New on the block

Bad idea

Monse's POV:
"Are you sure you want to go and work with your dad." Cesar asks. "I don't wanna talk about that right now." I sit on my bed next to Cesar. "What if something happens to you?" "My dad's gonna be with me and if something does happen I'll stop." I put my hand on his knee and he just looks at it. "I can't lose you." He says. "You won't, I'm not going anywhere." I kiss him but he doesn't kiss me back. "Promise me you'll be careful." He says as he pulls away. "I promise, nothing will happen to me, my dad's been doing this for years I'm safe." He grabs my hand and runs his thumb over my knuckles. "I never thought I'd have someone like you at fourteen... or ever. I don't want to get in the way of your future so you tell me if you ever want a break or anything because I can't imagine being the one who-" I cut him off because I don't want to even think of breaking up with him. "No, you're not holding me back and I don't think you ever will. We both have a future away from here."
*next morning*
I wake up and Cesar's gone. It's weird waking up without him. "You're relationship is way too grownup if you miss him when you wake up." My dad says from my doorframe. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I laugh. "Come one we gotta go a Santo killed a prophet and now we need to make sure they don't keep killing." Wow what a great first day. We get outside and I see Cesar across the street but before I can do anything my dad stops me. "Don't acknowledge them we're helping the Prophets today not them that means you can't talk to Cesar." I nod and I get in the car. We pull up to a house on the other side of Freeridge and a whole lot of pissed off eyes on us. "You brought your kid for this?" One guy asks. "Watch it, you need me to remind you what Latrelle did to her?" My dad snaps at him. "Tell us what happened start to finish." We walk inside and sit on a busted up couch. "We were tagging some shit on their side and this dumb ass Santo killed him. We want to make another Santo feel the pain he felt." I can't believe I'm hearing this right now. "You can't kill a Santo or they're gonna kill more people and you know that. What if I tell you when they're planning on tagging your shit and you can jump one of them?" My dad says and they nod. "Is this all you do? No, instead of hurting them tag their house or do some damage but if you go after one of them it's never gonna end and you all know that." I blurt out. My dad is supposed to make things better not just say 'don't kill them'. "Tag their house are you trying to get them killed?" My dad hisses. "No, we live near by we can tell them when it's safe and it'll piss off the Santos more than beating someone up." I don't say we live across the street just to be safe. "She's got a point." The guy from earlier says. My dad looks at me confused. "Ok, but if something happens it's on you." My dad says to me. "Aren't you dating one of them? How do we know this isn't a trap." "Because I wouldn't put myself or my boyfriend in danger if there's an easy way to solve this." I stand up. "Anything else?" I ask with a smile. "Yeah, Cesar Diaz. He's always tagging our shit and a few days ago he beat the shit out of my car." I recognize Latrelle's voice. "And you beat the shit out of me so you two are even." I try to sound tough but I don't know if it came out that way. "She's right and didn't I tell you not to talk to her." My dad says. I hate that Latrelle's going after Cesar but at least I can protect him, as long as I'm around I'm not letting Latrelle do anything to Cesar.

Cesar's POV:
"Why are so stressed?" Oscar asks. "Monse's with her dad today and she didn't even look at me this morning. She's gonna find out everything I did and she's gonna hate me." I say in one breath. "She saw you kill a guy you really think she'll care if you tagged a few buildings and sold some drugs?" Oscar acts like it's not a big deal but it is. "She's gonna take over for her dad and if she hates the Santos we're all screwed." I say and that gets his attention. "You serious?" He sits up straight. "Why would I joke about this?" I ask. "You better not fuck it up for us. No looking at other girls, don't even talk to another girl unless Monse likes her. If I hear any shit about you two." He says in his Spooky voice. "Yeah I wasn't planning on it, who do you think I am?" "My little brother that's who." I have no idea what he means by that. "Girls are gonna think you being in a gang is cute or cool and they're gonna try and break you two up. Be loyal and don't give her a reason to hate us." I know he's only being like this 'cause he wants to protect the Santos but he's actually giving real advice. I see Monse and her dad pull into their drive way and I automatically run across the street. "Are you ok? How did it go?" I ask urgently. "I'm fine, I even helped out a little." She gives me this look and I can tell something's wrong.

Monse's POV:
I wasn't thinking earlier, the prophets are going to come and tag Cesar's house and it's all my fault. If he finds out it was my idea he's going to hate me. I feel so guilty and I can't imagine how I'm going to feel when they actually come do it.