At school, I ran into Cesar and Jamal. They seemed to be having a pretty heated conversation.

"Hey, what's going on?"

They both looked at me, and Jamal gave me a panicked smile, "Nothing. Nothing."

I knew something was going on, so I put my hand on his shoulder, "Jamal-

"Cesar kissed Olivia!"

"Come on, man!" Cesar said.

"Why would you do that?!" I said, "That's like- against all the rules of bro code! And what about Olivia? She lives with Ruby! Who's to say she won't tell him?"

I wasn't just worried about Ruby finding out, but also Monse. She was gonna be PISSED. 

"Don't worry about her. She's tight-lipped."

"You BONED?!" Jamal said.

"NO!" Cesar said, "The lips on her face! Look, I got this."

Cesar pulled out his phone, but Jamal swatted it away. 

"No, you don't send a heartbreak via text! You gotta do this in person!" 

Cesar's phone was on the ground and the screen was probably shattered.

"You'll thank me for this later," Jamal said before making a run for it. 

I crossed my arms and lowered my eyes at Cesar.

"I  know! I know! I fucked up," he said.

"Yeah, and you know Ruby's not the only person you need to tell, right?" I said.

He looked at me, clueless.

"Come on, dude. You really think I don't know about you and Monse?" I said, "Little thing about girls. They tell each other everything! So, you might wanna tell her to before Olivia beats you to it."

"I will!" Cesar said, "I promise."

"Also," I said, "If you're planning on getting with every girl in our group, this here."

I pointed to my body, "Off limits!"

"Bro, no," he said, "You're like my sister. Besides, I couldn't do that to Jamal."

"Do what to Jamal?"

Cesar just smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, ok."

________________________________________________

"Olivia, no! Why? Why would you do that to us?!" I whined. Olivia fully suckered both me and Monse into hanging out with Jasmine after school. 

So, now, I had no choice but to suck it up and waste a few hours of my life. Ruby and Jamal were in Ruby's living room while the three of us were in Olivia's room with Jasmine. Jasmine took Olivia's deodorant and put it in between her tits.

All I could think was WHAT THE FUCK. I didn't even let Izabel use my deodorant and vice versa. 

"I didn't say you could do that," Olivia said. 

Jasmine went into the closet and grabbed one of Olivia's underwear.

"Yo, what size are you?" 

"You're joking, right?" I said.

"Oh, honey, no," Olivia said.

"Well, excuse me for touching your cherished chonies!" Jasmine said, making me raise an eyebrow. 

"I think it's pretty normal for people to not want you to touch their underwear," Monse said.

"Well, not if you're besties!" Jasmine said, "I thought this bitch was gonna cramp our style, but Jasmonsolivia has a really nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

I didn't really care that my name wasn't there.

"I take no responsibility for this," Monse said, "I warned you weeks ago."

"Everyone deserves a second chance!" Olivia said.

"Mira, mira!"

We looked over and saw Jasmine in a really tight blue dress.

"Yas, right? It's good, right?"

My dad once told me if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all, so I just kept my mouth shut. 

"Yas, queen! Your body, your choice!" Olivia said.

"I think it might be a little tight," Monse said, making me and Olivia slap her. 

"Monse, you are the last person who should be giving out fashion advice," Jasmine said, "I mean, look at you, in that doo-doo outfit. Girl, why you tryna be comfortable all the time? Sometimes it's ok to leave your dignity at home."

I gave Monse a look because I've been telling her that forever, but in a different way. 

"So, Olivia? How's living with Ruby?" Jasmine said, "He take a lot of showers?"

"Follow my lead," Olivia said, "Oh, yeah. Ruby loves to get sudsy."

Jasmine kept on asking us all these questions about Ruby, which was really weird. We ended up kicking her out and giving her a time out for twenty minutes, which, thank god.

"I feel like my brain just got dry-humped!" Monse said. 

"Yeah, same," I said, "I feel like it needs a deep cleaning."

"So, if not Ruby, who would you be into?" Monse said.

"No one," Olivia hesitated, "What about you?"

