Cheater

Thirteen

Jamal's POV:
"Whatever did or didn't happen, it didn't mean anything." I tell her. "I know and that's why no one else has to find out." Bubblez shrugs. "Not like lil Spooky's away from Monse long enough to know what you're doing and who you're doing it with." I point out and she walks out of the kitchen. "You know I'm not wrong." I sit at one of the tables while she wipes it down. "I'm not stupid, Jamal." Bubblez rolls her eyes. "I didn't say you were." I laugh. "Monse means a lot to him and I've accepted I can't take her place in his life." She shrugs. "Really, is that why you kissed me first last night?" I ask. "That's exactly why." She sits next to me. "You know why I cheated, right?" Bubblez asks. "All I know is you tried to give me a lame ass excuse." I say. "I don't know why but for some reason, deep down, you're still really important to me." We sit in silence but eventually she just goes back to cleaning up. "Why are you still with him?" I ask and she freezes. "You can't ask me that." Bubblez doesn't even look at me. "You know he's still in love with Monse, right?" I ask. "I didn't come here to talk to you, I'm just doing a favor for your dad." She says. "We can clean later, answer the question." I walk up behind her. "We? Jamal, you and I both know I end up cleaning all over your messes." She walks away.

Cesar's POV:
"We haven't really talked about the whole Oscar situation." Monse says, awkwardly. "There's nothing to talk about." I shrug it off. "He left you here and saved himself." She sits up straight. "Maybe I just didn't wanna leave." I look her in the eye. "Why would you wanna stay in Freeridge? You could've had a whole other life." She looks confused. "We don't all wanna run from this place. I was born here, my whole life is here, and-" Monse cuts me off. "And you wanna die here?" She crosses her arms. "What do you want me to say?" I sit next to her on her bed. "If you asked me a freshman year what my life was gonna be like, it wouldn't be this." I say. "Yeah and if Oscar would've left you would've gone with him. It's like you're a completely different person." She shrugs. "So you want me to tell you Oscar left in the middle of the night and didn't tell me anything? He left me 'cause he knew what I was doing." I admit. Monse doesn't say anything. I'm about to get off her bed but pulls me back down. "Have you talked to him since he left?" She asks when she pulls back. "No and not all the Santos are as forgiving as I am so it probably for the best. If he comes back no one's going easy on him." I tell her. "He's Still your brother." Monse reminds me. "No, he's dead to me." I shake my head. "So you don't miss him?" She asks. "Of course I miss him but I'm used to it. Besides, if I left I never would've stopped missing you." I kiss Monse. "Thanks for being here when I got back." She smiles. "Thanks for coming back." I tell her. "Not really my choice." She laughs a little. "How'd you get her to laugh about it? When I bring it up Monse just looks like she's ready to go right back to boarding school." Monty scares both of us. "How long were you standing there?" Monse asks. "Long enough." He says with a serious face. "I'm just playing, only a few seconds. Just wanted to let you know I'm gonna be out for few hours, don't let her take advantage of your emotions." Monty tells me and Monse just rolls her eyes. "What's gonna take a few hours?" She asks him. "So I'm not allowed to have a social life?" He scoffs. "You're allowed to but you don't have one." She smiles. "Definitely not gonna tell you now." Monty shakes his head. "Just wanna know so I have something to tell Jasmine if she thinks you're in a gang again." Monse laughs. "I'm helping one of the new guys practice parking his truck, tell Jasmine if I find another one of her tracking things I'm getting a restraining order. He might be coming over for dinner later so don't do anything you don't want me walking in on." Monty says. "I'm surprised you even talk to any of the new guys. My dad always complains about how they're all idiots." Monse explains. "He's probably not wrong." I laugh. "He's eighteen and I remember how hard it was driving at his age." Monty explains. "As long as he doesn't pass out drunk on our couch." Monse says. "I'll see you guys later." He nods. "So what do you wanna do for the next few hours?" I smirk.

Monse's POV:
"Ok but I'm almost eighteen so technically, I'll be able to get a cat without asking my dad." I tell Cesar when I finish putting on his face mask. "Why do you even want a cat? You used to be so scared of them!" He reminds me. "Emphasis on used to be." I stick my tongue out. "Why don't you just get a fish or something?" Cesar laughs. "You can't pet a fish." I point out. "What about when you go to college?" He asks. "We can take it with us." I say casually. "Yeah... yeah, we'll just need to get our own place." Cesar's smiling but I know he secretly wants to make jokes about me wanting us to move together. "You're not gonna be a crazy cat lady or anything, are you?" He asks. "No way, I'm more of a dog person but walking a dog at night in Freeridge... not smart." I lay my head on his lap. "I'd go for walks with you. It's give me another excuse to see you everyday." He leans down and kisses me.