COSA BONITA~RUBY MARTINEZ

9

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Jasmine screamed but Kim quickly hushed her before anyone else heard. "Calm down Jasmine, it's not that serious." Jasmine rolled her eyes as she gave Kim a light shove. "How the hell am I supposed to calm down when you just told me that you kissed Ruby Martinez in a pool, in the middle of the night, are you crazy?" "It all just sort of happened really fast," "Did you like it?" Kim blushed and smiled to herself. "It was nice." "Girl please, look at you, you are so in love with him."

"Whatever Jas, I need to get to class." Jasmine waved bye to Kim as she stepped into the class behind them, Kim made her way to the next hallway and sat in the back of the class where people were still animatedly chatting about the upcoming dance. Kim personally would've loved to go to her first school dance but her mother advised that it wouldn't be such a good idea for her 15-year-old to be exposed to girls nearly getting pregnant on a dance floor.

She looked across the room to spot Ruby looking back at her but when she raised her hand to say hi he quickly looked away. She wondered what was wrong with him and if he didn't like the kiss they shared the night before. In all honesty, she wanted Ruby to accompany her to the dance but she didn't want to be so straightforward. Her phone dinged and she fished it out of her pocket before looking at the screen to see who texted her.

"I know what you did last night." It read and then she scrolled down to find another picture of her and Ruby in the pool. She furrowed her brows, was someone spying on them last night, she was sure it was late enough that no one knew where they were, but apparently, they were not alone. "What do you want?" she typed back only to have it ding a couple seconds later. "Meet me in the back of the school at 3:00, make sure you're alone." She locked her phone and put it back in her pocket. She wondered who it could be, should she tell Ruby?

She disregarded the last question, she knew that Ruby would freak out if he ever got wind of this but she also didn't know where they stood, maybe he had gotten the message too but the only way she could know for sure was if she found him in the back of the school at 3:00.

***

It was lunchtime and normally Kim had a large appetite but today she was too nervous to eat, she kept looking around every few seconds to see if she could spot the person that texted her but everyone was acting as usual. She was sitting at the table with Jasmine but she wasn't really paying any attention to what she was saying. "Girl, are you listening?" "Oh, can you repeat that?" "I said that it's total bull as to why we can't show any buttcheeks at the dance, I mean I worked hard for this luscious lumps."

"Kim! Snap out of it." Jasmine waved her hand in front of Kim's face. "Oh, You're thinking about Ruby aren't you?" "No, why would you think that?" "Because you're staring into space and you keep looking at him every 5 seconds." She pointed to the table that was the far right of them that seated her ex-friends. "Come on we should go over there." Kim shook her head, "What? no." Jasmine had already picked up her tray and was making her way towards the dreaded table.

"Hey, Putas! mind if we sit here?" Jasmine was sitting next to who she assumed to be Ruby's cousin. "Well since you're already here I guess not." Monse motioned for Kim to sit even though she really didn't want to. The silence was awkward and no one really wanted to say anything, it seemed as if you could cut the tension with a knife. "So, you're Kim aren't you? I've heard so much about you." Kim turned her head to meet with the brown-haired girl.

"Yeah, I am." "Well, I'm Olivia and I just moved here, I'm living with Ruby's family for a while." Kim nodded her head. "You're his cousin right." "Kinda, my mom and his mom are like best friends we're practically family." Kim could see out of the corner of her eye that Ruby was cringing at the statement. "Yeah, I moved here a couple of months back from Beverly Hills." "No way! So you're like super rich." Kim forcibly chuckled and tried to change the subject.

"Something like that, but enough about me. Are you going to the dance tonight?" "Oh umm, Monse and I decided that we weren't gonna go as it oppresses us as women." Kim furrowed her brows and disregarded that last statement and instead tried a different approach. "My mom says that it's not the best idea, but since it is going to be my first dance, I was planning to go." "Really? Well, we have to go now, we can't let one of us be left alone and unarmed with all of those boners in the air. I'm going to make it my mission to help you find the perfect dress, you're going to need all the help you can get."

"Oh sorry, I was going to Jasmine's house after school, she was gonna help me do my make up." Olivia gasped and squealed. "We can make it a group thing, me, you, Monse, and Jasmine." Kim looked over at Jas to get her opinion. "Hell yes!" She screamed and proceeded to high five Olivia. Kim was now regretting her decision to go to the dance and didn't want the awkward encounter that she knew was going to happen if she and Monse were going to be in the same room together.

"Kim, can I talk to you for a second?" It was Ruby and he seemed frantic so without giving him an answer she got up as he led her to one of the corners of the cafeteria. "Did you get this text too?" He held up the phone as she examined the text messages. "Yeah, I did. I wasn't sure If you had gotten it too." "How could this have happened, I didn't even see anyone last night." "Ruby calm down, It's that not big of a deal it's probably just someone trying to scare us."

"Well, they're doing a really good job." "What are you so afraid of?" Kim asked folding her arms. "I'm not scared of anything, I just think that us getting the same message from the same person is a little strange." Kim rolled her eyes and proceeded to put both her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "Look, dude, it's obviously someone from this school trying to scare us, why else would they both have our number?"

"Um probably because they're apart of the CIA and they're gonna assassinate us." "You know Ruby you shouldn't have such an active imagination. I'll tell you what, after school, we're gonna march to the back of the school and we're gonna confront that person, and if he has a problem I'll handle it." Ruby shook his head "No! That is a terrible idea." Before Ruby could talk her out of it she walked away leaving a feeling of hostility behind her.

Ok, it has been a very long couple of months and I think I finally know where I want to go with this story and I'm ready to just finish this and get it over with. But apparently On My Block is coming back this month!!!