Shel awoke to Celia Cruz and loud brass instruments forming a beautiful chorus.

    Still groggy, Shel opened her eyes and tried to listen to the lyrics. Then absolute fear and dread welled up inside her.

    That wasn't any Celia Cruz song. No, that was La Vida Es Un Carnaval.

    But no, it couldn't be... No. It was a Tuesday. Cleaning days are on Sundays.

    And yet, as the song continued, Shel could hear her mother walking around the apartment humming along and then heard the closet door open.

    Her mother pulled something out before walking to her room. Shel could hear the footsteps coming to her room.

    Her mother burst in. "It's cleaning day!"

    Shel shoved her face in her pillow and groaned.

    "What was that?"

    Shel got up. "Nothing, Ma. I love cleaning day so much."

    "That's what I thought. There's breakfast in the kitchen. After you eat, you can either tell me what triggered you, then clean. Or we just clean. Your father is going to be here in three hours so don't take ten years to eat... What is it called, Shel?"

    "What is what called?" Shel asked.

    "The food."

    "What food?"

    "The breakfast food--Dios mio. Huevos, Shelby. How do you say that in English?"

    Shel laughed. "Eggs, Mami."

-

Reyna has decided she wants to go home.

    She decided this the moment the bell rang, and she had to make her way over to English and write an argumentative essay using rhetoric.

    Not only that, but the prompt was vague as ever. Is power helpful or harmful to society?

    Initially, Reyna thought it meant electrical power. But nope! The prompt meant power over other people.

    It took Reyna 30 minutes to write the intro paragraph, and she was about to start writing the first actual paragraph when the bell rang.

    She spent 30 minutes writing three sentences.

    She was then pulled into a bathroom. Reyna tried to escape their grasp but couldn't. So, she threw a punch.

    Thalia narrowly missed it. "Jesus, are you insane?"

    "I'm insane?" Reyna almost screamed.

    "Ugh, never mind. You didn't meet me."

    "You didn't give a time."

    Thalia froze. "Wait seriously?" At Reyna's nod, she added, "Fuck."

    "Yeah."

    "Okay, whatever. Can we just talk about this?" Thalia pulled up her shirt to reveal a new soulmate tattoo on her side. "What the fuck."

    "What the fuck indeed. I elect we just ignore it and then stay friends."

    "Usually, I'd be up for that," Thalia said, pacing around the bathroom. "But, I am aroace."

    "Yeah, and we're soulmates."

    "Exactly."

    "How does this..." Reyna paused for a moment before gesturing wildly. "Work."

    "Don't know." Thalia sighed. "Right now, my life feels like a shitty Wattpad fic with an author that added to much angst and doesn't really know how to wrap it up."

    Reyna looked at her and smiled. "I don't know what that means, but yeah."

    "Like, my mom's boyfriend is a nice guy, but he's trying too hard to parent. And my mom's a piece of shit." Thalia looked over at Reyna. "I'm sure you've heard about Jason..."

    "Oh yeah," Reyna said a bit too fast. "I'm sorry that happened." Reyna paused, then laughed at the words. "That's the worst thing to say."

    "Yep."

    "Sorry. But I get it. Not about... that. About shitty parents. My dad was an asshole."

    Thalia raised a brow at the "was" but didn't pry. Just sat there and nodded. "The plan is to leave when I have enough money."

    "I already left. I live with my older sister."

    "Shit, man. That takes a lot."

    "Yeah. Anyway, I've got to get to class." Reyna went to leave the paused at the door. "Here, put your number in," Reyna said, passing her phone to Thalia.

-

Alex clutched the letter close to her chest. She wanted to slide it in Magnus' locker, but she wanted Magnus to live without Alex's trauma-dumping.

    "Alex," Sadie said softly, "you realize that he was aware of, at least some of it, your trauma way before he dated you. Hell, you were a foster kid, and you're Mexican and genderfluid. It's hard to get out of that."

    Alex hated that she had a point.

    "But he doesn't know about this."

    "I'm sure he'd want to."

    "How do you know, Sadie?" Alex quickly turned to look at Sadie. Sadie's face morphed from understanding to desperation as she furrowed her brow and threw her hands in the air.

    "You know what, never mind," she said, turning to leave. "If you don't want my advice--"

    "Sades, that's not what I'm saying."

    Sadie sighed, then looked Alex in the eyes. "I'm going to tell it to you straight. You should've talked to your sister if you wanted me to sugarcoat it. Either you tell him, and he helps you, or you don't, and you feel like shit." Sadie shrugged. "I can't say much more than that because odds are, you aren't going to do anything me and Shel advise you to do."

    Then she turned and left, and Alex couldn't turn to stop her.

    She hated that Sadie was right.

-

There was a fun thing about caring about someone, Magnus found. When you love someone, you know what they're feeling. You feel what they're feeling.

    Magnus didn't like feeling what Alex was feeling. He liked it less when Alex wouldn't say a word to him about it as she sat next to him in ASL.

    That smile plastered on his soulmate's face was too dull and too wide. The pencil knocking on the wood of the desk too fast. The spine too stiff, eyes too glassy.

    Magnus knew she wanted to cry. Either that or she was very intent on forcing herself not to cry.

    Normally, Magnus would do anything in his power to cheer people up. So it was a jarring feeling when all he wanted to do was let her cry, so long as he was the shoulder she leaned on.

    Magnus knew Alex wouldn't cry in front of people she didn't trust. He also knew she needed comfort. So, he slid his hand under the desk, lightly touching hers.

    If she needed it, she'd grab hold.

    And she did.

    So, Magnus gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before quickly signing I'm here.

what's poppin' my violation beans

welcome back to tangents with gabby

so, I was going to do the jigsaw prompt but then i was like, why do that when i can just procrastinate

so, you can get a failed attempt at me trying to be poetic

what's been happening in my life

i spent two weeks on a new poem, that might come out eventually

i gave away my two casey mcquiston books for my friends to borrow, and now i must worry about how my friends are treating the books i'm emotionally attached to

i just finished West Side Story and I loved it

i finished arcane which... holy shit that was amazing i might post a rant on that one day

the baby is about to start crawling and i fear for my future now

I spent three days on my algebra homework and my page looks like scientist equations in a cartoon

I watched toxic dream stans look like dumbasses once again

and I started writing that new fic

so, my life is okish right now which concerns me

but worry not, for i also might actually have a solid idea for an original. How many times have I said that? idk, but maybe this time it'll actually be good

anyway, the thing about celia cruz is real and also happens with Elvis Crespo. My white friends are like, oh I listen to 2010s pop, and i'm like... bitch what.

them: Yeah, a different playlist every time.

me: really? And it's not just variations of the same playlist?

them: nope

me: bitch what in the fuck. I'm over here listening to Tu Sonrisa and Suavemente and you get to listen to fucking Style.

another thing is that I was one cent short to get a candy bar at a vending machine but, I had a nickel. so i'm like, cool just give me 4 cents back

and the vending machine does not do that and when I try to get my candy it doesn't work

i died.

anyway, that's all for today

love y'all