After yesterday I spent the next few days avoiding him. I don't know what it is but I just feel more vulnerable when he's there and I don't want to deal with the sympathetic looks and shit, not that he's given them but still. Whenever I'd see him at break or lunch I'd dodge him easily by hanging out with Zoe outside, and when it came to classes I'd just keep looking ahead despite the looks he'd give me. Avoiding him at the house was harder since that's where he lives, I was doing well until he came home one night, whilst me and Grace we're playing snakes and ladders. Our conversation was pretty short

"Your avoiding me" He said

I kept my eyes on the die, "Am I?"

"You know you are"

"I thought you wouldn't have cared"

"Of course I do"

Damn, since when

Grace moves her counter along the board as I finally make eye contact with her brother, "Look I just don't know what to say"

"You don't have to say anything, your the only one making things weird"

Ok at least he isn't being unusually nice out of sympathy, maybe things will be fine. I sigh, "If I say I'll stop avoiding you will you go away?"

He nods as I move my counter along the board, "Fine, whatever"

"See? Not so bad"

But that was days ago, back to the present now.

Where the heck is my phone? I look through my bag with annoyance before checking all my draws, Santiago enters my room and I sigh. "Have you seen my phone?"

"Honestly, I didn't even know you were home" He replies

"So what are you doing in here then?" I scoff

"I came to use your shower" He walks past me before going into the bathroom and locking the door behind him, I roll my eyes. Santiago is the reason that my shampoo runs out so quickly, he thinks he can use my bathroom whenever he pleases

Adriana then walks in, "Hey can I use your shower? Lola's taking too long"

"Santi beat you to it-.... have you seen my phone?" I ask

She shakes her head before walking over to the bathroom and banging on the door, "Santi get the fuck out I need to shower!"

"Should've arrived first then pussy!" That's the last thing he shouted before the water turned on. Adri rolls her eyes with annoyance before walking out of the room...... still, my phone hasn't been found.

Mom was in the kitchen when I arrived downstairs, "If this is your job then I don't like it" She says

I frown, "What?"

"You're coming home late-

"Ok it was that one time" I scoff

"And last night?"

I'll be real yesterday I may have stayed till quite late, I was trying to beat Carters ass at monopoly. Only because he thought he could win against me though...

"I'll call next time"

She mutters under her breath in Spanish and I roll my eyes before picking up my shoes

-

"Before you say anything, my phone is nowhere to be found so I couldn't text you this morning"

"Fine I'll let you off, see you at break" Zoe replies

I wave before opening the door to my English class. Aaron and Carter are sat at the back of the class chattering away, I pull out a chair before sitting besides them. "I think I have reason to believe that you have my phone"

It seems that my statement has caused Eliza to become interested in the conversation, she's trying to make it look like she isn't listening but I can tell she is, it's cute really.

Carter reaches into his pocket before fishing it out with amusement, "You left it on the couch"

Eliza frowns as I unlock my phone

"Grace left you a little gift, I think she thought it was my phone"

My camera roll is in fact filled with a few pictures of her, I snort as Aaron looks too. "This is so cute" I say amused

"You've met Grace?" Eliza questions

And alas, she finally speaks. The three of us look back at her, "I have" I answer

She looks at Carter with an annoyed look, "How come Carmen has and I haven't?"

"She's her babysitter" Carter replies

"Why would Carmen babysit her?"

"Ok whats wrong with me babysitting her?"

Eliza looks back at me with those evil green eyes, "No offence but your you know.... you"

Aaron frowns, "And whats that supposed to mean?" I say confused

"Take it as you will-

"Jealously doesn't suit you Eliza" I say amused

"Guys" Carter sighs

"And what would I have to be jealous about?" She snorts

"I don't know maybe the fact that I've known Carter for a shorter time than you yet I've actually been inside of his house"

Those that were working or conversing with one another stop and start to pay attention to the argument that's currently wasting my time

She glares at me before getting up, "Eliza"

The drama queen walks right past Carter and heads out of the classroom, I roll my eyes as I sit back. "Shows over I guess" Aaron says

Carter looks back at me, "Really?"

"Don't really me, she started it" I scoff

He ignores me as he walks out of the classroom and I fold my arms with annoyance. Eliza's so dramatic, why does he need to go after her for fuck sake.

