Chapter 4-7

The next day… Damn. I wake up beside… Bruno?? Pinch me, now. Is this even real? Is this really happening. Bruno grabs a pillow and starts to hit me with it. “Cassandra. Wake up, honey.” It came out from his mouth, but it didn’t sound like him. It sounds like Bueno. My eyes blurs for a couple of seconds. “Bruno?” I had to ask. “No… It’s not that Afro kid. It’s Bueno, baby.” I see him, right in front of me. “You’ve fallen asleep, while we were finalizing the new version of six in the mornin’.” I look at him, so confused about what he just said. “So, I had to carry you home.” “That’s so sweet of you, but I really need to tell you something.” “What is it?” he says, blushing a little. “And please, don’t get made at me.” He chuckles, “I won’t Cassie.” “I…” “Go on.” “I think that I’ve fallen in love with Bruno,” I say, letting it out, easily. “WHAT?” Bullshit!! “Are you crazy?” I look at his shirt on the bed. “Probably?” I shrug. “You just only known him for a day, and you don’t no nothing about this boy.” Did he really say that? I can’t think straight. “And what do you really know about him? Is he better than me? I want to see you try.” “Bueno… All the I know about him… is that he’s Jaime’s brother that is all, that is all that I know,” I explain to him. “Bullshit. BULLshit. BULLSHIT, CASSIE.” I got off his bed with my dress on. I walk over to the door, I feel his hand holding onto my arm. “Please, Cassie. Please, don’t you dare leave me.” I turn around. “Please?” He keeps on saying. “I’m not leaving you.” I feel his relived breathing. “I’m just leaving your place.” I remove his hand off my arm and left.

As I walk towards the park in Bueno’s neighborhood. I see Jaime, pushing someone on the swings. I look at her, waving my fingers as a shortcut, just to say, Hello! “Cassie. Come and meet my brother,” Jaime says when I was walking towards her. “Sure, do.” I stop walking when I got beside her. She pulls me to the pathway, near the swings. She steps back, a little. There he is. Bruno. Standing, right in front of me. “Cassie, this is my brother. Peter,” she smiles. “Hey,” I say, drawing a small arc with my left foot. “Bruno, this is my friend’s cousin. Cassandra Lopez, she’s an actress, a dancer, a model and a writer.” Bruno puts his right hand, in front of me. I stand still for a while. “You shake the hand, Cassandra,” he notices. “Oh…” I play dumb. I put my right hand, in front of him. He grabs it and shakes it. “OK?! I better push my son, whose on a swing, now. Don’t mind me,” Jaime says, sneaking towards her son. Bruno walks towards a park bench, still holding my hand. “After you,” he says. “Sure thing, Bruno,” I smile and sit down. He sits down, beside me. “Does she know that we already met?” I ask him. He shook his head. “Go, tell her.” I push Bruno towards Jaime. “I will… Soon.” “Now, Bruno. Now,” I demand. “No… Not until I tell you, something.” “Go on,” I say, sounding like I’m not interested. “I love… your dress. Cassie, did you wore that yesterday?” “Come on, just spit it out.” “Damn it…” I look at him. “OK! Fine, your hot and you deserve a better boyfriend than Mr. Six in the Mornin’,” Bruno says, mocking Bueno and Margaritte’s attitudes. “Ya dig.” “Uh huh!!” I DIG YOU, BRUNO. “So… Me, you, movies, Sunday.” “I’ll be there,” I smile.

