❝ i'm not exactly the kind of girl you want to be associated with. ❞

―

NATHALIE'S EYES OPENED ABRUPTLY.

She has always been a light sleeper, on the off chance that she actually managed to fall asleep, and waking up to her neighbor shouting at was not the wake up call Nathalie wanted. She grabbed her pillow and placed his over her ear, trying to drown out the sound, but to no avail.

Nathalie groaned and tossed her pillow to the side before throwing her blanket off. Her feet touched the worn out carpet as she got out of bed and walked into the living room. Her siblings already stood in front of the window; the curtain slightly pulled back as they poked their heads out.

Nathalie walked over to the window and stood behind them. Her younger brother, Sebastian moved to the side, allowing Nathalie to have room to look out the window. Their neighbor, Johnny Lawrence, slammed the door to his apartment shut.

Nathalie rolled her eyes, walked towards the kitchen, and opened the cabinet to grab a cup. "What was his problem this time? Did the convenience store run out of his favorite beer?" she asked as she poured herself some coffee.

Sebastian took a seat at the dining room table. "Or maybe he got fired from yet another job."

Their older sister, Marisol, laughed. "Don't talk bad about the man, all right? Just 'cause he's an asshole who doesn't care about respecting others, doesn't mean you have to be."

Sebastian shoved a pancake in his mouth. "That's a bit contradictory, don't you think?"

Marisol's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You tell us not to talk bad about him, then proceed to call him an asshole who doesn't respect others," Sebastian explained. "You contradicted yourself."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Nathalie told him as she took a seat, placing her coffee cup on the table.

Sebastian leaned in closer to her and started to chew obnoxiously on her face. Nathalie put her hand on his forehead and pushed him away.

"You're disgusting," Nathalie turned to look at Marisol. "Is it still too late to give him away to the circus? Or drop him off at the fire station in a wicker basket with a note asking them to find him a new home?"

Marisol just laughed and shook her head.

Sebastian swallowed his food. "Please, you'd miss me too much. Who else would annoy you?"

Nathalie rolled her eyes, and she picked up her glass and took a sip of her coffee. Sebastian shoved another pancake in his mouth before standing up and running over to the front door, grabbing his skateboard.

"Hey!" Marisol turned around in her chair, giving him her best motherly stare. "Where are you going? Finish eating before you go skating."

Sebastian sighed and walked towards the table. "It's like, noon, what are we eating breakfast for anyway?"

He picked up his glass of orange juice and chugged the remaining liquid before setting it down. He grabbed the piece of bacon from his plate and shoved it in his mouth before picking up his fork and shoveling his remaining eggs in his mouth all at once.

Nathalie looked at him in disgust. Marisol closed her eyes and sighed.

"Can I go now?" Sebastian asked, his mouth still full of food.

Marisol waved him off. Sebastian ran back to the door and opened it, shutting it closed behind him.

"That boy will be the death of me," Marisol sighed as she stood up and started clearing the table.

"Two words," Nathalie stood up and started to help her sister. "Fire. Station."

Marisol chuckled, placing the dishes in the sink. As Marisol went to her room to change, Nathalie started to wash the dishes.

Marisol re-entered the living room wearing her work uniform for her first job.

"You sure you've got dinner tonight?" Marisol asked, standing up and grabbing her car keys off the kitchen counter. "This is the first time I won't be home for dinner since my second job changed my shift."

Nathalie nodded. "Don't worry. I won't burn the place down. Seb, on the other hand? I can't make any promises."

Marisol laughed and kissed the top of Nathalie's head. "See you tonight."

"You got your change of clothes?" Nathalie asked.

Marisol nodded her head. "Already in the car."

"Okay," Nathalie replied. "Now, get going before you're late. See you tonight."

When Marisol left, Nathalie continued to pick up around the apartment before she took a shower. She wiped down the table, throwing away the paper towel she had used. She pulled the trash bag out of the can. She set it on the floor and tied it up before lifting it again. She opened the door and stepped outside, holding the trash bag with both hands as she made her way to the outside dumpster.

She tossed the trash bag into the dumpster and turned around. As she walked back to her apartment, a boy approached her. Nathalie would have just ignored him if he hadn't of started speaking to her.

"Hey, uh, I'm Miguel," the boy introduced himself. "My family and I just moved into 109."

Nathalie just nodded her head and kept walking.

"Uh, I was wondering if you were having trouble with your water pressure 'cause our sink's being a little weird right now," Miguel continued to speak. "I asked this other guy, and he was kind of, I don't know...abrasive?"

Nathalie laughed. "Oh, that'd be Johnny Lawrence. Listen, kid, if you know what's good for you, avoid him."

"Kid?" Miguel questioned, continuing to follow Nathalie. "Aren't we the same age?"

Nathalie sighed and turned around quickly, causing Miguel to almost bump into her. "Look, yes, the plumbing here sucks. I'm sure Johnny told you that. If you find something that works around here, alert the whole complex because it'd be a miracle."

Nathalie turned back around and opened her apartment door, cutting off the sound of Miguel's voice. Nathalie walked to the bathroom and showered. Just as Miguel had said, the water pressure was awful, and the water got cold not even ten minutes into her shower.

