|chapter ten:: uninvited|

"WHO did you see follow Polo into the bathroom?" The detective asked me, but I avoid her eyes, "Adriana?" I snapped my eyes up to meet hers, "Who did you see go into the bathroom after Polo?"

I glanced over to my right, seeing my group of friends before at her again, "I- Uh.." I looked down at the dried up blood on my hands, "I saw.. I saw Ander enter the bathroom."

"Are you still going?" Guzman asked me as I looked at my reflection in the mirror, "I know the ceremony went to shit, but doesn't mean we still can't enjoy ourselves "

"Lu and Nadia sacrificed their only chance to going to New York," I sighed, "You got expelled, so now you have to repeat a year and it's all thanks to Polo." I looked down at my red velvet dress, glancing back at him, "This maybe the one time I actually wanted to party in a long time."

He smiled at me, "Good, because I want this to be a night you remember before you go off to college." I smiled back at him as he came up behind me and wrapped his arm over my shoulder, kissing my forehead, "Can't believe my twin sister is now a college student."

"Yeah, and at least I don't have to have people asking us if we're related," I joked, but my laughter was brief as I looked at him, "I still don't know about the offer to Stanford."

He grinned widely, "Well, whatever you choose, I'm still proud of you, you know that?" I nodded before he pulled away, "Nic must really like you."

I only nodded at his response before I turned my body to him, "So what are we waiting for? Let's go." He grinned as I walked past him and outside the house with him following behind. For once, he was choosing to drive me, saying that he wanted to spend as much time with me as possible.

I didn't want to go to this party because the entire day wasn't how I planned it. I wanted my brother beside me, both of going to college- not one of us having to stay behind as Las Encinas. I didn't want to crush his spirits though, because as we drove to the party, he held a huge smile on his face as he talked about nonsense, so I just kept quiet and held onto my smile.

It wasn't long before we reached the club and already had a drink in our system. I stayed at the bar after getting inside, though Guzman left me to go socialize. I swirled my rum and coke around in my glass, really wishing that I was in my bed right now. I'm not sure what happened, I used to love parties and being the life that made the parties better. I guess I'm finally tired of it all.

"Hey, stranger," I turned to my left to see Nic approach me with a smile and a drink of his own in his grasp, "Surprised you came."

"I'm surprised too. I don't plan to stay long though," I informed him, so he raised a brow as I took a small sip from my drink, "It's been a long day."

"Yeah, tell me about it." He sighed, "That whole speech Lu and Nadia did was brave, though it cost them their future."

"I would have done the same thing," I smiled at the thought of them. It seemed I was the only one that didn't appreciate the expulsions that Guzman, Samuel, Valerio and Rebeca got as Polo walked free once more, though when they gave their speech, Polo's mother didn't hesitate on pulling the scholarship she funded on behalf of Polo.

"You want something stronger?" He asked me and I shook my head, looking around the party only to see an all too familiar clean shaven head go up the stairs in the distance.

"I have to use the bathroom real quick," I told him before stepping away from the bar and him to follow Ander. I wanted to see how he was especially since he chose to not take any tests recently, which caused him to be another person to not graduate with us. A big part of him didn't care, and though every time I try to get him too, he instantly gets exhausted just from the conversation. As I followed him up the steps, I see him quickly sit down and take a large gulp from his drink, "Room for one more?"

He glanced over at me and smiled softly after putting his drink down to motion me over. I sit down next to him and smile, "So how does it feel? Being a college student and all?"

"Not that great," I shrugged, "Would have been better if I had everyone else becoming one with me." He only gave a soft smile as he took a sip from his drink, "So, what are you going to do? Summer school?"

He shook his head, "Not sure, really. It's not worth it." At his response, I bit the inside of my cheek and look down, kind of saddened by his choice of words, before he sighed, "What about you? Did you make up your mind?"

I looked down at my hands, "No, still thinking on it."

He furrowed his brows, "I don't understand, if everyone is for the idea, what's holding you back?"

I then meet his eyes, staring at him intently, which caused a small smile to form on my face, "Uh.. just one thing, I think."

"Well you know, it's whatever you think." He assured and I nodded slowly, messing with my hands.

"Okay, but I want to know what you think," He takes another sip, before raising a brow at me, "I know you told me already, I want to hear it again, but without the want for me to be happy. I don't want your answer to be based on what you think is right for me."

He held onto his confusion, "You want a bias opinion?"

I nodded, "As bias and selfish as you can be."

Ander then let out a low and brief chuckle, before looking at me seriously. He was quiet for a moment, eyeing me as I had did only a few moments ago, but hesitating on his words as he glanced down at his drink, "I think.." He then met my eyes again before pressing his lips into a thin line, "I think you'd be crazy by staying here."

My throat went dry at his answer. Isn't that what I wanted? Reassurance? I smiled at him, before standing up and having him stand up too, but slower as the DJ changed the song to Forever by Chvrches. He smiled too, glancing up at the ceiling, "Want to dance?"

I laughed, "You know I'm a terrible dancer."

"All the more reason to go," He joked and I rolled my eyes and looked out to the dance floor at all the people, though my eyes got locked on the last person I expected to see tonight- Polo.

"What the hell?" I mumbled lowly, walking towards a Guzman who also acknowledged Polo's presence as well as all our friends. Ander came beside me, and I glanced at him to see him with his confused look again, also clueless as to why he was here.

My legs were planted in the floor, but I could feel my hand ball up with anger. It felt like that day he was released from prison and we all came back to school to see him there. This felt was like it was a taunt to us all. A taunt to me.

I clenched my jaw, trying to repress my anger towards him as we all watched his stare back at us across the room. It felt like the music faded and all I could here was the ringing in my ears and the fast bumping from my heartbeat. Guzman then looked at me as I glanced at him, my eyes still trained on Polo, "Why the hell is he here?"

{author's note:: sorry it took so long and that it's short, but i promise the next chapters will be long. honestly, i don't want to kill Polo off because he really had the biggest character arch in the show and deserved better, but who would i be as a person and an author to not give chaos}