YES, YES, YES,YES, YES. She said, yes. Well… Sort of. “BRUNO,” I hear my sister, yell. Oopsy! I ran towards my record player, I lift the pin up and to the side of the record. “THANK YOU!” “WELCOME,” I yell back to her. I walk out of my room. I walk downstairs and towards the kitchen, I see my sister cooking. I sit down on a stool, watching her cook. “Bruno, can you tell me? What is going on between you and Cassie?” she says. “I don’t know… What your talking about?” I say, nodding my head. “Come on. You only play the Beach Boys when you’re in love and Bruno, you’re in love with Cassie.” Shit. “Come on. Admit it. Admit that you’re in love with Cassie.” “Fine. You’ve caught me, sis. I love Cassie. I’m in love with her.” She smiles at me. “I don’t know, if I should tell her.” “Then don’t hide it from her. Tell her, how you feel.” She walks towards the her cell phone and picks it up. “Don’t you dare… Make me, tell her now.” She starts to press things. “Don’t…” She gives the phone to me. “Jaime, please,” I mouth. “Hello, this is Cassie.” I hear Cassie’s voice. “Hello, who is this?” I start to freeze. “Hello. Jaime, don’t play trick on me, girl.” “Go on, Bruno,” she mouths when I look, right at her. “Hey, Cassie. It’s Bruno.” Damn it… “Bruno?” “Yeah, I’m so sorry… If my sister woke you up.” “It’s OK. I was already awake.” “So, about the movies on Sunday.” “Are we still on with that?” “Yes, but I have something to tell you.” “What is it, Bruno?” I hear Cassie’s voice crack. “Well, I actually fell in love with you.” I laugh. “Wow.” “Yeah, I know…” I hear Cassie’s phone go onto deaf tone. “Hello, Cassie. Are you still there?” I put the phone down. “What happened, Bruno?” she asks. “She hung up on me, sis,” I say, looking at Jaime’s picture with Cassie and Margaritte on her phone. “Hold on. Cassie, hung up on you. Bruno, that’s good new. It means that she feel in love with you too.” “I don’t believe you,” I say, getting off the stool and sitting on the coach. “You’ve got to believe me on this one. Cassie is not that kind of girl to fall in love with… boy’s with an Afro.” “You know… I actually think that siblings should be more friendly to siblings and they should tease him or her about their fucking hair.” “I’m so sorry, Bruno. But Cassie?? How? And why?” “Hm… The airport. She picked up with Margaritte.” “Wait. Marge, never told me that.” “Well… Sis, Cassie was there. She look so damn hot with just a dress on.” “Yeah. I can see that. She’s always like that when Bueno, her boyfriend is not around.” “She… She had a boyfriend.” “Well, yeah.” I turn my head, so I can see a little of her. “But there going to break up soon. Actually, Bueno called me, earlier. He told me that Cassie told him that she fell in love with you and that they had an argument about it.” YES! Cassie is going to be single and all mine. “But she doesn’t like boys, who use her for fame.” “I’m not going to use her for fame. She got me to sing for Bueno and I sang-” “Billie Jean,” she interrupts me. “How did you know?” “Marge told me.” Marge! I’m starting to hate her for that. Yes, really? I’m starting too. “And damn that girl should really shut her mouth.” I look at my sister’s kid. He looks at me like I should really do something about my sideshow bob looking hair. I pick him up, looking at him not saying anything, but this kid really knows what I’m telling him without even saying a word. But I wonder. What he’s telling me, now and what he’s thinking about.

I hear the doorbell ring.

