"Let me go asshole!"

I screamed as I kicked one of them. They set me down in a chair. Act cool Val, dont show them that you're scared. I heard a clap. They removed our bags from our heads. I gasped. I fixed my hair. How dare they.

"Please take a drink. Hydrate." The women said as she points at the cups. We all chugged that shit. "Let me know if its too strong." I frowned.

"Is what too strong?" Ruby asked.

"The poison." We all spit that water out hella quick. She laughs. "Im joking. Im joking." We went back to drinking. "Poison doesn't have a taste." We all spit it out again. I just set the cup down. Nope, not taking any chances here. "Maurice, please get my guest more water. I was being mala."

"Uh we appreciate your sense of humor, but in all seriousness, whatever your husband thinks we did, we can explain." Jamal told her.

"My husband?"

"B-boyfriend?"

"I answer to no one, let alone a man. I am-"

"Cuchillos, heir to the Santos." Cesar and I finished.

"So you're both smarter then you look."

"Cuchillos? As in knives?" Monse said.

"Dont look so scared. I brought you here to thank you."

"For what?" Ruby chokes.

"For helping to take down the prophet$. We thought we might get a handful, but to wipe out the entire operation? What a feat! I thought, who are these kids? How clever they must be, to find the Rollerworld money." We all looked at Jamal. "Im gonna tell you a secret. I was with Benito, Frankie, Chico and lil Ricky that night." What?! No! You weren't mentioned in my dad book! Jamal didn't find you!

"No!" Jamal gasps.

"Who do you think came up with the plan?"

"Lil Ricky wasnt the mastermind?" She shakes her head no.

"I dont buy it. There was no trace of you in my investigation."

"Of course not, and for good reason. Because behind every good man is a better woman." Me and Monse nodded. That is true. "So now, i need your help again." She pulls out the money bag. "If you were clever enough to find the Rollerworld money, i know you can help me with something even more important, and if you do, ill give you back the dough." We all looked at her. "Lil Ricky and Chico are alive." My heart sunk. Everyone looked at me. I busted out laughing.

"Chico Zapata?" I laughed. She nodded. "As in the Diablo?" I couldn't stop. "Im sorry but hes dead, hes been dead." She leans in.

"Why did we have a close casket then?" I stopped laughing. I gulped. No. "And you're gonna find them. Starting with Lil Ricky, because Chico knows how to hide, he definitely with Lil Ricky." We all panic as Jamal smiles.

"How do you know Lil Ricky and Chico are alive?" Cesar asks Cuchillos as she walks us to the door.

"Do you really think that all graves have bodies, or that all bodies have graves? Its called female intuition. I just feel that they're alive. Always have. I just dont know where he is." I looked down. I feel lied too.

"Maybe they dont want be found." She turns around to look at us.

"I thought of that too..." she picks up a frame. "But i dont care. Lil Ricky was, is, the love of my life. And Chico, he was, is my best friend. I need them to know, and now is the time. This August is the 40th Hood Day for all Santos, and they deserve to see all that we have achieved. And youre gonna ensure they do."

"Look, we want to help, but what if, at some point, some of those prophets are released and they connect me with the bad money?" Cesar tells her. "They're gonna be after us."

"Cesar. Cesar. Cesar. Youre all safe from retribution. There is..." she chuckles. "No threat. So you can get started immediately, and you should. August is around the corner." she walks us to the door.

"Hold on. I start my new school in July." Monse tells her.

"Great!" she opens the door. "Then July it is. Hammel, take the kids home." We all frowned. Hammel. Officer Hammel works for her!? They dropped us off at the lamppost.

"Lil Rickys alive?" Jamal said.

"Hammals a dirty cop."

"And my dads alive." I sighed. I feel like imma go throw up.

"When are we ever just gonna be teenagers?" I asked myself that everytime.

"No. Im out." Monse says. She walks away. "This is not my mess or my problem."

"You cant disobey the orders of a gang boss." Ruby tells her.

