Then & Now [OMB || Cesar Diaz]

then - 2

"The cute boy from the store gave me his Instagram!" Layla squeals to Danna, holding her phone up for her and her sister to see. "Look."

Danna's mouth falls open, making the popcorn she was stuffing fall out. "Wow! Layla, you've got to be kidding-"

"Is that Cesar Diaz?" Daniela grabs her phone out of her hand and inspects the photos more closely. "Oh no...oh no no no Layla," she shakes her head, making both girls look at each other in confusion. "You can't talk to him," Daniela shakes her head, giving her her phone back.

"Why not?" Layla wonders.

"Because, he's Oscar Diaz's little brother," she tells them.

"Who?" Danna blurts out.

Daniela throws her head back and lets out a groan. "God, you girls would be so lost without me," she sighs. "He's Spooky's brother. Leader of The Santos."

And just like that, Layla felt herself crashing down from cloud 9.

"He's a gang member?" Layla asks her, scared of the answer Daniela was gonna provide.

Daniela lets out a "hmmph". "Not yet at least," she says in a snarky tone.

Layla frowned, shutting her phone off and putting it down on her lap. "What am I️ gonna do? I️ can't date a gang member. My dad would kill me," she tells the sisters.

Danna looks up at her big sister. "Wait, didn't you date Spooky?" She recalls.

Daniela scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Me and Spooky hooked up, there's a big difference. But chica, I'm telling you this cause I️ love you like I️ love Danna herself, you do not wanna get involved with a guy like that," Daniela advised. "Especially since you're from the Prophet side of Freeridge Layla."

"What? What's gonna happen?" Layla pushed Daniela to answer.

Daniela pauses their movie to talk to them both. "Okay, I️ guess now's a good time as any to tell you guys this," she sighs. "But when I️ hooked up with Spooky, back before he went to jail, people found out about it and automatically I️ was "claimed" by him," Daniela says. "For a while I️ was known as Spooky's girl and nobody could "touch" me," she quotes. "And any guy that tried to, would automatically get dealt by Oscar, or Spooky. Or whatever," Daniela explains.

"How long are you claimed for?" Layla wonders.

"For as long as you live in Freeridge," Daniela says, sitting back against the Danna's headboard. "That's why I️ went to college, far far away from here."

"But is being "claimed" even that bad?" Layla scoffed.

"It's not. It's usually to protect girls from being harassed by other gangs. But Layla if you hang with Cesar, he's gonna have to claim you eventually," Daniela warns. "And with you being from Clearview, it's gonna cause some problems because, while you're not gang affiliated, of a guy from the Prophets want to claim you and finds out a Santo already claimed you..."

Layla couldn't believe what she was hearing. "They're not really gonna start a gang war over a girl...are they?" She scoffs. "I'm not that important."

Daniela shrugs. "Guys are idiots. Ego and pride is what they run off. And when you mix all that with trigger happy hormonal teenage boys..."

"Ok, ya basta," Danna shushes her sister. "Enough about this. Dani, tell us the good stuff. What do we do when we get invited to our first high school party and what do we wear?" Her best friend attempts to change the topic to something more light and upbeat.

Layla tunes the sisters out as another text from Cesar comes through. She looks downs and contemplates on texting back after everything she's heard. And against her better judgement, she does.

And that was beginning of everything.