Baton Rouge.

Chapter 24 - Spurred Moment.

Since Melissa didn't have her car, she had no choice but to wait for a ride. She stood in the back of the school and away from the students, watching Louis pull up in front of her. Melissa threw her large backpack onto her shoulders, walking and getting into the car. Melissa slammed the door, not saying anything. Fran turned around, scrunching her lips a little.

"Hey Melissa." Fran grinned.

Melissa waved a little at her, not giving her any eye contact. Louis pulled around the front, looking at the large crowd of students that were standing around.

"Why don't you ever stand up here with the other students?" Louis asked, talking to Melissa as he pulled out of the school.

Melissa didn't answer him. She continued to gaze out at the window as Louis chuckled, looking at Fran.

"She's still mad at me over yesterday." Louis snickered. "I knew that she would act like this."

"I don't even care about me. I care about Jionni!" Melissa scowled in an outburst. "You ruined the possibility of him ever getting a job!"

"And PLEASE explain to me how that's my fault?" Louis laughed.

"Because you called the cops and now he's getting probation violation slapped onto his record!" Melissa snapped. "He wasn't even doing anything but dropping me off!"

Louis laughed again, shaking his head again as he started making his way to Melissa's swim practice.

"And you think that it's funny." Melissa scoffed, cracking a small smile as she gazed out of the window. "You're just as pathetic as mom and dad."

"Hey Melissa, you watch your mouth." Louis said in a serious tone, pulling in front of her swimming class. "Alright? Enough."

"You sat there and had a fit about how mom and dad hadn't even got the chance to know Fran before judging her and you're doing the same shit towards Jionni." Melissa scoffed again. "Practice what you preach before you approach me with the bullshit."

Melissa stormed out of the car, walking quickly into the building. Louis glared angrily out of the window, clenching his jaw to calm himself down. The one thing he hated the most was being compared to his parents.

"Y'know, I actually agree with her." Fran nodded.

"I'm not letting no boy hurt my sister." Louis said in a serious tone. "End of story."

"You haven't even taken the chance to get to know him, Louis. You are acting just like your parents." Fran said in a snarky tone. "At least check him out before jumping to conclusions about how this guy acts."

Louis wasn't trying to hear it, but he hated being on Melissa's bad side. This being said, he decided to swallow his pride and go talk to Jionni.

After dropping Fran off at their apartment, Louis headed back to the neighborhood that Rodrigo found information on. After scanning and looking for the address listed on one of the sheets that Rodrigo received from one of the private investigators. Louis couldn't find it, but he found a house where Jionni was sitting on the porch couch reading a book. When he saw the silver metal around Jionni's ankle, he knew that that was him. Louis parked in front of the home, taking a deep breath before getting out.

Louis calmly approached the porch, placing his hands into his pocket as he stepped on the porch.

"Hey." Louis said in a low tone.

Jionni looked up at Louis, scrunching his eyebrows at him.

"The fuck you want, mane?" Jionni groaned as he did some of the work Diana had to pick up from his school.