New on the block

Happy

Monse's POV:
I decided not to wear heels not because Cesar will definitely twist both of my ankles or anything like that. Ok definitely because he'll twist both of my ankles. "Wow." Cesar says when I walk into his room. "Too much?" I ask. "Shut up, you look gorgeous." He smiles. "You look... like Jamal let you borrow Bruce." I say. "Bruce?" "The jacket. Don't worry, you still look hot." I laugh. "We should probably start heading over there, you took forever to get ready." He says and I hit him on the shoulder. "Ouch!" He laughs. "I am so sorry... Bruce." I say and he gasps sarcastically. "You coming?" I ask. "Yeah, I just like the view from back here." He's so annoying. "If we miss Ruby and Jasmine's dance routine they will end us and everything we love let's go." I tell him. We go outside and ride with Jamal and Mariana. "Monse, have you talked to Latrelle yet? Yesterday he was texting me every five minutes." Mariana asks. "No, not yet. I was thinking about talking to him tomorrow. He's acting like it's the end of the world or something." I say. Cesar clears his throat and he gets tense I can't tell if the conversation is making him uncomfortable or if it's the jacket. "We have to work the dance so the school doesn't press charges against Jamal for his little meltdown." Mariana says. I'm surprised she still doesn't know about the rollerworld money. "I told her she didn't have to help." Jamal points out. "What's the fun of being at a Valentine's Day dance while my boyfriend is busy being a human version of birth control?" Mariana laughs. We walk in and the music is pretty good. We got lucky and the dance contest still hasn't started. "Jamal was made for this." I tell Cesar as we watch him dart across the room stopping people from, as Jasmine says, "getting freaky". He walks over to us and looks exhausted. "Who knew hormonal teenagers would be like this at a dance?" Jamal says as he catches his breath. "Literally everyone knew." I laugh. "Turner!" Coach says when he walks up behind Jamal. "I am on a break Ronald!" Jamal declares. "There are no breaks when there are teenage boys trying to stick it in." Coach says. "Is he even allowed to talk about students having sex?" Cesar asks me. "I don't know but it sure doesn't feel right." I say. "I'm happy to know somebody won't be sticking it in tonight." Coach says when he comes over to us laughing. "Not with that jacket." He starts laughing harder and Cesar takes off his jacket. "I don't know, we'll see how the night goes." I smirk at Cesar and Coach gags. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't just hear you say that." He says. "Y'all are nasty." He walks away shaking his head. "He's right, no one can pull off Bruce." Cesar nods. He puts it on over my shoulders and smiles. "Never mind, you definitely can." He says with a smile. My phone buzzes and it's Latrelle. "I'll be right back." I tell him and he nods. "I'm gonna go find Ruby." He says. I walk around until I finally find him. "What is so important that you had to show up at my school?" I ask. "Lil' Spooky's been threatening me again. If I die-" I cut him off. "Cesar wouldn't kill you." I say quickly. "He shot me Monse you really think he ain't gonna do it again?" He asks. "It's different now... we're family." I tell him calmly. "That don't change shit. I need you to listen to me Monse, if I die I got some money stashed in a hole on the right side of my closet. No one knows about it, not even Mari. You give it all to Olivia so she can take care of my son, ok?" I don't say anything I just stand there frozen. "You gotta promise me Monse 'cause the next time he sees me on your block I know he's gonna kill me." Latrelle actually sounds scared. "I can talk to him. He's a good guy he wouldn't just kill you for no reason." I don't know who I'm trying to convince right now. "Nah, Cesar was a good guy but I'm pretty sure he's gone. If I die get out of here. I don't think anyone even related to me is safe. I know my family's gonna leave if anything happens so don't worry about them." Why is he telling me all this? "Stop lying to me. Cesar would never hurt me." I try and hold back my tears as best I can. "I ain't lying, he's gonna kill me and you better get that money give it to Liv and get the hell out of here." I hear footsteps coming down the hallway and of course when I turn around I see Cesar. "What the fuck is he doing here?" Cesar starts to walk faster and Latrelle looks scared. "Remember what I said. Even if I die I wanna make sure my kid's gonna be ok." He runs down the hall and out of the school as fast as he can. "Did he hurt you? Are you ok?" Cesar asks. "Is it true?" I'm about to start crying and I don't know if I'll ever stop. "What are you talking about?" He asks. He puts his hand on my check and I take a step back. "Did you threaten Latrelle?" I ask. "He was dealing on our block!" He's seriously trying to defend himself right now. "Are you gonna kill him?" I ask and a tear rolls down my cheek. "I tried to get him to stop he wouldn't listen. Spooky'll kill me if I don't-" "Just answer the question!" I yell. "If I have to." He says honestly. "Last night, was that all to stop me from talking to him?" I ask. "I wanted to-" He keeps trying to make excuses. "Tell me the truth." I beg. "At first it was but then-" I never should've talked to him when I moved here. "I need to go." I say. "Ok yeah, let's just get out of here." He says. "No, I mean I have to go and live with my mom for a little while. I need some time to just figure everything out." I tell him. "Running from your problems isn't gonna fix anything." He says and I shake my head. "I can't stay with you anymore." I cry. "If you leave we're done." He says bluntly. His voice is filled with anger and it's not a hard decision to make. "I have to do this for myself. If I stay and you kill Latrelle... I won't ever be able to look at you the same again." He shakes his head. "Get your shit out of my house then." I can't even say anything to him. I walk down the hall but he stops me. "You really are your mother's daughter." What the hell is his problem? He's the one who did everything wrong! "You won't even let me explain!" He yells. "I don't need to know the reason why you're doing this. I already know that the guy I fell in love with would never do something like this." I walk out and I run to Olivia and Ruby's. I don't even notice I still have the stupid jacket on until I get there. "Can I spend the night?" I ask Olivia with tears in my eyes. "Of course." She says. We go to her room and i decide to spare her all the details and instead I just say we had a bad break up. I text Julia and she says I can stay with her. "Why can't I just be happy?" I ask Olivia.