dreaming of you: on my block

nn

"should we have left them back there?"

"they're smart girls. they'll find a way home."

ruby nodded, cruising down the street alongside jamal and cesar. "so... you and elena?" jamal asked teasingly, slightly swerving towards ruby. ruby groaned, smiling a little.

"i don't know... she's pretty and we get along great, but i'm not sure if i wanna start high school with a commitment, you know?" he mumbled, and cesar scoffed. "you sound ridiculous. i'm not gonna try to change your mind, but just know that elena is a dime. you're going to regret this." cesar said, and ruby sighed.

"maybe you're right. but i mean, i don't think she even likes me, so it's whatever. yeah. whatever." ruby said, and jamal scoffed. "well, white-boy tanner might beat you to it, rubes. play your cards fast, because according to monse, it doesn't take much to sweep elena off her feet." jamal mused, and ruby groaned.

"why are we talking about her like she's an object? elena likes who she likes. if i'm one of them, cool, and if i'm not, that's cool too." ruby stated, and jamal huffed. "yeah, okay. i'm sure you'll be crying about it soon enough," he said, and ruby exhaled harshly.

"this is fun."

monse and elena were in the back of yasmine's car, yasmine being a little high but still able to drive. elena hummed, bouncing her leg anxiously.

"where am i dropping you off again?" yasmine asked, and monse gave her ruby's address. yasmine nodded, turning up the khalid that was playing on the radio.

"who gave you that smoke?" elena asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. "an old friend of mine. he has a brother your age!" she said excitedly, and elena huffed. "cool." she mumbled, sitting back in her seat.

"make sure mom doesn't smell it on you!"

"you all! can suck a bag of dicks!" was the first thing monse said as they entered ruby's house, and his grandmother looked up at them curiously. "o-oh, hi abuelita," monse mumbled, and ruby's grandmother chuckled awkwardly.

"they're hiding in the bathroom. don't tell them i told you." she said, and turned up the dateline that was on the television. monse motioned for elena to follow her, and the girls crept up towards the bathroom door.

"oh, wait a second," elena said, and took out her phone to put it to record. she crouched down, monse following, and the girls repressed giggles as elena slid her phone under the door, recording the clueless boys.

once she took her phone back, elena watched the recording of the boys looking absolutely terrified and murmuring to themselves. elena looked at monse, nodded, and she swung the door open.

the boys shrieked, jumping three feet back as monse and elena stood in the doorway.

"hi guys." elena said, stepping closer to the boys whose backs were now against the wall.

"h-hi elena." jamal said, gulping comically after his statement. "i'm sure you're wondering how we got home. especially since you," elena stopped to look sharply at cesar "stole monse's bike." she finished, and monse chuckled evilly next to her.

"we'll remember this day, august 18th of 2018." elena added, stepping closer to the boys slowly. "we may forgive. but we'll never forget," she whispered finally, standing before the boys.

monse and elena looked at each other, and then burst out laughing again. the boys sighed in relief, jamal still looking warily at the pair.

"oh, oh my god- you guys should see your faces," monse said, high fiving elena. "that was some scary shit. ever thought of being in a gang?" cesar asked, chuckling afterwards. "nah, i'm used to threatening my brother. if i wanted to, i could've made you all cry. consider it an act of peace." elena said sweetly, turning around and walking out of the bathroom, monse following.

"okay. i think i like elena."

monse and elena were rummaging through ruby's cupboards, triumphantly pulling out a box of wheat thins. "nice." monse said, and elena offered her some as she looked for anything to put them in.

"abuelita! do you guys have like, tiny plates?" monse asked, and the older woman shook her head. elena huffed, and started to wash her hands. "what time is it?" elena asked monse, who promptly told her it was 9:47. elena sighed, and grabbed the box of wheat thins, much to monse's dismay, and headed towards the bathroom again.

she found the boys in the same spot she left them, and chuckled as she slid the box towards them. ruby made eye contact with her, and elena winked at him in a way she can only hope was smooth, and made her way back to monse.

"so! are you excited to see your friends again?" monse asked, and elena nodded. "yea. i miss aurora," elena said, eating some grapes. "and tanner?" monse asked, and elena squirmed. "i mean, we get along great and he's super hot, but.. i don't like him like that. not anymore, anyways," elena rambled, and monse sighed.

"which i mean, is good. i don't want to start high school with a commitment, you know?" elena added awkwardly, and monse laughed. "but wouldn't it be nice? high school is going to be weird. new. we won't know where to go. so wouldn't knowing at least you have one person on your team be nice?" monse asked, and elena was about to reply when she heard a deep sigh from behind her.

"ruby! how long have you been back there?" monse asked, and ruby cleared his throat. "i just got here. i figured i'd sigh to announce my uh, presence." ruby said, and sat next to monse. "well, hi," monse said, shifting so he could sit more comfortably.

"i didn't mean to ruin anything. if this is girl talk i can leave," he said, and elena sighed. "nah, you're fine," she said, beginning to twirl her hair absentmindedly. "we're just talking about elena's friends visiting." monse said, and ruby chuckled. "it'll be nice to meet my competition," he said, and elena raised an eyebrow.

"i mean- i just mean like, friends, you know? like they were your friends and now we are?" he said after a few starts, and elena hummed. "whatever you say," monse mused, and ruby chuckled nervously.

hi
these past few months have been terrible for me and i'm so sorry i only have this one update to make up for my absence. so much has happened, this book is at 1.8K reads, it's eligible for a watty... thank you. thank you everyone who reads this book i came up with one morning so long ago.

i'm so sorry i haven't been a good author since,, may? i think? but i'm trying to push through and get some more updates out. i don't even know what happened, i went from writing two updates a week to looking at words and not knowing how to piece them together. i'd like to say it was an extremely bad case of writers block, but.. i don't know. let's see how it goes.

in my absence i did however watch the show about 16 times so i kind of have the script down by memory now ejskdkd

thank you,
-emma