INDICA ♔ ON MY BLOCK [OSCAR DIAZ]

FIVE

"Ow!" Ximena's body flinched as she roughly slapped Jamal's hand away from her face.

The teenager rolled his eyes at her reaction, "Well, maybe if you actually did something with these caterpillars, it wouldn't hurt this much."

Ximena glared at him as he placed his hand back, continuing to work.

"So, what happened after that?"

Ximena tried her best not to yelp at the hairs being plucked as she shrugged her shoulders, "We told each other 'see you later', and that's it."

"You guys really are done, huh?"

"I guess," the girl admitted, being to grow tired of having this conversation, "things are just too different now."

The teenage boy nodded, plucking the last few hairs before wiping the girl's forehead, "Okay, you should be good for a week."

Ximena grabbed a mirror, examining the final results as Jamal began picking out his outfit for school tomorrow, "I'm going to miss you when you graduate."

"What do you mean?" She chuckled, turning in her chair, "I'm still gonna be around until September."

In the mist of all the drama, Ximena didn't allow herself to forget about college. She knew her parents would be disappointed if she didn't continue towards her career, after everything that took place. She owed it to them to keep going.

She quickly doubled up on her classes, sacrificing her early release from school and cheerleading. The girl even began online courses to help prepare her for the next step.

During breakfast, Ximena had a conversation with Mr. Turner about picking up more shifts at the joint, which he was thrilled to provide, even more now that Logan was gone.

Jamal held a shirt up to his chest, making sure it was the right one, "Yeah, but still, I grew accustomed to having a sibling. It's just going to suck for you to not be around anymo-"

The boy stopped himself, realizing where he was going with the sentence.

Ximena began to laugh, shaking her head, "You're good, I'm going to miss you too, hermano."

She rose from her spot, taking the shirt from his hands and hanging it back up in the closet. The girl began raking through the clothes, successfully finding him an acceptable outfit.

"You know, prom's coming up soon," Jamal reminded, trying to lighten the mood.

But Ximena just made a face, chuckling to herself, "Yeah, I think I'm going to skip out on that."

"What?! Why?"

"I don't think my gangbanger ex boyfriend would be allowed to participate and my other date option is now in prison so, there's that," Ximena referred to Logan.

Jamal placed his hands on his hips, nodding, "I guess you're right about that."

The tone of the conversation now grew just as stiff and serious as it was before. The boy cleared his throat.

"You doing okay?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Ximena asked, raising an eyebrow as she neatly placed the clothes down the way she knew Jamal liked.

"Well, I know you guys were close."

"I wouldn't call being coworkers, 'close'. "

"Sleeping together would make you close though," Jamal tilted his head at her, sass in his voice.

Ximena snapped her head towards his direction, narrowing her eyes at him, "How did you know about that?"

"I didn't really, until now." Ximena didn't reply, just nodded.

"Does Oscar know?"

"No," she pointed a finger at Jamal, "and he will never know, okay?"

"Understood."