BEWARE C.G.

*3 YEARS LATER*

Bella Leticia Zambada-García was a "woman" now, puberty hit the girl like a truck once she turned twelve and now that she was 13 it was even worse. Living with her mother really taught her how to care for herself and Bella was positive she would never need anyone again. She cooked every day, she cleaned and even paid the bills for her mother, limiting how much she could spend for whatever the hell she would blow her money on. The teen secretly collected money from her dad still, never telling her mother a word about it and was able to get herself what she needed. So once the time had come and it had finally been a week since her mother left-and every call Bella put out was sent straight to voicemail the girl packed her bags and called her father to send someone to pick her up and take her back to Chicago. Her job here was done, she took care of her mom as long as she could and now it was obvious the woman didn't want anything to do with her daughter anymore.

It was a relief. No more screaming. No more arguing or name calling. The shit Bella went through for those three years was almost worse than when she lived in México. It broke her and now she had emerged stronger, having no desire to every see the psycho bitch that birthed her again. She was so grown up for her age, so independent and the girl refused help from anybody. The teen had big plans for herself and she was not gonna let anybody ruin it.

Carl Francis Gallagher was 13 now. He thought he was a man, all grown up and ready to face the world. It had been three years since he had seen the girl from across the street-his very best friend that he had loved with all his heart. Every day he saw that house he thought of her, the things they would do and all the times they got in trouble together. By this point he doubted she would ever come back and fully expected to never see her again. He wished she was there so many times, to help him cope and just figure out his complicated life. He still had a picture of them on his wall, they were eight and it was on Halloween when they dressed like The Ghostbusters. Good times.

The last thing he expected that summer day was for her to come back into his life. And he loved her still, from the second he saw her again, standing in his living room he remembered the butterflies in his stomach and that tingling sensation in his heart. He loved her and this proved he was never gonna stop.