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Nathalie was preparing dinner when Sebastian walked through the front door. He propped his skateboard up against the wall next to the bookshelf. Nathalie looked over her shoulder, her eyes widening when she saw her brother's face.

"¡Ay, Dios mío!" Nathalie exclaimed, turning away from the stove, and stepping towards him.

She grabbed his chin, tilting his head to the right as head as she looked at the large cut on his cheek that was surrounded by a bruise starting to form. "Jesus, Seb, what did you do?"

Sebastian pushed her hand away. "I fell at the skatepark. No big deal."

Nathalie raised her brows. "No big deal? Tell me what happened right now."

Sebastian rolled his eyes and sighed before he started to explain. "Okay, look, Oli accidentally ran over my face with his wheel."

"And what was your face doing near the wheels of his skateboard?" Nathalie questioned; her arms crossed.

"Promise you won't hit me?" Sebastian asked, causing Nathalie to give him an unamused expression. "Okay, fine. We were skating and Oli goes 'Dare you to lay on the ground so I can see if I can jump over your body.' So I told him there was no way. He said, 'Try me' and so I laid down and when he jumped over me, one of his wheels popped off and the axle—you know the thing that connects the wheels to the board—of his board collided with my face and well..."

Nathalie stared at him in disbelief and punched his shoulder. "You're an idiot!"

Nathalie's phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket, her best friend, Flora's name, and face popped up on her screen. Nathalie answered the call, listening to Flora's panicked voice as she apologized over and over for what her brother, Oliver, did. She even put Oliver on the phone so that he could apologize. Nathalie assured Flora that it was fine, trying to calm her down.

The call ended after what seemed like hours of trying to calm Flora down.

"Go wash your face and change your clothes," Nathalie instructed her brother. "I'll go to the store after dinner and get some bandages. I don't think the tiny Band-Aids we have are going to cover that."

Sebastian nodded and walked to his room. He returned as Nathalie finished making dinner. They sat down at the table and ate in silence, staring down at their phones. Without Marisol there to enforce that they have a nice conversation about their days, Nathalie saw no reason why they had to talk as they ate.

Nathalie finished eating first and rinsed her plate. "I'll be back, okay? Don't burn the apartment down."

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "That was one time on accident! And it didn't actually burn down. Marisol put it out before anything bad happened."

Nathalie shook her head at him. "Whatever. Just don't do anything stupid."

Nathalie opened the front door and walked to the Reseda Flats mini-mart. She walked in, rolling her eyes as far back in her head as they could go when she saw Johnny Lawrence standing at the counter. She walked past him, knowing exactly which aisle she needed to go down. She looked around the shelves, grabbing a box with an assortment of Band-Aid sizes.

Nathalie stepped up to the counter at the same time as the boy from earlier. What was his name again? Nathalie thought back to when he had introduced himself, remembering that his name was Miguel. She stood behind him, glancing down at the Pepto Bismol bottle in his hand.

"My grandma's not feeling well," Miguel announced, holding up the bottle as he looked back and forth between Nathalie and Johnny.

"Didn't ask," Johnny responded, not even looking at him before speaking to the man working the counter. "C'mon, what's Spanish for 'Just give me my damn slice'?"

The man spoke in Spanish. Nathalie snorted and shook her head as she chuckled to herself. Miguel smiled and tried not to laugh.

"What did you just say?" Johnny asked, turning to Miguel. "What did he say?"

"You don't wanna know," Miguel told him.

Johnny was determined to know what was said. "No, I know it's something bad. Just tell me."

Nathalie tapped her red-painted fingernails on the bandage box. "He said that you're an idiot."

"Uh, and that you have a tiny..." Miguel trailed off, his gaze looking down as he gestured downwards.

"He said I have a tiny wang?" Johnny asked as the man just stared at him. "Tell him he has a tiny wang."

"I speak English, asshole."

Johnny tossed his money at him. "Oh, really?"

He snatched the slice of pizza out of his hand and walked out the mini-mart. Nathalie stepped up to the counter and pulled a wad of cash out from her back pocket and listened the worker complained about Johnny.

Nathalie stared down at her shoes, rocking back and forth on her heels as he scanned the bandages. At the sound of overlapping voices as the door opened, Nathalie turned her head to see who walked in, rolling her eyes. Kyler Park and his friends sauntered through the mini-mart like they owned the place.

If she had a dollar for every time she had rolled her eyes because of them, then she'd be a millionaire living in one of those fancy Encino houses with a pool.

Nathalie handed over cash and thanked the man before she walked out the door. Nathalie started to walk home, passing Johnny and the homeless lady that hung around the strip mall. She tripped over her shoelace but caught herself before she fell. She groaned as she bent down to tie the lace of her boot.

"What the hell are you doing? Why you gotta blow up my spot?"

"Look, dude, I—"

Nathalie stood up and turned her head around, seeing Miguel getting pushed out of the mini-mart with Kyler stepping closer to him.

"He thought we were in college, dumbass."

"I-I didn't know you were trying to buy beer," Miguel stammered. "I'm sorry."

