On Our Block: Monse and Cesar s4

Chapter 9: Fuck No

Cesar's POV:
I open the urn and let Oscar go where he'd wanna be. He's finally free and one day I'm gonna be free too... just not today. I turn around and all I wanna do is hug them. It doesn't matter how much we fight, they're my family. "Oscar kept telling me to reach out to you guys. I never listened." I admit. "He knew we needed each other." I look right at Monse. They all start talking and I try to listen but I get this weird feeling. I look up and maybe I see him or maybe I just know he's there... but he's here. Oscar's with me. "Who's gonna look out for us now?" I ask when I can finally speak. "You will. All that time you spent looking up to Oscar... he was looking up to you too." Ruby tells me and he hands me the bottle. "To Oscar." I say and they repeat. I pour some out and they do too. Oscar would've loved to see this. Especially when Jamal coughs like a little bitch. "Damn that shit is strong." He says before he drinks more. "Oh by the way, I met lil Ricky." I say. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to say it while Jamal was drinking but he spits it right on me. They're all hella surprised. Jamal doesn't stop with the damn questions. "Bakersfield." Is all I say. "How long has he been there?" Ruby asks. "No more questions!" Jamal yells like he didn't just ask me a hundred. "We go now to the field of bakers." And the old Jamal is back. I like this Jamal way better than the hyna stealing one from earlier. "No way. Ruby was right, I can't drive for shit." Monse admits.
"I can drive." I offer. "Her car won't make it there." Ruby says and they start fighting again. "I know who can take us there!" Jamal yells over them.
I don't know why I'm surprised when Chivo pulls up. "Are you friends with anyone your own age?" Monse asks him. "Yeah-" she stops him. "Besides us." "Sometimes." Jamal shrugs. We get in the truck and Monse sits between me and Ruby. "We good?" I ask her and she nods. "Yeah." She smiles. I hold her hand. "If Jamal's getting high, I am too." Monse reaches over the front seat and takes an edible from him. "What do you mean gettin' high?" Jamal turns around hella quick. "You really never learn." She smiles. "Not again." He starts freaking out.
Monse's POV:
We're finally back at Cesar's and I'm high as fuck. Chivo's got some good shit. "Hey." I walk over to him but he's on the phone. "Hang up." I whine. "Yeah she's here. She was helping me spread- That's not what I was gonna say!" Cesar yells and I throw myself on his couch. "I'm done. I can't do this anymore." He sits with me. "It's gonna be ok." I put my hand on his lap and smile. He smirks and puts his arm around me. I try to kiss him but he pulls back. "What'd I do?" I ask. "Nothing." He laughs. "You're way too high for this." He moves my hair out of my face. "It's just a kiss." I smile. "It's never just a kiss." He says. "We used to get fucked up and do stuff all the time." I remind him. "Yeah but that was when we were both fucked up." Cesar kisses my cheek. "Jamal's peeing again!" Ruby yells and Cesar gets up. He leaves his phone knowing I know the password so I do the obvious thing, I text Vero. If we're gonna get back together Vero needs to know we're still in love. She's annoying as fuck.
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I wake up and I grab Cesar's arm. He's always holding me when we wake up together so I know something's off. When I actually feel his hand I definitely know it's not Cesar. "Jamal!" I yell when I sit up and we both scream. I run out of Cesar bed. "Why are you naked?!" I ask him. "Why am I naked?" He repeats. "I don't know." I start freaking out. "Wait." Jamal looks me dead in the eyes. "Did we smash?" He smirks. "What? No!" I'm sure about that. "Where is Cesar! Cesar?" I yell. "I'm guessing he's not here. If he was I wouldn't be balls out in his bed with his girl." He says and I glare at him. "What? I'm not his girl." I tell him. "Have you seen my... anything?" He asks when I check my phone. "Shit. I have to go. I have a trig test." I spray myself with Fabreeze and run.
I get to school in time for my test but I'm pretty sure I failed. "And then Jamal called me Cesar's girl but it's not even like that." I tell Jasmine while we walk to lunch. "Isn't it?" She asks. "What are you talking about?" I cross my arms. "You guys got back together." Jasmine says. "Where did you hear that?" I ask. "Straight from the ho's mouth. And by ho, I mean Cesar." She explains. "He told you that? That's weird?" I make a face. "Well, he didn't tell me. He texted me. I guess he just wanted to keep his girl's best girl up to date after he broke up with Vero over text." She turns to me. "Receipts don't lie. Peep it." Jasmine gives me her phone. She talks while I read it. "Ooh, these are good texts. I mean he let her down really easily... and he used punctuation?" Something feels off. "Oh shit. 'I'm still in love with Monse!'" I quote his text. "Exclamation point." Jasmine points out. I see Vero from the corner of my eye and I feel like I need to go over. We talk for a minute and I think it's going good until she tries to punch me an I drop my bag. "I tried but now I gotta beat this bitch." I might not be great at fighting but I know I can win 'cause she threw the first punch and still missed.
Cesar's POV:
I'm catching Jamal up on last night when people run past me. "Vero's gonna beat her ass!" Someone says. When I get to them Monse punches her and puts her in a headlock. I try to break it up and that's when I realize how strong Vero is. "You. You. Principal's office. Now." Coach tells us. "I need a minute." I stay on the floor and Monse helps me up. "Sorry, you should've just let me handle it." She says and I roll my eyes. "We can talk about it later." I walk away.
"Maybe it wasn't a good idea. I just wanted to have a conversation. She's the one who threw the first punch... and missed." Monse follows me out of the principal's office. "Good to know." I just keep walking. "Wait. Are you mad at me?" She asks like it isn't obvious. "Look, I know you were just trying to be honest, but maybe give me a heads-up before you text your girlfriend that we're getting back together. Not that I'm not happy about it." She smiles and I look down. "Not that she wouldn't have found out eventually because let's be honest, we've never been good at hiding this-" I cut her off. "Monse! I didn't text Vero. You did." I remind her. "Oh shit." She says. "Yeah. She dumped me this morning." I say.
"I am so sorry. I was just trying to clean up your mess." She tries to justify it. "No, Monse. You're the mess." I can tell I hurt her but I just go.
"Hey, still down to go to lil Ricky's? Call me back." I hang up. I've texted her a million times but I got nothing. I give it a minute but she doesn't respond so I go on my own. "Jamal, don't ask the man his blood type!" Monse says when I walk in. "Hey." I smile but they both look like they hate me. "Just ignore his ass." Jamal puts his hand on her arm. "You don't even know what happened." I tell him.
"I know what she told me. Whatever, I'm not fighting with you in front of lil Ricky." Jamal goes to the table. "Can we talk? You know I never wanna hurt you." I ask. "Let me think about." She asks and I nod. "Fuck no." She smiles.