New on the block

Too Good

*One month later*
Monse's POV:
"Leave me alone Paula, it's the last day of school I do not want to talk about this right now." I start walking out of the school as fast as I can. "Come on Monse I haven't seen Cesar in a month what is happening?!" She yells. "He's busy and the three people who need to know what he's doing already know." I tell her. "Seriously? He's my baby's uncle so I deserve-" I cut her off. "Ok the only reason I'm telling you anything is because you helped Cesar." I sigh. "He's fine but he isn't himself. That's all I'm going to tell you." I shake my head. I get outside of the school and Cesar's in a car with another Santo waiting for me. "Hey hyna you need a ride?" Cesar laughs. "Sure." I shrug. I get in the car and he goes in the backseat with me. "You good?" He asks. "Yes Cesar, why wouldn't I be?" I say passive aggressively. The guy driving glares at me. "I'm not calling you lil Spooky, it's stupid. You guys can give me dirty looks all you want." I hate how Cesar's been acting lately.

Ruby's POV:
"How is she still dating him?" I ask Jamal. "You asked me yesterday and I still don't know." Jamal shakes his head as we watch them drive away. "He's not bad guy." Paula says. "Jesus Paula! Why do you keep doing that?" I yell. "Why do you keep getting scared?" She asks. "Besides, I know why she's still with him." She shrugs.  "Why didn't you start with that?!" Jamal yells. "Come on we can talk about it at work." She starts to walk away. "I don't understand girls." I say. "Maybe that's the point, if she broke up with him it'd be to simple, too predictable!" Jamal has an epiphany. "Stop walking so slow!" Paula says.

Monse's POV:
Cesar and all his "friends" are sitting outside of his house drinking beer and smoking weed. "Are you still in school? It's just 'cause I'm pretty sure after a week they kick you out or something." I ask. "My brother went to high school for a few months and he graduated. Who's gonna fail me?" He laughs. "It isn't like you'd do anything if they did." I mumble. "lil Spooky, check your hyna." A guy sitting on a milk crate says. "She doesn't need to know anything about this life." He says with his arm wrapped around my waist. "What don't I need to know?" I look him up and down. "Nothing babe." He says and then he goes back to talking to the other guys. I see Ruby and Jamal walk by with Paula. "I'll see you later." I pat Cesar on the shoulder and cross the street. "What? Where are you going?" He grabs my hand and I just pull it away. "You remember them? Those are your real friends... and Paula." I tell him. "Yeah, but this is my family." He says and I tense up and walk away. "I'm sorry." I tell them when I cross the street. "I thought he needed me and I turned into a huge flake." I tell them and they look back and forth between each other. "We get it, he's your boyfriend and you were just looking out for hims like you always do." Ruby says. "I don't always take care of him." I laugh. "Yeah, you do." Jamal says. "I barely know you and you definitely always take care of Cesar." Paula says. "I think it's lil Spooky now." Jamal tells her. "Never mind this, this is why I started flaking because you guys keep judging him." I laugh. "Monse we care about you and we just want you to be happy." Paula smiles and I shake my head. "Screw that! He's the reason Mari left and he's the reason the truce is over and he's doing a horrible job!" Jamal yells and I can tell he got the attention of the Santos. "Ok we can fight later but we better go, I'm pretty sure like two of them can sense when they could snap someone in half." I tell them. We walk to Dwayne's Joint so Jamal and Paula can go to work. "You guys can't just give up on Cesar after a month, you've been friends for so long and he messes up once-" He cuts me off. "You're kidding right? Ok so a quick timeline three weeks before you got to Freeridge he got jumped in, a week later he stabbed someone... the other guys fine though, and then he shot someone for you who he barely knew!" Ruby points out. "We stuck with him every single time he did something illegal but this is too much Monse." He shrugs. "Hey." Cesar says when he walks up to us. "I'm sorry... I don't like what this but it's not like working at Walmart, I can't just quit." He tells us. "Don't lie, the only thing worse than being the leader of a gang is lying about how much you hate it." Paula rolls her eyes. "Wait, why are you wearing your work shirt?" Jamal asks through the window. "Because I work here." He shrugs. "You haven't been here in so long! Did you seriously think you had a job?" He asks. "Of course he still has a job." Dwayne says.

*later that night: closing at Dwayne's joint*
Paula's POV:
"What are you- She's too good for you, you know that right?" I tell Cesar. "Why didn't she dump me? Jamal said you were going to tell him but you never did." He asks. "She needs someone to fill the void in her life even though you act like you guys aren't really dating." She says. "You should stop being such an ass all the time before she realizes she can do better. You can finish closing." She walks away before I can say another word. "Need any help?" Monse asks. "Sure." I smile.