New on the block

Pinkie Promise

Monse's POV:
Today's finally the day I go and face my dad. After spending almost a month with the Diaz brothers and the Santos I understand why he didn't want to tell me. Familia first and everything. He didn't want me involved. I cross the street and as soon as I get in my house my dad hugs me. The only time we're not together for this long is when he's on long hauls and for some reason being across the street made him feel farther away than when he was across the country. "There's so much I need to tell you." We sit on the couch and he passes me a box. It's filled with pictures but he takes out a specific one. "That's your mom in the flannel and next to her, that's Cesar's dad's cousin. His second cousin I guess. Her name was Anna. She hated that I protected her. They were best friends I was always looking out for them. I got dragged into the Prophets when I was Cesar's age but when I turned sixteen I found out my dad was a Santo no one wanted to deal with me so I made a name for myself." He explains. Here it comes he's going to tell me how he fits in between both gangs. "I couldn't choose a side and I wasn't letting anyone kill me so I told them I'd make a deal. I helped them work out the petty shit and they gave me a couple jobs when I started driving trucks I helped them get stuff and get rid of other stuff. I don't think your mom looks anything like that now." He laughs and shakes his head. "That's not even a good picture of her but that's one of the only ones I have. Your mom was pretty deep into the life when I met her she got out and forgot to take us with her. I'll never forgive her but I would've done the same thing." He's being so honest I'm kind of confused. "That's everything? Like there's no more gang stuff I need to know about?" I ask. "No that's everything. Can I ask you something though?" I nod. "Is Cesar a good kid or not 'cause I can't tell." He laughs. "Cesar is but lil' Spooky he's just like every other Santo maybe worse." I say seriously. "I shouldn't have left. I promised that family I was here for life. Once your mom left and Anna died, I left and I didn't think twice about that little boy or Oscar. I just thought about how I didn't wanna be around all the memories of that life I had. You were seven you didn't get it but I didn't care." He sounds so sorry and I just want to forgive him. "They don't blame you. Lil' Spooky likes being in a gang and Spooky likes that he can take care of shit." I say. "I don't care that they don't blame me... I can feel their dad smacking me in the back of the head for leaving. Sometimes I swear he's still around. Oscar was fifteen and smart as hell. He had a real future ahead of him. When I left their mom started to leave or something Oscar gave up trying to stay out of the life." My dad cared about them so much I don't understand how he could just abandon them. "Not everyone agrees with what I do. Me and your mom used to talk about letting one of our kids take over for me but when she left you were our only kid things got worse and I could never throw you into all this." He talks about it like being affiliated with two rival gangs is a family business. "If I get killed-" I quickly cut him off. "Dad don't say that." He looks at mean in the eyes and I can tell he's serious. "If I die you get out of here. If it's before you're eighteen you go find your mom." I can't believe he said that. "She didn't want me." "She didn't want a lot of things. She didn't want a husband, she didn't want to be stuck in the hood forever but she did want you she wanted a daughter since the second she found out she was pregnant." I don't believe him no one who wants a child leaves them in the hood surrounded by gangs.
*******
We kept talking for another hour and all it did was give me more questions. "So you guys were all close?" I ask. "Yeah I actually met Ruby's mom a couple times. Me, Cesar's dad and Jamal's dad all played football together. Those were the days." I laugh so hard when he says 'those were the days'. "How old are you?" He pushes my shoulder a little and I keep laughing. I miss this, how we used to laugh and hangout but I couldn't talk to him after everything that happened. "I tried to see you but those Santos guys are really protective." "Yeah they told me. I just needed a little time." I say. "So are you coming home?" He asks and I nod. "Yeah?" He says in a super excited voice. "Yeah." I smile and give him a big hug. "Tell me everything about my mom. I know I usually don't want to hear about her but you guys had so much history here." I say. "She always knew she wanted to get out of Freeridge, always had a plan. When I met her I thought she was so smart. That's where you get it from. She was so beautiful. She would always say if I'm around when I would talk about things like your birthdays. The day she left I couldn't believe it. We were so happy but she was made for more. I hear she's a writer." He says. "How do you know?" I ask. "Sometimes I like to hear about her, how she's doing and everything." He looks so sad. "From now on tell me everything like you did today, we're supposed to be best friends." I say and he sticks out his pinkie. "Promise." We lock fingers and I shake my head. "You know I'm not six anymore right?" We both laugh and keep talking. I'm so happy he told me all this I missed him so much. I'm going to miss Cesar now it's bitter sweet.