New on the block

Bright Side

Author's note: this chapter gets a little intense and talks about real life situations.

Cesar's POV:
"Guys I swear I'm fine." I say as Monse helps me into Jamal's house. "They tried to cut your tattoo off, you are not ok." Monse says. "They didn't try to-" "I saw your stitches it barely even says Santos anymore." Monse cuts me off. "Look at me." I hold her face in my hands. "I am fine!" I squish her cheeks. "Just go lay down." She says when Jamal opens the door. "Do you need anything? A lawyer? No, a private nurse? No, a bodyguard!" Jamal says nervously. "Hey baby, can you get me some water?" I ask Monse. "Oscar, they're in jail." I whisper when Monse goes to the kitchen. "The ones who were there. What about Monty?" Monse comes back and we stop talking. "What?" "Nothing." Me and Jamal say at the same time. "Whatever, I have big news. I think I found my mom." Oh fuck. We all look at each other but no one says anything. "Ok someone tell me what's happening." She says when she sits next to me. "She's your girlfriend you tell her." Oscar tells me. "I don't even know the whole story." Jamal puts his hands up. "Ok, I guess this is happening." I sigh. "It's about what happened with your mom."

Monse's POV:
"What about my mom?" I ask. "So Oscar was almost a teenager when he left and he remembers everything." What is he even talking about? "She got arrested for child abuse and I guess when she got out of jail she didn't come back." Oscar says. "No, she got a job and she left my dad." They're wrong. "Monse, she purposefully left you in hot car." Cesar tells me and it feels like I can't breathe. "She went out every few minutes and the neighbors noticed and they saw you in the car. She was high on the shit your dad sold." Oscar elaborates. "No, my dad said she loved me. She wouldn't have done that." I try to defend her. "Your dad didn't want to tell you because when you passed out you forgot everything that happened that day. He wanted you to remember her as your mom." I can't deal with this. Ever since I got to Freeridge everything has been taken away from me. "She was high, so maybe she's sober now." I know I shouldn't forgive her if any of this is true. I also know my dad will never speak to me again after what I got a bunch of prophets arrested. "Even if she did get sober, she didn't come back." Jamal says. "No. She wanted to become a writer and she wanted to live a better life. What she didn't want to do was kill her daughter. She has two kids!" I say. "If that lady you found was even your mom." Cesar says. "I know and even if she doesn't have kids and even if that person isn't my mom, that but that doesn't change her reason for leaving." I explain. "You're right, it doesn't change that she tried to kill you." Oscar says. "I don't believe you." I take a deep breath. "I don't care if you believe me, it's not my problem." I thought we were like family. "Then who's problem is it? I didn't need to know any of this!" I cry. "It was my problem because the only reason your dad kidnapped me was because he thought I told you everything." Cesar explains. "What?" "I told him you were looking for your mom and he asked what you knew and then I ended up in a dark room." He says. "I swear to God Cesar if you're lying to me right now." I say. "Why would I lie to you? Why would any of us lie to you?" He asks. "It just feels like everyday I find out something about myself that completely destroys what I thought my life was." I sigh.

Jamal's POV:
This feels really personal and I'm not really sure why I'm here. Oh right, they took over my house! I should actually turn my living room into a hotel because right now the only difference is, they don't pay. "So how'd it go with the cheerleader? Are you guys going on a date." Monse says as she wipes away her tears. I missed like half the conversation but it's all good not like they listen to me. "She thinks I don't like her because I canceled our date to go on a scavenger hunt for Cesar." It's probably too soon to make that joke. "You didn't have to cancel." Monse says. "Yeah, we figured it out." Cesar says. Wow ungrateful sons of bitches. "Ok no, without me Monse would've exploded and Cesar would still be missing! She couldn't keep it together so instead of saying I didn't have to, say thank you!" Where did that come from? I'm not even that angry. "Thank you." Cesar says. "He's right, Monse can be emotional as fuck." Spooky agrees. "Bitches be bonkers." I say. "My boyfriend got kidnapped!" She defends herself. "By your dad." I mumble. "And thankfully I have you guys to constantly remind me of that." She says sarcastically. "Alright, I gotta go back to the house. Don't do anything stupid." Spooky says before he walks out. "I'm sorry guys, I know I just made things worse." Cesar says. "You were just trying to protect Monse." I say. "Yeah, but either way she still found out." Cesar points out. "I'm glad I did. At least now I know not to go looking for her." Monse says. "I wish it could be different." I say. "I don't." Is Monse on crack? "Ok yeah I don't wish my mom tried to kill me or that all this shit keeps happening but every time bad stuff happens to us we always figure it out. If it wasn't for my dad being affiliated I never would've moved here. All the shit I've been through brought me here." When did she become an optimist?