SATIVA ✞ ON MY BLOCK [OSCAR DIAZ]

II. TWENTY SIX

Ximena took a deep breath as she ran her hands through her hair while she lathered it with soap. She massaged her scalp gently, quietly humming along to the radio.

Her moments of piece were interrupted as the curtains ripped open.

The gilr let out an ear aching scream as she rushed to cover her most private parts.

She squinted, "Jamal? What the absolute fuck?!"

Jamal with his eyes shut tightly and his hand still cocering them felt the bathroom wall until he felt the softness lf Ximena's robe.

He quickly handed it to her, "Nope, I'm cutting this off before you use up all of the hot water again. Come on, get ready for school."

The four walked down the street, side by side, ss Monse took it apon herself to apologize to Ruby and Jamal. She began to explain how she felt like a horrible friend for ever making them pfik between her and Cesar.

Ximena stayed silent, her eyes glued to her shoes as they continued walking slong the sidewalk. She knew she couldn't look up until they had past it, The Santo house.

Monse had been harassing her for the past week, if the girl had told Oscar yet. She couldn't find the courage to look Oscar in the eyes and share what she had done.

Over the days, Ximena had a lot of time to think.

She thoughts about the months she had spent in the hospital with Oscar by her side. How he held her as she cried at Olivia's funeral. She thought about if her sister were here right now, or her mother, what they would tell her to do.

Ximena gulped as she walked along the front lawn of the Santo house, outside was Oscar surrounded by other members. They all eyed her and her friends down as they all slowly continued forward. Ximena could fell the hole Monse was burning into the side of her head and immediately began to sweat in the November breeze.

Ximena stepped back, waving the three ahead, "You guys go, I'm gonna, uh, handle some stuff."

"You sure?" Ruby questioned, eyeing her cautiously.

Ximena nodded, fixing the strap of her bag on her shoulder, "Positive."

She watched them walk away before approaching the Santo house. The men continued their staring as she made her way up the driveway towards the porch.

There Oscar stood, his back up against the railing, his arms crossed over his chest. He was in his usual attire, a black tank top and tan colored shorts. Hair was beginning to grow on top of his lip, indicating that he hadn't shaved in a while. He gave a look to the men surrounding him, signaling them to leave the two, and they obeyed.

"What are you doing here?" He rudely questioned, taking the cigarette that was tucked behind his ear. He lit it, blowing the smoke five inches away from Ximena's face.

He's already pissed, Ximena thought to herself. She sighed, shifting back and forth on her feet, "Hello to you too."

"I just didn't expect you to come here, you know, this being a house full of Santos. You know, the ones I supposedly put over you?"

"Can you stop being an asshole for one second?" Ximena snapped, already full of nerves, she didn't need to be full of anger too.

Oscar stayed quiet, taking another drag of his cigarette.

"I came here because," Ximena looked over her shoulder to her group of friends who waited for her at the end of the block. She locked eyes with Monse, who gave her a nod, telling her to finish it.

"I need to tell you something Oscar," Ximena's voice became soft as it started to crack under the pressure of her trying to keep her eyes from tearing, "and I'm scared of what you're going to do." Oscar flicked his cigarette immediately, as he took a step forward towards the girl.

He squinted his eyes at her, "What did you do?"

Ximena's breath felt as if her lungs forgot to stop working properly as she rehearsed how she wanted to tell him over and over again in her mind. "I sle-"

The loud sirens of police cars cut the girl short as up to six cars raced down the block. Behind them, several black vans and men on motorcycles followed, right on their tails.

"Fuck," Oscar groaned.

"It was a take down! The cash, the drugs, the guns, and illegal ferrets. The place was a scene. It was sick!" Jasmine exclaimed as everyone stood gathered around the television as they sat in the living room of the Santo household.

Oscar had sent his men out to gather more information about the rounding up of the Prophets. Ximena sat next to him on the couch, his arm instinctively wrapped around her shoulder.

"But why are all the Prophets getting arrested?" Ruby questioned.

"Remember the robbery at Freeridge Savings? The guys in the monster masks? Well, that money was marked," Jasmine explained, "And we've been tracking any money spent. First, we caught Mr.
Gutierrez in his liquor store with the dough. Turns out that money was from a customer. And when those marked bills started popping up all around town, right before the Prophets hood day, we were able to trace it right back to them. So now the Prophets are no mas!"

"All of them?" Monse looked to Jasmine, excitement in her eyes.

"Hell, yeah! We took 'em all down. The Prophets are Donezel Washington."

Ximena sat up as she squinted at the television. The girl pointed to the screen, hitting Jamal, who was seated next to her in the chest.

"Holy shit," she breathed, her eyes wide as the camera took a shot of the Prophets being arrested. Along side of them was Logan.

"No mames," Oscar chuckled, his laugh coming to an end when he saw the look on Ximena's face. Ximena felt her stomach drop and the air leave her chest as she snapped back to reality. Logan was a Prophet the whole time.

He probably knew exactly who she was when he had met her that first day at work. She thought about to how she wondered how Logan couldn't hear her screams snd bangs on the back door when she was taken that night. She remembered how his car always gave her a familiar feeling, like she had seen it before. Ximena could feel how nausea took over her as she was flooded with thoughts about how many laughs she shared with him, details she told him about her, what they did together.

"Is that-" Jamal began to ask but Ximena stood from the couch, exiting the room to go to the nearest toilet.

see you season three!!!