"How the hell did you end up in juvie?" Mariana laughed, Carl never told her the story of his infamous juvie expedition.

"Well, I wanted to go. I kinda let them catch me on purpose." He rubbed his forearm, recalling the reason he went to juvenile hall.

"Why would you want to go?"

*

It was a gloomy day. The sky was gray and filled with numerous clouds, blocking out the Chicago sun. Mariana sighed, zipping up one of many large luggages.

"How am I supposed to tell Carl?" She asked Daniel.

"You'll just have to, if he really was your best friend, he'd understand why you have to go." He patted his little sister's back before going to put luggages in his car.

Mariana walked to the Gallagher house, a remorseful look drawn on her face. She felt bad for putting this on him all of a sudden. She walked up to his room, and sat on his bed.

"Hey Mari." He gave lit up like a tree on Christmas.

"Hey..." her words were dragged.

"Whats up?"

"I need to tell you something."

"Okay.." Carl wondered what was going on with the short girl.

"Well, I'm leaving." She winced as the words flowed out of her mouth.

"Where?" He had a sad look in his eyes.

"California."

"When are you going?" He hoped she'd be leaving later, so they could do more things together.

"Right now."

He got up, not looking at her.

"You're leaving me?"

"Carl, its only for a year." She wanted to lighten up this dreaded conversation.

"Yeah, but you barely fucking told me Mariana. What am I supposed to do? Not be able to see you?" His tone was getting louder.

"Carl, I'll be back in a year." She shrunk in fear.

"Why the hell are you going anyways." This was more of a statement than a question.

"There's a school there, a performing arts school. My parents want me to go so I can actually have a chance at having a fashion career."

"But I'm gonna miss you Mari."

"I know, Carl. I'm gonna miss you too."

"There's no reason being here without you."

"Carl, don't say that. You have your siblings. And everything else in your life."

"I know, it's just, I can't live without my best friend."

"Just know I love you Carl." She grabbed his face, softly holding it.

"I love you too Mariana."

Carl went in for a kiss. The couple were passionately kissing before a car horn interrupted them. Mariana pulled back.

"Bye Carl, I'll miss you." She went in for one more long hug before running down the stairs and into her brother's car.

Carl stood there, his calloused fingers brushing against his lips. That was the last mark of Mariana in his life—well for the rest of this year at least.

"I can't do this." He tugged at his hair. It had been hours since Mariana had left. Frank was giving him shit, Fiona was nagging at him, and it had seemed like his whole world was crashing down.

He knew the cops would be by 6th street later, so he planned to be there on the spot. He shoved as much cocaine as he could in his backpack and pockets. He threw a flannel on before heading out.

Carl puffed smoke out, holding a joint in his hand while looking at his watch. 6:58. Two more minutes. He walked out from behind a tree and into the light.

He saw the usual cop car sitting there. He grabbed his backpack, unzipping it. Carl held the large black backpack abound his head.

"Hey fat fucks!" He yelled at the now curious cops. He dumped all of the cocaine out of his bag before making a run for it.

The police chased him, sirens blaring. Soon enough there were two, then three, then four, then five. Carl dipped through allies, hopped over fences, and jumped through backyards.

He started getting tired, his breaths becoming short and his legs giving out. He figured it'd be time for them to catch him. The now six cop cars surrounded him. The pointed their guns at him, and he put his hands up in surrender.

He wasn't scared. He just wanted Mariana. She was all that was on his mind at the time. She was the one on his mind when they handcuffed him. She was the one on his mind when they took him into custody. And she was the one on his mind when they sentenced him to one year in juvenile hall.

*

"Carl. Are you serious?" She had a serious look on her face.

"Deadass." He nodded his head.

"Don't ever say that white boy." Mariana pointed to him, laughing softly.

"Sorry babe." He shrugged and smiled.

"But why?" Mariana slapped him, disappointed in her best friend.

"Because, I couldn't live in a world without my beautiful girl." He pulled her by her shoulder, embracing her.

"Ew shut up Carl." She shoved him away playfully.

"You're my best friend, I'm supposed to be ew."

"Whatever Gallagher." Mariana rolled her eyes.

"Whatever Mendoza."

"Did you just pull a john green again?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You're so cheesy."

"I know."

They held hands as they walked around the mall. Soon enough Carl was bombarded with countless bags, all for Mariana. He loved spoiling her, seeing the way she'd get giddy and excited.

"Fuck I gotta take a piss."

"There's a bathroom right there. And by the way, tmi Carl."

"Sorry, I just gotta take a piss really bad."

"I'll wait out here with the bags, just go before you piss your pants." She giggled as she took all of her bags and set them down on the floor.

Carl ran to the men's room. Mariana leaned against the wall, taking out her phone. It felt like forever scrolling through instagram, refreshing her timeline millions of times.

"Hey." A girl spoke, causing Mariana to look up. It was Dominique and two other girls. Mariana recognized the other two.

The first one was Dominique's best friend, Aspen. She was a Hispanic girl, head of the soccer team. Waltzed around wearing her jersey and showing off her scar she got. Her hair was jet black and she always had a mature look on her face.

The other was Willow. A white girl who acted black—but also white. She wore her blonde hair in cornrows and had a fake grill. She was a total kiss ass to Dom if anything. Willow always wore floral tops with cardigans, the same pink flats and bell bottoms. Yeah, really didn't match her whole black girl persona.

"So, I heard you got a thing going on with Carl."

"What are you talking about, we've always acted like this?"

"Sure, holding hands and laughing." Willow scoffed.

"We grew up together." Mariana really wanted to pull out Willow's "weave".

"Whatever. Just know, he has gonorrhea. He gave it to me, so don't try to fuck him."

"Alright?" Mariana was getting irritated more by the second.

"You know, I'm gonna get him back." Her mouth formed a devilish smirk.

"Yeah, Dom is totally hot, and you're totally—not." Willow butted in, her stringy micro braids flopping all over the place.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that. You're the one who cheated on him."

"No I didn't."

Mariana pulled out the picture of Dominique kissing the college guy. "I wonder if this guy was actually the one who gave you gonorrhea."

"Fuck you bitch." Dominique pulled Willow, stomping away with anger.

"Hey, I just want to say sorry on behalf of Dom. She doesn't mean any of that. I know she can be a complete bitch at times, but she's really a sweetheart." Aspen spoke softly.

"It's good, you shouldn't be apologizing. You didn't do anything to me."

"Yeah, but I'm her best friend, I'm obligated to apologize to anyone she shits on. Even if it's me she's shitting on." She looked down, rubbing her hands on the adidas pants she was wearing.

"You shouldn't be obligated to do anything." Mariana was always a sweetheart to everyone, and she felt sympathy to the poor girl.

"Yeah it's just that—" she spoke before Carl interrupted her.

"Hey, everything good?" He rubbed his hands on his jeans to dry them.

"Oh, yeah. I was just leaving. Bye Mariana, maybe I'll see you at school?" Aspen walked away, trying to look for her 'best friend'.

"Yeah of course."

"What happened?"

"Dominique tried to confront me." Mariana crossed her arms.

"Did she hurt you?" Carl looked concerned, which didn't happen often.

"No, the only thing that got hurt were her feelings." Mariana felt proud of what she told Dominique.

"That's my girl." Mariana had a fuzzy feeling when he said that, but she wouldn't tell him that, he's already a cocky piece of shit.