"Uhh.. watch me." She turns to us. "She aint my boss, and i dont care about the money. Im not spending one more more minute with you assholes." She looked at me. "Im sorry Val but your dad should've at least told you that he was alive." I didnt turn, i stayed the same way, i didnt move. "And worrying about some sociopath looking to get laid. As far as Im concerned, Cuchillos and the three of you can suck a butt." We all walked home. I didnt say a word.

"Hey." Ruby said as he made me look at him. "We're gonna find him."

"I don't understand. Then why did he fake his death? Why leave?"

"Maybe you can ask him that."

"Goodnight Ruby." I walked away. Why me? Hm? Why does this shit happen to me? I walked in my house. I got a text from Cesar, we're gonna check out if their bodies are in the graves.

"Where have you been? Ive been calling you!" Willy checks me if i been hurt. He saw my tears forming. "What?"

"We met with Cuchillos." He sighs. "You knew?" He shakes his head no."She said that Lil Rickys alive."

"Hes been dead for years." I looked at him.

"So is dad." He stood up straight. He didn't believe it. "I didn't believe it, so me and Jamal and Cesar are gonna head out and check."

"By digging his grave?" I nodded. He sits down. "Why didn't he say anything. He left us just like Celia."

"Maybe-"

"Dont try to defend him." He gets up and went to his room. I went to mine and went to change clothes. I gasped as I saw Cuchillos through my mirror.

"Sad no?" She stood up and walks up to me. She touches my shoulders. "Daddys girl, i know. Why leave a beautiful family behind."

"Stop." I whispered to her. We looked At each other at the mirror.

"I know that you have a soft spot for your papa. Thats why im here to tell you." She looks at my pictures that are hung up on the wall. "If you see your papa, y you dont bring him to me first, theres gonna be some big problems coming your way." She grabs my jaw, I got scared. "The people you love, including Ruby, their blood will be on your hands. And..." she smiles. "Im gonna forcefully bring you back to the Santos." I started to tear up. "A shame that you left, you got the Santos blood in you. You're just like me."

"Im not like you." I managed to say. She lets me go.

"When you break, you'll see." She walks away. I gasped as i held my jaw. This cant be happening. I started to to change into some clothes that I didn't mind getting dirty. I couldn't stop thinking about what Cuchillos said to me. No way, Im not going to be her. I waited for Willy to sleep so I can go out. Jamal texted me.

Jamal: Outside the crib!!! Lets go!!

I smiled and headed out. Spooky and Jamal waited on the curb. I opened the door and I went to the back. I looked at Jamal, wearing protective gear on. Spooky blasted some tunes as we drove to the cemetery.

"We should start with Lil Rickys." I nodded. Digging graves, I definitely know thats highly illegal.

"Shes right." Spooky agrees. Jamal and Spooky grabbed the shovel and headed to the grave. Spooky started to dig as Jamal and I watched. I kept looking the way to my fathers. Am I really going to find his body or am I going to find an empty casket?

"Wow! Your hole has gotten big!" Jamal said as he inspected the hole that Spooky had dug. "We should be seein casket by now, right? Or maybe not. Maybe you guys got the graveyard shift for nothing." He points at the Gnomes that were on the headstone. I looked ad Spooky kept digging. "Oh shit! Spooky! Whats the ETA on the body?!"

"Now. Its done." He jumps out of the hole and brushed himself off. Jamal looks down at the casket. "You're up."

"What?" He looks at him. "What am I up to?"

"Opening the casket." Jamal turns to me.

"Oh hell no! I gotta open my own fathers. You got lil Rickys." I patted his back.

"Go." Spooky steps forwards, making Jamal step back, whimpering.

"Alright. Okay. Okay." Jamal slowly slides in the hole. I saw him knocking on the casket. "Okay! Sounds full. Hes dead."

"What is he gonna do? Invite you in?" I joked.

"Nope. We need full confirmation." Spooky tells him, just as Jamal was gonna get out.

"Look! This isn't my first rodeo, and I can smell him. Hes dead, and I know this because I've done more than a few embalm-a-longs at the morgue."

"Bullshit!" Spooky calls him out. Same. Knowing Jamal, nope.

"Okay! Fine! But I've thought enough about dead people to know what they smell like, and they smell like...what if—what if he's dead alive. Like a zombie. I dont wanna get bitten!" I laughed. What an imagination.