Aaron looks back. "It's a shame, I was really rooting for you two"

I scoff, "Time and a place Aaron-

He raises his hands with surrender, "Don't come for me too"

I sit back in my seat, ignoring the many stares that I'm currently receiving. And before you ask why the teacher hasn't stepped in we've got a substitute today, I probably should've mentioned that earlier.

~*~

"And then he walks out, annoyed at me" I scoff

"As far as I'm concerned he's a walking red flag" Zoe shrugs

"You got that right" I mutter

"Hey"

I close my locker before turning around, there stands the blonde who is currently dating my older brother. "Hi"

"So I-

Zoe cuts her off, "Carmen forgave you a long time ago"

Sienna frowns as she looks back at me and I shrug, "I honestly just wanted to see how long it would take you to realise that"

She gapes at me before scoffing, "You bitch"

I smile, "Love you too"

"You coming to lunch?" Zoe asks

Sienna sighs, "No I've got a detention for skipping math so I'll see you guys period five"

"Later"

She walks away and Zoe puts an arm around my shoulder, "Hurry, I'm hungry"

"Relax, the food isn't going anywhere-

"Leave him alone!"

That shout caused me to turn around almost immediately, "Was that Adri?" She questions

I walk ahead and Zoe follows, "Yeah"

Adriana's standing by the girls bathroom and she's crying. I wondered why for a moment, but then I noticed Santiago on top of another guy on the floor.... They're fighting

My brothers face is pretty bruised up but the black haired boy underneath him looks worse, I widen my eyes, "Santiago!"

He continues to punch whoever that guy is, a string of blood flies out of his mouth as he tries to shove Santi off of him. "Why is he beating the hell out of him?" Zoe scoffs

"It's Chase" Adri sniffs

Who the heck is Chase

Everyone in the crowd is either watching, laughing or recording, I hate high school.

The principle pushes through the crowd of students surrounding the place, "Oh for fucks sake" I say annoyed

Thankfully Enzo arrived and was able to pull Santiago up, he tried to push him off but he has a tight grip. "Dude calmate" Enzo grunts as he pulls him away

Eventually he gives in and let's Enzo take him towards the medical room, Adriana bends down before helping Chase up, I'm so sorry" She whispers to him

"It's fine, you didn't do anything" He walks away after that and my sister sighs

"Who was that?" I ask her as the crowd of students slowly start to walk away

"Remember how I was drunk the other day because of some guy"

I nod and she watches after him, "It was him?" I then say surprised

She looks back at me before nodding, "We're ok now but Santiago took it upon himself to beat the shit out of him"

"Adriana I need you to go to the office whilst we call your parents" Mr Caddel says

My sister sighs, "Text me when dad gets here ok?"

She nods before following the principle to his office, I look back at Zoe. "Santi's in for a whole lot of shouting when he gets home"

"Let's hope he's ready for it"

~*~

"I'll come over at around nine"

"Is Si coming?"

"It's her dads birthday, remember?"

Oh shit

"Oh yeah"

I open my door before getting out of the car, "See you later"

Zoe waves as she starts the engine once more, she pulls out of the driveway and I walk towards the front door. I don't think mom's heard about what happened at school yet otherwise the house would be anything but silent, "Hey" I give my dad a kiss on the cheek before sitting beside him

He sighs, "Hey mi hija"

I lie on his shoulder, "What did the principle say" I mumble

"Santi's suspended for a day or two"

Yikes

"Where's mom?"

"Working at the hospital, although I fear for when she comes back"

I snort, "Santis the one who should be scared-

"I don't fucking care, leave me alone" We hear Adriana say from upstairs

"You should be thanking me-

"I didn't ask you to beat him up!"

"I'll talk to you when you calm down-

"Fuck you Santiago"

And then both doors slam, I frown. "How long have they been arguing for?"

"It's been on and off" Dad replies

Damn

~*~

"Hey you" I smile as I sit besides Grace at the table, she's drawing on a whiteboard

"Well if it isn't little C" Aaron walks into the room and I frown

"What are you doing here?" I say amused

"Miss M invited me over for dinner"

"Aaron I told you it's Melissa, the same way it's been for years"

"Apologies aunt Melissa"

She's usually gone by this time, I wonder what's going on, "Hey Carmen"

"Hi....- are you not working today?"

"I thought I'd make us all dinner before I go" Melissa replies

"Us?"