I hear the door bell ring. Shit. That must be her. “Hey, Jaime. Wazzup?” Maybe, not. “I’m good, Marge. Come in, come in.” Margaritte walks in from the front door. I hear her heels, tap dancing on the floor. “So, how was Bueno and Cassandra doing?” “Well, Bueno is pissed, right now. And Cassandra is acting like a complete whore over, all of this nonsense.” Margaritte, eventually, saw my hair. Damn. I need to cut it down. NOW. “Oh, hey.” I stand up from the sofa, caring Jaime’s baby in my arms. “Say something, mean to me and I’ll hurt you,” I say, handing Jaime over to her baby. She rummages through her hand bag, looks like a coach hand bag, almost similar to Jaime’s. Not that I know it. I just guessed it. She gives me an envelope. I take it off her hands. “What is this?” I ask. “That’s your pay check, dumbo.” I look at the envelope, I look at Jaime then to Margaritte and back to the envelope. I tore it open. I find myself taking out a check and a note. The check was from Cash Money records and the note, the note was from… Bueno? It reads: “Good job on the vocals, boy. But stay away from my girl. OK – Bueno.” I place my hand on my heart. I felt it beating. It beats like I was about to drown in fear. I place the note from Bueno in my pocket. Margaritte fold her arms. “What?” “Good luck on your date.” “Come on. Marge, it’s not a fucking date. It’s just a little thank you movie for getting me into a song.” “Well, that’s what they all say. And that’s how Bueno got Cassie to fall in love with him.” “Read my lips.” Margaritte nods. “I. Am. Not. In. Love. With. Miss. Cassandra. Lopez.” Margaritte mumbles something to me that I can’t even understand, because it’s in French or maybe English. I don’t know. “Yes, I do,” I say, not asking Margaritte any questions. “Gotcha. I said that you do and you just agreed to that.” “I’m not in love with her. I just think that I needed time to settle down and Cassandra seems like she’s doing it.” “Doing it means fucking in California. I bet they don’t teach you that in Hawaii, Bruno.” “Stop, cursing.” “I will, if-” “If what?” I had to interrupt, Margaritte. “If she agree to a dare.” She elbows my sister and gives her a little wink. Jaime seems to nod her head. “OK. Your on.” “I dare you to kiss Cassandra. If she kisses you back. It means that you get to date her again. If she doesn’t kisses you back, than I’ll get you signed to a label. Deal.” “Your on.” “Shake on it.” She puts her hand forward, towards me. I take her hand and shake it. “I’m enjoying this already,” she smiles.

Chapter 7

Guess Who? I added into the ending of this part.

I look out of my window. I see Bruno and Bueno talking to each other. I step back and started to watch them. “Dude. I’m not in love with your girl,” Bruno protests. “And Dude, every little boy is in love with her, because she’s a teen model and your a rapper. So, those boys are rapping.” “Look. I know that my girl’s a bombshell, but you need to get your hands off her,” Bueno says, looking up to me. “Ring the doorbell, shawty.” Bruno throws his hands in the air and rings the door. I run towards the front door and open it. I smile, “Hey! Bueno, Bruno. What’s up?” “Nothing babe,” Bueno says, walking inside. “So, about the movie tonight. Are you still up for it?” Bruno says, following Bueno inside. “Well, yeah. If you are.” “I… I’m still up for it too.” “Do you want to go now or late at eight?” I ask. “Maybe at eight would be cool.” I walk towards the kitchen. Shit. My mom’s cooking some Latino food again. “Who was that?” she asks. “Bueno. Mom, you know, Bueno. Right?” “I know, Bueno. But the other boy. The one who talked to you about the movie tonight.” “Oh, that was Bruno. He’s a musician. Well, not yet.” “Well, I like him. He sounded like Bueno when I first met him.” “What do you mean?” “I mean that Bruno might be the one for you and I can see it.” “Mom!! I’m not in love with Bruno. I’m just going to see a movie with him.” Mom started to chop some onions. I take out a knife and start to chop up some carrots. “Bruno and I are just friends, Ma.” “So, have you heard anything from your friend, Lyne and her best friend, Jesse yet?” I place the knife on the chopping board. “No, Lyne is always busy with school work and she’s just thirteen. She’s still young and she needs to live up for that.” “By school work, you mean that she’s trying to sign artists for Elektra Records.” “Also that, but Margaritte is still calling her to find out, where she is. She is best friends with an upcoming artist from Hollywood Records and Marge just need to calm her ass down.” “Well, Margaritte is a sweet kid.” I nod my head.

Eight O’clock at night. Me and Bruno heads towards the ticket booth. Bruno looks at me. “What do you want to watch? There’s an opened booth for It Happened One Night.” I nod my head. “Two for It Happened One Night, please.” The boy at the ticket booth gives us two tickets for the movie. He’s name is Jamereo, next to him is Phredly, James and Brody. “Enjoy the show,” Jamereo sighs. I wonder why he sighed.