Bad Reputation {On My Block•AU} | ON HOLD

Two

{Cesar's POV}

Walking down the halls of school, I feel lost. I was still shaken up from the conversation with my older brother Oscar from this morning.

"Be a man, mijo-you got people countin' on you..Lord knows I ain't gonna be here forever."

His words kept ringing in my ear, making it hard to focus on anything. The pressure had been on since the day I was born to eventually take on the role as a Santos-the gang my family belonged to.

Oscar was pretty much the ringleader of it all; everyone on our block (and even in surrounding neighborhoods) either respected or feared my brother. Or both.

Now that I was "of age", he'd wanted me to join and start fulfilling my duties as a man. I know it was what I was supposed to do, but-

Something in me was resisting as much as possible.

The gang life isn't the life I wanted at all. My whole life I've been surrounded by crime, violence, death and rivalry-and, well, it was draining. I'd lost too many friends or neighbors to count-and even though I know I'll pay for it in the long run, I didn't want to be next.

My name's Cesar Diaz. I'm 14, I've been in California-on the same block, in the same house, all my life. I love my family more than anything-even though having a gang leader/convicted felon as an older brother is obviously less than desirable. But he's always done all he can to look out for me, so of course I'll do the same.

My two best friends are Jamal and Ruby-we go way back. They've helped me navigate this crazy life we're all living, and I've even learned a few things from them along the way-well, besides getting girls. No offense, but those two definitely aren't masters at that.

Me, on the other hand? Total ladies man. Okay-maybe I'm exaggerating a little-a lot? Fine. I do alright in the female department but it's nothing to brag about. After all, I'm not Oscar.

My last relationship was a few months ago with a girl named Rosalina. We've known each other since kindergarten and our parents have basically been plotting to get us to date (and later marry) since the beginning. Don't get me wrong, Rosie is a very sweet girl-she laughs at all my jokes and would even always wear this dumb blue dolphin bracelet I bought her from the dollar store just so she could 'feel closer to me' as she explained.

But-we weren't right for each other. And nothing is worse than the feeling of being forced into something; whether that be a relationship with someone or you know, a violent neighborhood gang. Choice is yours.

Moving on, I'm currently a freshman in high school. And one day, I'm gonna make it out of this town and become really successful. I already know there's nothing good here for me if I stay.

"Watch where you're going!" I hear a female voice bark, interrupting my train of thought.

I'd been so distracted thinking of both the possibility of joining the family gang and also my future that I hadn't realized I'd even bumped into anyone. As far as I knew, the halls were literally just empty.

I quickly look up, obviously shaken, to meet the eyes of an unfamiliar girl; she's tall, with glowing caramel skin and long brown curly hair that hangs over her. I find myself speechless.

~~~~

That's it for chapter 2! I know it was a bit short but the chapters are intended to be shorter until the story progresses and I get more feedback to continue. More details about everyone's backstory will be included later!

Thank you for reading and of course if you have any questions/comments let me know! Bye for now :)

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot and am not affiliated with On My Block, it's cast and crew members and am not making any profit off of this story. Any similarities are purely coincidental.