"Zombies arent real. Open it."

"Jamal, nothings gonna happen." I shook my head.

"Why me? Why can't you do it!?" Jamal stomps his foot, whining.

"Because."

"Because why!?" They started to yell at each other. Why did I have to be stuck with these two?

"Because you got all that shit on, and..." Spooky takes a deep breath. "I dont wanna get a ghost." I turned to Spooky. Spooky, scared? Wow! I've never seen that coming. Jamal and I just looked at him.

"'Get a ghost'?"

"Yeah. If Lil Ricky's in there unhappy and shit, I don't want to startle him into taking over my body." Oh you got to be kidding me!

"So its okay for me to get bitten by a zombie, but you don't want to get a ghost."

"Guys! There's no such things as zombies! Ghost maybe." I told them.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Listen. There are friendly ghosts! There are no friendly zombies!" Oh my god! Theres no zombies! "If ghosts are bad, its because they have unfinished business. But zombies? Zombies are unfinished business, and they're always pissed!"

"You're not gonna sway me. I know what I know. My tio on my moms side caught a ghost when he was two after opening his grandpa's casket. From that moment one, he could only walk backwards." Both Jamal and I looked at him, crazy.

"He was two! Maybe he was just a kid who walked backwards."

"Or maybe he got a ghost!" I cant with these guys.

"Your name is Spooky and you're afraid of ghost?" Okay, thats it.

"Enough! I had it up to here with y'all!" I pointed at the sky. "Zombies aren't real, your tio is a guy who walks backwards! You're Spooky, you're mister bad boy, mister tough guy and you're scared of ghosts?" Spooky turns to me. "Im surrounded by idiots." I huffed. "Open the casket Jamal! We don't have all night!" The both looked at me, scared.

"Okay!" Jamal hunches down. "Just promise me on thing." I sighed.

"What is it?"

"If I get bitten, you'll give me a clean shot to the head." I rolled my eyes. "Go through the ear, not the eye sockets. If there's an antidote I dont know about, then I can keep my eyesight after they rehabilitate my brain."

"Jamal!" I yelled.

"Okay!" He whimpers. He went back to hunch. He opens the door. "Chivo!" He yells out. He pulls out a gnome.

"Okay, now we can go." I walked off. Spooky grabs my shoulder. "Let me go."

"We gotta dig up your fathers grave." I gulped. Spooky and Jamal head to the grave spot. There it was, Chico Zapata's headstone. I didn't move. Spooky started to dig. Dad, i am so sorry that we are doing this. I kissed the cross that was on my necklace. After a few minutes, he was done. Spooky climbs out.

"Your turn." Jamal huffs. I still couldn't move. Spooky saw that I didn't have the guts to do it.

"I'll do it." He sighs and jumps back in.

"What! No! What happened to not getting a ghost!?" Jamal yells at him.

"Its her father that I just dig up. That's already painful enough." I closed my eyes and held the cross against my lips. I really don't know what to expect. What if he's alive? Why didn't he come back? What is theres just bones? Spooky takes a deep breath and opens it. Jamal yells again.

"Chivo!" I opened my eyes and saw the gnome. What? Hes still alive. No way. I- I cant believe it. I fell back. "We need to see someone." We packed it up and drove to the one and only Chivos house. He has some explaining to do. Jamal angrily pushes the doorbell.

"Im not home."

"Chivo, get out there!" Jamal yells out.

"Im not home." He repeats back.

"Where are you?"

"Somewhere."

"Chivo, if you don't come correct, I'm gonna break down this damn door!"

"We're on vacation in Havasu, so whatever you want..." now he's just making excuses. Jamal shows him the gnome to the Ring camera. "Uh oh."

"Where's little Ricky and Chico?" I said I crossed my arms.

"I cant hear you." Spooky steps from behind me and shows his face.

"Can you hear me?"

"Chivo is not home. Please leave a message. Beep."

"I dont have time for this shit! Tell us where they are!" Spooky yells. I just slap my arms against my side and walked to his car. At this point, i just wanna be home. Spooky and Jamal angrily walked to car and drove to drop us off.