Kyler shoved Miguel into a nearby bush, sending him to the ground with a thud. Nathalie had to fight the urge to roll her eyes yet again as Kyler and his friends started to laugh. They started to corner him, teasing him for buying Pepto.

"We should call him 'Rhea."

As Kyler poured the pink liquid over Miguel's head, Nathalie clenched the handles of the plastic bag in her hands so tightly that her fingers were turning white. There were only four people that she stood up for: Marisol, Sebastian, Flora, and Oliver. She didn't care to get involved in anyone else's drama, but her hatred for Kyler would outweigh that any day.

She stormed up to them as Kyler punched Miguel in the stomach. She pulled Kyler by his hood.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Kyler crossed his arms. "Little Miss Psycho."

"You haven't seen psycho," Nathalie responded, pushing Kyler backwards as Miguel was pushed into the car parked in the lot.

"Hey!" Johnny shouted. "Watch the car, man."

Nathalie walked up to Miguel and looked him up and down, making a face as the Pepto that covered his hair and sweatshirt.

"You okay?"

Miguel nodded his head. Nathalie stood with Miguel on the sidelines, watching as Kyler shoved Johnny. Nathalie didn't know much about Johnny Lawrence other than the fact that he was a drunk, but she did know that he was a karate champion. She had figured that out when her and Marisol decided to do a deep dive on the internet to see if they could find out anything about him.

Nathalie could already tell that this wasn't going to end in Kyler's favor. She was proven correct when Johnny sent a kick Kyler's way and started to take on him and his friends until they were all down. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Kyler get flipped over on his back and punched repeatedly.

Blue and red lights started to flash as the police approached, spraying Johnny in the eyes with pepper spray.

"It's not his fault!" Miguel tried to explain, but Johnny was knocked to the ground and arrested anyway.

Nathalie and Miguel had to stay back so that the police asked them questions. Nathalie and Miguel both made it clear that Johnny wasn't the one in the wrong.

Nathalie sighed as she watched the police cars pull out of the parking lot, followed by Kyler's truck. She turned to look at Miguel.

"Nathalie."

"What?" Miguel asked.

"I'm Nathalie."

Miguel smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Nathalie said with a nod as she looked at his Pepto covered clothes and hair. "Hey, uh, I think I have some Pepto at my apartment if you wanna give it to your grandma."

"That'd be great," Miguel replied with a smile. "Thank you."

Nathalie started to walk, Miguel following and having to speed walk to catch up with her.

"So, uh, what'd he mean when he called you Little Miss Psycho?" Miguel questioned, breaking the silence of the walk. Nathalie frowned. "Oh, sorry...just forget I asked."

"Just a heads up, I'm not exactly the kind of girl you want to be associated with, okay?" Nathalie told him. "It's probably for the best if you don't say hi to me if you see me at school, all right?"

Miguel's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Why? Did you...did you do something bad?"

Nathalie sighed and stopped walking. "Listen, just avoid me, okay? People will get the wrong idea if they see you hanging around me. You seem like a sweet kid; I don't want you getting wrapped up in my shit. Got it?"

Miguel nodded his head. "Got it."

"Good," Nathalie said, continuing to walk back to the apartment complex.

The rest of the walk was silent. When they got back to the apartments, Nathalie grabbed the Pepto from her apartment and handed it over to Miguel without saying a word. Miguel thanked her. Nathalie just nodded her head as she shut the door.

"Who was that?" Sebastian asked, looking up from his phone as Nathalie walked out of the bathroom, a wet washcloth and antibiotic cream in her hands.

Nathalie sat on the couch next to him and opened the box of bandages. She started searching for the biggest size. "New neighbor."

"Why was he pink?" Sebastian asked.

Nathalie cleaned the cut on his face, dabbing his face with the washcloth before putting antibiotic cream on it.

She sighed as she unwrapped the bandage and placed it on her brother's face. "Some idiots from school poured it on him."

"Was—was it the ones that call you psycho?" Sebastian asked.

Nathalie nodded her head. "Yeah, but you don't need to worry about them. Okay?"

Sebastian gulped, looking down at his hands and picking at his fingernails. "What about when I start high school next year? What if they start to bully me?"

Nathalie placed her hand on top of his, stopping him from picking at his nails. "You don't need to worry about that. As long as I'm around, they won't bother you. I won't let them. Okay?"

Sebastian nodded.

"All right, so, what are you watching?" Nathalie picked up his phone and glanced down, pressing play on the video he had been watching. "Top 10 Coolest Skateboard Tricks."

Sebastian grabbed his phone from her hands before he proceeded to talk her ears off about how he was trying to learn new tricks. She went back and forth between listening to the video and listening to Sebastian. She didn't know a thing about skateboarding, so she just nodded along and kept her confusion to herself.

Nathalie might like to joke about giving her brother away, but she would protect him from any harm that came his way. No one was going to touch a hair on his head. Nathalie made sure of it.

— EMILIA'S NOTES

heyyy!! first chapter. i love the torres siblings so much like y'all don't get it.

school next chapter with some nathalie/eli interaction!! plus actually meeting flora instead of just mentioning her panic over the phone.

nathalie & miguel are gonna be the cutest besties ever <33