Sensing this could be a long talk, I went outside to get water. Jamal was about to leave, and Ruby was talking to Jasmine, so I followed Jamal as he opened the door, and Spooky was right there.

Jamal gasped and slowly closed the door.

"What the hell is he doing here?" I gritted my teeth, but slowly reopened the door.

"Someone shot one of the homies," Spooky said, "Have you seen Cesar? He ain't answering his texts."

"His phone ain't working," I said, "It died."

"If you see him tell him I'm looking for him," Spooky said, "And tell your sister thanks for last night."

I raised an eyebrow, "Last night?"

I definitely was going to be talking to her about this. 

Spooky left, and Jamal was about to leave when Spooky ran back inside. 

"One time!"

Jasmine screamed, and Jamal wrapped his arms around me for dear life. 

We heard helicopters and sirens outside.

"This is LAPD," someone said on a loudspeaker, "For your safety, remain inside until further advised."

Great. We're on lockdown, and Spooky is in the house with us. I didn't even notice Jamal was still holding onto me, but I slowly broke away. 

"What?" Ruby said. The helicopter was so loud that we couldn't hear a damn thing. 

"I said I can't believe we're stuck in the house with OSCAR!" Jamal said, the last word being heard perfectly by everyone. 

Ruby's mom called and asked if he was ok, and then I got a call from my mom.

"Mamãe?" I said, "Sim, tudo bem. Sou na casa da Ruby. Sim, eu entendo. Até logo! Tchau!"

I hung up and sat in the two-seater, and Jamal sat next to me.

"Jamal, please, take off the stupid eyepatch!" I said, snatching it from him. 

"Oscar, sir," Jamal said, "I want to ask you something, but it's ok if I can't. I don't need to die, not that I think you'd kill me."

I sighed and rubbed my head at his rambling. 

"If I say yes, will you shut up?"

Jamal nodded.

"Do you know who Lil Ricky is?"

"Which Lil Ricky? You talking about Baby Ricky's daddy or Tiny Ricky's son?" Oscar said.

"Ricardo Galindo."

Spooky laughed, "Ah, Lil Ricky. Whatchu want you with Lil Ricky? He's the original veterano."

"The OV!" Jamal said. I shook my head. 

"I'm gonna go check on Olivia and Monse," I said. I went back into Olivia's room and saw them both on the bed.

"Sorry, I was gone a while. Spooky came here when LAPD announced the lockdown and now he's in the living room."

"What, why?" Monse said.

I shrugged, "Couldn't get a hold of Cesar. And I think he and Izabel are boning again."

"Monse and I were talking about this guy who she wants to go legit with and I say do it," Olivia said, "Because what's the worse that could happen?"

"The guys could stop talking to me and it could fully ruin our dynamic!" Monse said, "The guys and AJ and I have been super tight since fourth grade."

"Come on. You're telling me none of them have had a girlfriend?"

I snorted, "No."

"Cesar's never had a girlfriend?"

"Maybe once in sixth grade, but I don't know. Cesar doesn't talk to me about that stuff."

"And Jamal?" Olivia said to me, "I saw you guys at Monse's house. It was pretty cute."

I laughed, "What? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Monse smiled, "Told you she'd deny it."

"Anyway, back to you, Monse!" I said, feeling uncomfortable with the conversation switch, "I think you should stop worrying about what the guys will think and tell them about the guy!"

"Or wait, do they already know him?"

"NO!" Monse said, "But if they did, do you think they cared if I kept our sitch a secret for so long?"

Given I knew who it was, I couldn't tell you how Ruby and Jamal would react. They wouldn't be super happy, but I can't see them getting ANGRY about it. 

"So, they do know him?" Olivia said.

"No! No, no. That's not what I meant," Monse said, "Okay, I'm done sitting on the hot seat. Your turn. You feeling anyone at school?"

"I don't kiss and tell."

"You kissed someone?" Monse said.

I felt like I was about to burst when Jamal opened the door.

"There's a lockdown outside!"

"We know. We can hear," Monse said.

"And there aren't any snacks."

"Got it," Monse said,  "So, who'd you kiss?"

"Hey!" Jamal said, "Let's play a game!"