And that's when Carter walks in with Satans daughter-.... Sorry that was auto correct, I meant Eliza. For once he didn't do the thing where he stares at me, I don't know why I found that annoying. Then there's Eliza who's looking at me with one of those evil smiles, almost as if I was her prey, "Hi Carmen" She says innocently

I narrow my eyes at her, "Hi..."

Carter leads her into the living room and Aaron tuts as Melissa walks into the kitchen, "Yeah I was gonna warn you about that"

I suck my teeth, "Could've used the heads up but it's fine"

"Zoe says to text her back" He says with his eyes on his phone screen

I go onto the messages app only to see that she's still typing

I roll my eyes

I frown

I turn off my phone.

This is one of Zoe's magical moments where she starts thinking she's psychic and can predict the future. As I look down at Grace's whiteboard I notice what she drew and let me just say that's it's smart... but questionable

First she drew the letter E with a little cross underneath it, then there's an arrow that points downwards at a sea below. So my guess is that she wants Eliza to drown

But then on the other side of the board there's a letter C with a plus and then another C besides it. Underneath those letters are a tick, I narrow my eyes at the whiteboard and Grace smiles.

She's a smart six year old I'll tell you that much

Now usually when someone offers me dinner it's so easy to get out of it but I can't exactly leave now can I. Melissa made Mac n cheese with a side of stake -Grace is a picky eater so food choices are limited-, now bear in mind I love any meal that includes Mac n cheese, however I haven't been to the gym in what two days? Anyway the point is, on days where I haven't worked out I prefer to have something much smaller

Melissa sat at the head of the table whilst Carter sat opposite me besides Eliza, I was sat next to Grace and Aaron was at the other end of the table. I really wish I wasn't here right now, actually I blame Carter for inviting Eliza over. It was silent at first, all you could hear was the sound of knives and forks scraping across the plates, Aaron was eating quite fast actually.

Melissa is the one who broke the silence, "So how's school been treating you teens?"

"Schools been great actually, I just made head of the cheer team" Eliza smiles

Maybe if I don't talk then time will go faster, "That sounds exciting-...What about you Carmen?" Melissa then asks

For fuck sake

I pause from cutting my stake as everyone's eyes land on me -minus Grace-

"Pretty much the same, schools boring"

Carter continues to stare at me but I ignore him of course, "Maybe you should consider doing an extra curricular activity like everyone else" Eliza says in an overly sweet tone

At this point I would've snapped, but then I remembered that my boss is sitting at the table. "I'm good"

Thankfully Aaron takes over, "Well footballs been going good, we have a game this week"

"Really? I didn't know" Melissa frowns at her son, instead of replying he drinks from his glass of water

I go back to cutting up my food, "You should see how good Carter is on the field Miss Miller" Eliza says

Carter this, Carter that

"Although I'm better" Aaron adds, Carter smiles to himself

"So Carmen"

Give me a break

"Eliza" I reply in the same tone

"How did you end up becoming Grace's babysitter?" She asks

Melissa smiles, "I was on my way to the gym and I saw her trying to cross the road, then I took her home and Melissa offered me the job"

"So essentially you lured Grace into your car"

Carter and Aaron frown, "No...I spoke to her calmly and told her that I'd help her find her mom"

Grace picks up a piece of stake with her hands as she listens, "But don't you think you should've knocked from door to door instead of driving her around?"

"No, is that all?" The speed that I'm cutting my food at slowly starts to increase

"No actually, surely as a babysitter you should be staying sober"

Is she trying to get me fired?

Melissa frowns with confusion, "That was your party and it was on a Saturday" I say annoyed

"But-

"Oh my god enough with the interrogations!" I scoff, she looks at me amused

I probably should've stopped cutting because I accidentally ended up slicing the knife through my thumb, "Shit!" I pull my hand away quickly and Carter widens his eyes

Grace does the same and I sigh with annoyance, trust me to end up cutting myself so easily.

"Are you ok dear?" Melissa asks with concern

I stand up, "Do you have any band aids?"

She nods, "Of course, in the bathroom"

I excuse myself before walking out of the dining room and going all the way to the end of the corridor. Now I've been through this hallway quite a few times to go to the bathroom but I've never actually looked properly. There's a photo frame on one of the walls and in it there's a picture of a young Carter -he looks about ten-, his mom, a baby and a man.

I think I never noticed it before because there's quite a few pictures on this wall, but anyway this man looks quite similar to Carter

His dad maybe?

If it really is his dad, I wonder where he is or what happened to him