Then & Now [OMB || Cesar Diaz]

now - 4

Monday came faster than she thought. Her dad was surprised to see her Saturday morning, but was delighted nonetheless. At least she was home and not out doing god knows what.

Or that's what he thought anyways.

"Good morning sweetie," he says as she enters the kitchen.

"Hi dad. Bye dad," she presses a kiss on his cheek before quickly rushing out the door. She walks down the street, putting her earbuds in. As she listens to her music, gets a weird and eerie feeling. She takes an earbud out and look arounds around, but doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. She continues walking until she reaches the corner where she and Danna have always met since freshman year, and also the beginning of Santos territory.

"Hey chica," Danna greets happily. "You okay?" She asks.

"Yeah, I'm good," Layla tells her as they walk to school together.

"Cesar bring you home okay?" Danna asks her.

Layla simply nods her head. "Yeah...yeah, it was fine," she shrugs off.

"So fine that a 19th Street member had to be taken to the hospital, five minutes after you two left?" Danna looks at her, catching her attention. "Layla what happened?" Danna urgently whispers now as they entered school grounds.

Layla groans in despair. As they stop at a near by pole to talk. "I️ can barely remember, I️ was so wasted," she whispers to Danna. "All I️ can remember is that I️ was making out with some guy, and then suddenly there's a loud pop! and suddenly Cesar's taking me home."

"Ay dios mio," Danna covers her face. "Layla!" She scolds.

"I'll be fine-"

"You know 19th Street has been getting reckless lately!" Danna reminds her. "You could get hurt, or worse!"

"I️ still have Cesar's claim," Layla tells her. "I'll be alright."

"Layla if they didn't care about about his claim at the party, then what makes you think they'll care in the streets?!" She almost shrieks. She then calms down. "Look, just be careful from now on. There might be a green light on you, Cesar, maybe even the both of you."

Layla sighs and pulls Danna in for a hug. "I'll be fine," she reassures.

Danna hugs her back. "If you die before we get to Berkeley, I'll kill you," she jokingly threatens.

They go through out the rest of their school day with relatively no issues. Sure, people still avoided her like the plague, but she's gotten used to it at this point. Being Lil Spooky's girl had its pros and cons. Being avoided sometimes was a pro, and sometimes was a con.

Layla walked home from school, listening to music when suddenly a car stopped in front of her. Two 19th Street gang members hopped out. She screamed, turned around and booked it as fast as she could. She kicked over trash cans and ran through alleyways, trying to shake them but nothing, they continued to stay on her ass.

She ran as fast as she little legs could carry, hoping to hit Santos territory. But just as she crossed, she felt herself getting being tugged back by her backpack, making her scream in fear once more as she was shoved face first hard against a chain link fence, knocking the wind out of her. They forcefully turn her around to face her, one of them wrapping their hands around her neck.

"Stop! Let me go!" She cries out as she claws at their hands around her neck.

"You think you're special cause you're Lil Spooky's girl, huh?" One of them tells at her and tries to fight them off. "Think you could honeypot one of our guys and then fuck them over? Huh?" One of them now forcefully grabs her face and pulls a gun on her.