YOUNG, DUMB & BROKE - ON MY BLOCK

[3] the kids aren't all right

A/N: THERE ARE SERIOUS MATTERS DISCUSSED IN THIS CHAPTER. Nadia will be confronted by her mother and this chapter speaks of her being sent to a conversion therapy camp (which are proven to not work and to be abusive) as well as Nadia speaking about what happened while she was there. Please do not read if this will cause you to feel distress.

Nadia had ran the whole one and a half miles home, making it there in about ten minutes time from when she had left Ruby's house. Sweat shined on her forehead, little puffs of air nearly visible in the crisp night air each time a breath escaped her. It was almost tangible, the fear in the air, thick enough to cut, strong enough to taste the metallic iron, smell the anxiety. Home was supposed to be a safe place, a safe haven, but the young teen did not feel that at home, no, she felt dread, fear, anxiety.

Phantom movements behind the current alerted Nadia to the place she had walked up to on her porch, and another stroke of fear filled her. Who had her mother invited into the home, why where they there? It was late, too late for any of her mother's friends to be over, if her mom even had any. There was no use for her to pull out her keys, their lock had been broken for ages and they didn't have anything worth stealing in the home. The teen shook her head quickly, exhaling as her hand touched the cool metal of the doorknob, turning it open.

The only light that was on was in the kitchen, causing Nadia to wonder, once again, who was in her home. Noting the baseball bat that she left by the door was gone, the teen grew tense, worrying that perhaps she had thought wrong, maybe someone was trying to rob her house. Less air got into her lungs as breaths grew shorter, anxiety filling her body, starting in her heart, a tingling feeling rising to her ears as fear increased.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound from the kitchen, shuffling feet, making Nadia grow more tense until - "Nadia, can you come in the kitchen?" oh. It was only her mom. Nadia let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had even been holding, her heart rate returning slowly back to normal.

Nadia walked into the kitchen, reluctantly, as she didn't want to get into another argument with her mom. Without even taking her shoes off, Nadia approached, squinting her eyes at the bright light that flooded her vision. It only took a few seconds for Nadia to notice that her mother wasn't alone in the kitchen, but that there were two burly men with her and what appeared to be a priest. "Mom, what's going on?" The teen asked quietly, her voice wavering a bit as the scenarios of what could be happening ran through her head. Was her mom sending her off to live at a monastery and become a nun? Jesus Christ that would be awful.

"Honey, I want you to know that I love you very much, but my daughter is not a lesbian." Her mother spoke, and with that fear struck Nadia's heart once again, knowing what was going on in that moment as the men moved to block the exits from the kitchen.

Nadia shook her head, "Mom, don't do it, please." The teen begged, lip quivering and eyes filling with tears, breathes unable to escape her body as her muscles grew taught.

The older Gonzalez women sighed and shook her head, "I told you that you had to change baby, but since you haven't, this kind man has agreed to take you to his sexual conversion therapy camp for the summer. This way, when you start high school, you can be normal."

"Normal? The only thing that isn't normal is that you're sending me away for something I can't control!" Nadia shouted as strong hands grabbed her shoulders from behind, keeping her in place.

"It's for your own good" Mrs. Gonzalez replied with a small smile, walking out of the kitchen now that Nadia was restrained by the man.

The young teen bit back a sob, flailing in the arms of the man who held her, "Let me go!" He didn't let her go, and his grip only tightened as he grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back to hold her more securely. "I said let me go! You can't do this to me!" Nadia cried out, stomping her foot on the man's, jutting her elbow into his jut. But as he let her go with a groan, Nadia was greeted by the other burly man in front of her, picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder like a rag doll.

"I hate you! I hate you! I'm never coming back to you again!" Nadia screamed, knowing her mom would hear as the man carried her out of the house despite her kicking and flailing. The young girl sobbed as she felt zip ties tighten around her wrists, preventing her from hitting the man anymore. How much worse could her life get?

----

Time Skip: 1 Month Later

Ragged breaths escaped Nadia's mouth as she ran, bare feet meeting the hot pavement of the LA road, seemingly running with no rhyme or reason. The teen had been running for upwards of an hour now, and black dots were starting to fill her vision as painful breaths escaped her, her body aching all over. Pain filled her senses as a jagged piece of glass jabbed into her foot, but she kept on running anyways. She had to get away, nothing could compare to the pain, the mind numbing pain that she had endured the last month while she was in that hell.

The teen was wildly aware of the sweat dripping into her eyes, the dirt covering her face, caking on to her skin, feeling as if it would permanently become part of her. The dirt was like what they had called her, impure, an abomination, something that could be cleansed, but nothing worked. She was the same as when she had arrived at the camp, the same child who had been forced into a life of hell for what was supposed to be the whole summer.

Nadia's pace finally slowed to a haphazard walk as she saw a familiar building, a home, Cesar's home. A choked sound came out of her throat as she saw that there was only one person in the yard, the one person who could have helped her stay away from all of the crap that had happened to her since he left. Giancarlo.

Her vision grew fuzzy around edges, hearing fading out as she heard what she thought was her name, and her body started to lose control, muscles loosening, collapsing. The last thing she felt before all went dark was a strong pair of arms supporting her, and fuzzy shouting.

--

The smell of waffles and bacon drifted into Nadia's mind, invading her dream, bringing her back to the world of the living. She was in the same off white shirt as she had been in when she ran, the same shorts made from the same scratchy material. However, her hair was unbraided, someone had taken the time to loosen the hair out of the tight tresses it had been put in that morning. Nadia knew where she was, too, the room was familiar, the same posters hanging on the wall as the last time she had been there.

It was Cesar's room, her guy best friend, and when she realized where she was, choked sobs escaped her, the knowledge of being free was too much. The sound of her crying must have alerted the others in the house that she was awake, as the next think she knew was hands on her cheeks, her brother staring into her eyes, trying to form a question. The next person in the room was Cesar, followed by Oscar, which Nadia didn't even question.

"Nadia, what happened? Mom wouldn't tell me where you were, she said you were off at some camp." Giancarlo said quietly, his thumb rubbing across her cheek in a calming matter.

Nadia flinched away from the contact, pulling herself back, pulling her knees into her chest as she sat on the bed. "Mom sent me to a conversion camp, she said that her daughter was not a lesbian and that I could be fixed." The tears spilled more, hot tracks of salt trailing down her cheeks, her body shaking.

Giancarlo stood up, spinning around in an angry huff, pissed off at his mother's incompetence and bigotry. Meanwihle, Oscar sat on the bed to her right, and Cesar on her left, "Who took you away? I can deal with them, princesa." Oscar said roughly, having known Nadia since she was a baby and cared about her almost as much as he did about Cesar.

Nadia shook her head, "No, but I'm not going back to her." She whispered, body still shaking as her tears dried up.

"You can stay with us, you're a Gonzalez, and part of the Santos family."