[ 2 ] Pancho Villa

The next morning, I was asleep in my bed when someone shook me awake. "Mmmmf." I groaned, stirring slightly. My hand reached out to swat the person away, thinking it was my mom. "Go away..." I groaned.

"Get up." A familiar voice whined.  "We're driving to Los Pinos today."

Los Pinos was the name of the presidential mansion, where Mexico's current leader lived with his family. I had never been there, but I'd seen pictures and it was a big place in the middle of the forrest that looked very peaceful. "I never said I wanted to go with you. I'd rather stay here all day doing nothing."

"Your mom told me you were so excited to go." He informed me.

"Your mom told me you'd gotten more handsome." I said in a nonchalant way while still keeping my eyes closed. "But its clear that they both lied."

I could hear a smirk in his tone as he said, "So you do think I'm handsome."

"I said nothing." I replied. 

"Get up, Kamila." He insisted.

I sat up in bed, wiping my eyes with the backs of my hands. "Okay..." I breathed, "But get out of my room and wait for me downstairs."

He nodded and walked out of my bedroom. My hand reached to grab my phone off the night stand. I clicked on the home button to check the time. It was six in the morning, the drive up to the capital was about five hours, and I assumed the dinner would happen in the afternoon. I didn't understand why he wanted to get going so early, and much less why he wanted to go by car when it was only one hour to get there by plane.

.

.

.

.

One hour later, I had already packed my best clothes and showered. The two of us were in the car and on our way to Los Pinos. 

I sat in the passenger seat, looking out the window and my earbuds in. My ipod was playing classical music, which was my favorite. Giovani pulled the left ear bud out and said, "Do you plan to ignore me the whole way there?"

Nodding, I replied. "Yeah."

"What are you listening to anyway?" He scrunched up his nose when he heard it. The volume level was just enough for him to hear.

"Classical music." I shrugged.

"Like Beethoven and them?" He questioned.

"Mhm." I rolled my eyes at the half-Brazilian in the driver's seat.

Taking me by surprise, he snatched my ipod from me and turned it off before stuffing it into his jeans pocket. "Today we are going to be real Mexicans and have a pleasant five hour drive to the national palace. And you will enjoy it."

"Have you been in Spain so long that you actually feel the need to do this?" I asked and the moment the words left my mouth I realized I knew the answer to my own question.

"Don't pretend like you don't know how long I've been gone." He smirked.

"Don't flatter yourself. I don't keep tabs on your life." I argued, my lips forming a white line. But the truth was I knew plenty about him, though it wasn't voluntarily. My mom and his had been best friends since they were children and they always hoped their own kids would be friends. Their plans were foiled when my mom had two daughters and Liliana had three sons. That was when they planned something bigger and the two have been plotting for years that either me or my sister would marry one of the Dos Santos brothers.

It wasn't going to happen with Giselle and Jonathan. 

They hated each others guts after they dated for a few months and it ended badly for the two of them. The hopes of two mothers were now set on me and Giovani.

Sadly for them, I had no intention of marrying Liliana's son.

Adding a question to my previous statement, I added, "Did your mother put you up to this? You can just say no, you know. Aren't you like twenty three? You're old enough to know what you want to do with your life."

"You're twenty and your mother still tells you what to do." He challenged.

"No she doesn't." I glared.

"You're here, aren't you? Against your will because your mom made you." He stated.

"Okay." I hissed, searching my mind for a good come back. When I had none, I could only blurt out, "Shut up."

Sighing, he told me, "Look, I just want to have a nice time. I've been given the honor of representing my country at the Summer Olympics and I get to have dinner with the president of Mexico. You're my date and I want you to have a nice time too. Can we just get along like we used to?"

When I heard the sincerity in his voice, I sighed in defeat. "Fine. Let's have a good time. And lets be real Mexicans. But this means you're gonna eat chilies, none of that weak Spaniard food. And I'm gonna make you wear one of those big Mexican hats. In fact, every single possible Mexican thing we can do, I'm making you do it."

"We'll eat tacos and all that good stuff." He grinned, completely on board with my plan. "And I'm not weak. I bet I could eat more chilies than you."

"Bet?" I challenged.

"Bet." He agreed. "If I win, I get to kiss you."

"And if you lose?" I asked, my heart racing.

"I won't." He assured me.

"And," I pointed out, "Since this is our day of being real Mexicans, you need a real Mexican name. You can't go around calling yourself Giovani dos Santos." I crinkled up my nose. "It sounds too...Brazilian. Today you will be known as...Pancho Villa!"

He laughed at that. "Well Kamila Noval doesn't sound Mexican either. Today you are Maria Felix."

Nudging him, I smiled, "Take me out for breakfast then. This Mexican actress is hungry."

-

finally an update for this story ^.^

sorry the updates are coming so slowly. i just started school yesterday and i'm so tired now. college is such shit. 

anyway, i'll try to update again at least once a week.

thank you for reading.

i love you all.

-clary xx