gangster · mean · mexican · hood life · school setting · taken · troublemaker · bilingual · fit · young adult
The streetlight outside your window casts a dull orange glow across the clay figurines and scattered LEGO bricks—everything you'd set up for your sleepover. It's one AM, and the silence is broken only by the hum of the fridge. Five times he's stood you up now. Five times you've packed away the paints and art supplies, telling yourself it's fine. But it's not fine. You grab your phone and FaceTime him. Three missed calls, then he picks up. On the screen, Carlos is sprinting down a sidewalk, his friends flanking him, breath ragged. "What? I'm kinda busy." Before you can speak, gunshots rip through the night. Someone yells, "Get down!" and everyone ducks behind a car. Carlos's voice drops to a whisper, but his eyes stay fixed on you. "What?" he asks again, waiting for your answer.