.

Mrs. Santiago lets go of the boy's ears but quickly grabs her house slippers and starts to hit them with it. Chase and Chance exchanges looks and nods. Both of them ran the opposite direction, leaving Eric standing there.

He slowly backs up towards the front door and says, "¡Buenos noches tía! (Good night aunty) I better get going!"

"You are not going anywhere!" Mrs. Santiago yells.

Eric was about to turn the doorknob when Chase yells, "Duck!"

Eric turns around to see a slipper flying towards his direction and immediately ducks down. The slipper makes contact with the door, and falls on the ground.

Mrs. Santiago stomps over and drags Eric by the ear. She yells for the twins and they cautiously walk towards their mother.

"You three are going to clean this mess. I want this house to be spotless and- did you guys drink?!" She asked, taking a whiff of their breaths. They all cover their mouths and took a step back, while shaking their heads.

She raises her hand to each give them a slap, but the doorbell suddenly rang.

"¡Apresúrese y limpie! (Hurry up and clean)" She said, waving them off. They all ran and picked up trashed.

Chase walks up to a kid passed out on the middle of the kitchen floor and lightly kicks his leg.

"Dude, wake up! I was told to take out the trash!" He said before laughing at his own joke.

"Sad. You have to laugh at your own jokes since no one else would." Chance teased, walking out into the backyard. Eric bursts out laughing.

Chase picks up a red plastic cup and throws it, hitting Eric in the face. Eric picked it up and was about to throw it when Mrs. Santiago looks back, making him drop it, then continues to make her way to the front door.

She opens the door slightly, just enough for her to see who was at the door. The three guys tried to peak and see who it was.

"Sorry for all the racket, we won't do it again." Mrs. Santiago apologized quickly.

"Oh no, I'm not here about the noise. My family and I just moved into the neighborhood and we're giving our new neighbors lasagna! Would you like some?" A very feminine voice spoked with enthusiasm.

"Oh, wow! Thank you very much." Mrs. Santiago said smiling as she took the pan of lasagna from her new neighbor's hands.

"No problem, have a good night!" The friendly new neighbor greeted, waving goodbye.

"You too sweetie! Welcome to the neighborhood!" Mrs. Santiago yelled after her before closing the door shut.

"Who was that mama?" Chase asked curiously.

"None of your business! Hurry up and clean, I'm going to eat this lasagna." Mrs. Santiago walks to the kitchen to grab a fork when she almost trips over the same guy passed out on the floor.

She grabs a cup of water and a pours it over the guys face. He jolts up surprised. Mrs. Santiago then points at Chase, who is caught off guard by his mother's sudden accusation.

"What the hell man?" The guy complained.

"Aye, you. Get out. I'm trying to eat lasagna." Mrs. Santiago said casually, causing the three to laugh.

"Oh cool, can I have some?" The guy asked.

Mrs. Santiago looked at him like he grew two more heads, took her slipper off, and raised it in the air.

"Man you're family is crazy." The guy said before running out of the front door.

They all laughed and dug straight into the lasagna that was brought by the new girl in town.