"Celia, do you want your braces off or not?" Oscar yelled down the hallway.
"Why are you yelling?" Arcelia asked from behind her brother. "Will you hurry up? I've been waiting in the car for the past 5 minutes and I want to get this over with so I can eat."
Oscar had a confused look on his face as he looked from her bedroom door to the front door. How the hell did she walk pass him?
While Oscar got into the front seat and started driving, Arcelia started playing games on her phone after adjusting her orange top. The closest dentist office was just down the street, but Oscar never took her there since he thought they would mess up her teeth rather than fix them. Instead, he took her to the one that bordered Freeridge and Brentwood.
Arcelia's had her braces since she was 12 and the only way she got there was because of Ruby and Jamal's family. Since her mother disappeared and her dad was in prison, someone had to take her and Cesar places.
Arcelia waited beside Oscar for her name to be called and she didn't need to look up to know everyone was staring/judging. The ones who were from Freeridge sat farther away and minded their business, shaking their heads at the Brentwood people who didn't know about Spooky.
"Ark-Arse-Arcelia Diaz?" A lady called out, causing Arcelia to roll her eyes at the amount of times she butchered her name.
"I'll be here." Oscar told her, pulling out his phone once Arcelia walked to the back. After a good 10 minutes, he got tired of all the staring and glared at everyone looking at him. The simple look caused all the Brentwood people to jump and turn away.
Another 20 minutes passed by until Arcelia skipped out of the back room with a big smile to show her fresh teeth. "They gave me a lollipop, but can we still go buy some food?" She asked Oscar as he walked up to the front desk to fill out whatever paperwork.
"You ate less than 2 hours ago."
Arcelia did a head movement and scrunched her face up. "What's your point? I was thinking tacos from Nico's."
× × ×
Arcelia laid sprawled out across the living room floor and stared up at the ceiling. Now that Ruby had called off their friendship, she didn't know what to do. Normally, her and Monse would get with the guys and go to the pool or the beach. Now, Monse was away at writing camp and she had no idea about the drama happening.
"Oscar, can we go to Santa Monica?" She shouted, hoping it was loud enough for him to hear outside.
"For what?"
"Because I'm bored. And look! I'm getting pale and I need vitamin D."
"You aren't getting any D of any kind." Oscar said. Arcelia groaned and started screaming. It lasted a good minute before the front door opened and Oscar yelled over her. "Ok, I'll take you to the fucking beach!"
"Thank you." Arcelia said quietly, smiling before standing up and going to her room to change.
Her summer was like that. For the remaining 6 weeks, the most exciting thing she did was walk around the Santa Monica Pier and pretend to shove Cesar off. She got some cotton candy and roller coasters out of it, so that day was well spent.
There was one time she went to the pool and some fourth graders got excited about a new student. That was a day of laughter for the Santos. Other than that, Oscar took her and Cesar to the mall for school shopping.
Most days, Arcelia laid sprawled out on her bed as her computer played movies for her. So much for a summer body.
The last week of summer, Arcelia was starting to grow worried. Who was she supposed to hang out with? She didn't want to be stuck alone with Cesar at school because that's her situation at home.
Today was freshman orientation so Oscar was driving the twins to the school with Paco in the backseat. Arcelia unfortunately lost to Cesar so she had to sit in the backseat next to Paco, behind Oscar. Oscar was blasting his music with the AUX cord he installed and driving down the streets with his windows down.
Then, out of no where, someone jumps in front of the car causing Oscar to slam on his breaks. Arcelia was caught off guard and ended up slamming into the back of Oscar's seat.
"That's why you wear seatbelts." Paco teased, causing the younger girl to glare as she rubbed her forehead. "Shouldn't you be in a booster seat?"
"No one else even wearing one, cabrón." Arcelia fell back into her seat and crossed her arms as she watched Monse try to talk to Oscar and Cesar. "And stop playing with my hair." She told him, picking up his hand from the back of her seat and throwing it to his lap.
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She spent time getting ready, as usual, because she was not about to look like shit in her first high school picture. But she will admit that maybe the black jeans she chose to wear were starting to get uncomfortable.
"Nah, you got your braces off." She heard Oscar laugh before the car took off. "You go one size up and you think you're the shit." Arcelia mumbled.
"So does that mean I can start dating seniors?" Arcelia asked.
The car stopped again and Oscar turned around. "What the hell gave you that idea?"
"You said Monse wasn't underaged for some. I'm the same age as Monse. Can I date seniors?" Arcelia asked, making motions with her fingers like she was connecting dots.
"Hell no. Te dije que no novios until you move out." Oscar told her, turning around and ultimately ending the conversation.
Arcelia took this as a challenge and sat back in her seat. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, I guess.
The ride to the school was pretty quick and since the paper work was already done, all the twins did was pick up their schedules, textbooks, get their lockers and take their ID pictures.
"No, wait. Can I retake that? I blinked. And look, you didn't tell me my hair was sticking up." Arcelia told the person behind the camera as she sat back in the seat.
"No, retakes."
Arcelia glared at the person and crossed her legs. "Mi hermano es Spooky."
"I'll retake your picture as much as you want." He scrammbled. Arcelia smiled in victory while Cesar stood in line groaning. She did various poses for the fun of it and stood up to choose a picture.
"Can you send me the rest? I look cute."
I was looking through her IG and it lowkey looks like she coukd live in Freeridge
