My Bestfriend's Father (Spooky)

Chapter 31

Hermione

To say things have been a struggle would be a big understatement. Let me tell you what's been going on in the Díaz house as of late. Cortez is currently failing classes due to his girlfriend, work, and his rapist mother who never ceases to quit calling at all hours of the night. He's also lashing out at me because of the stress and lack of sleep which I fully understand.

Oscar is just irritated in general because of Carmen. I understand why he's so irritated in all honesty. He's also been cooped up in this house recovering from being shot up which he absolutely hates and he's not aloud to hear a single peep about the Prophets because it makes his blood pressure skyrocket. I mean he's never been off the streets for more than five days other than when he was locked up and even then he knew what was going on. But on the other hand he probably feels like his job as gang leader is being taken from him because he's not running it right now.

And then there's me. God, I'm just barely above water here. Calling Abuelita every chance I get, making sure Cortez is trying to maintain a positive attitude, and handling Oscar's psycho behavior because of the gang is killing me. Don't even get me started on how I'm managing good grades and good attendance at that. Again barely above water. But the one thing that always seems to rub me the wrong way is Carmen, that woman is all types of fucked up. Honestly think about, she's a rapping con artist.

"Hermione have you seen my glock?" I rolled my eyes and got on my knee to grab the gun taped underneath his bed. He smiled at me before stuffing it into the back waistband of his shorts. "How can a gang leader not know where his own glock is? Isn't it like mandatory for you to know that kinda stuff." I giggled while he rolled his eyes. "It's been a while since I've been strapped so I just kinda forgot about it." He shrugged and walked to his dresser pulling out his white wife beater and sliding it over his head. He laced up his shoes and double knotted them in case he had to run then kissed my lips before I grabbed my backpack and going to school.

Oscar

Dios mío it's been so long since I've been able to get back out there. I can't believe Mione got me to keep off the streets as long as she has. It's crazy how one person can save you from doing the things that could kill you. I've got to do something for Hermione, her birthday is coming up and I want to show her my appreciation for what she's done for this family. She thinks I'm going on a run but that's not what I'm actually doing. After dropping her and Tez off at school I went to pick up Tito. "Where we going mano?" He questioned sliding into the car. "Hermione's birthday is comping up. I need you to help me pick something nice up for her." I told him and he rolled his eyes. "Hold up, you want a vato's opinion on something a girl wants for her birthday." He laughed shaking his head. I nodded and he rolled his eyes. "Give me a second I'll be right back." He got out of the car going back into his house.

"Spooky, this is my hermanita Jasmine. Jasmine this is Spooky." Tito introduced me to his sister. She smiled shyly before getting in the back seat of my car. "Why is she here, no offense." I asked Tito. "Girl's opinion is better on girl shit than a vatos." He said as my brain connected the dots. "Thank you for your help Jasmine." I spoke looking at her through the rear view mirror before taking off down the street. After half an hour of driving we pulled up at the mall. "Before we go in, let me see a picture of her and tell me about her." Jasmine smiled softly again. I pulled out my phone showing a picture of Mione and Tez goofing off in the kitchen together. "She's not really girly but she tries sometimes. She loves cartoons and horror movies. Her favorite color is brown. She loves old school chola clothes and music." I told her thinking of Hermione. Jasmine smiled nodding her head like she knew Mione.

We got out making our way into the mall and my mind went south. I was like a deer in headlights. Jasmine grabbed Tito's hand and dragged him into a store called Spencer's. "What kind of horror movies does she watch?" Jasmine asked me. "Umm anything Rob Zombie directs." Jasmine nodded looking around the big crowded store. "Size?" She asked me again. "Medium." She nodded again going over to a t-shirt wall and studying the walls. Her eyes grew bright before counting quietly and bending down to search through a pile of black shirts pulling out a medium. She unfolded the shirt holding it up. "House of 1,000 corpus's?" I asked. Jasmine nodded. "It's a Rob Zombie film. Oh here's a Devil's Rejects shirt and a 3 From Hell and a 31 shirt!" She threw all the shirts at me and kept smiling.

"So do you want to get her something else?" Jasmine asked as we were looking at earrings in a turning clear case. "I was thinking about the time she said she wanted to gauge her ears." Jasmine nodded and squatted down in front of the jewelry case and pointed at something. "This is what she's looking for." I got down to her height and looked at the things in the case. "Those look like sticks and rubber bands. How the hell do you put that in your ears?" She laughed before pulling her hair to show me her ears. "That's what it looks like." She popped her stick out of her ear and she had a big hole in her ear. "Gross but I guess if Mione wants it, she'll have it." I stood up and flagged down a worker. "This is what I want please." Jasmine smiled at the woman and she opened the case pulling out the packet. We walked over to the checkout area and as I was about to pay a question was asked. "If your planing to stretch your ears, would you like oils? It makes it easier." I looked at Jasmine and she nodded with bug eyes.

After paying for everything we went to a store called Killstar. "This place is a little much don't you think?" I asked Tito who was looking at a dog collar with spikes. He turned to me and nodded. "You can get better gauges here. You know those things you said looked like sticks." Jasmine laughed. She dragged Tito to the Jewelry cases and looked around til she found a pair of black pentagrams. "Tax time mano." She laughed looking at Tito. He rolled his eyes handing Jasmine the money for them. "Damn dude she got your ass good." I laughed as she paid. "Oh just wait she's gonna get your ass too. She's gonna tax your ass for her female brain use." He smiled making me glare at him. Jasmine turned around and nodded at me.

We walked to a store called Journey's and there was shoes everywhere. "Get her a pair of black converse. You said she liked the old chola look. Why not get her a whole outfit for that." Jasmine smiled. I quickly grabbed the shoes and paid for them. We also went to Dicky's and bought her cargo pants then to another store and got her some shirts. "Okay this is the last stop. You need to get her some hoops and jelly bands. You know the ones that all the chola's wear on their hands." She told me and I nodded. As soon as we found them I grabbed them and paid. "So my tax for you Mr. Spooky is to take care of that girl. She seems important to you." She smiled as we got back into my car. "Are you serious! I'm your brother and you taxed me!" Tito yelled in outrage. "Sorry mano I didn't see anything else I really wanted and he just spend like 500$ on his girl." Jasmine shrugged.

Edited October 6th, 2021