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I rolled my eyes. “I don’t give a fuck.”
She could ground me all she wanted. But she wouldn’t enforce shit when one of her friends called her and wanted her to go out for the night. She’d be out there in a fucking heartbeat, and I’d be free to do whatever the fuck I wanted anyway.
“What the hell do you mean, you don’t give a fuck?! You need to respect me.”
“I haven’t had respect for you since you fired Luciana Rodriguez fornothing!”
“Oh, don’t start with her,” Mom said, rolling her eyes and walking through the living room. “You always bring her back up.Luciana this. Luciana that. You should be thanking me that we don’t have someone likeherworking for us. Her family is trash.”
Balling my hands into fists by my sides, I growled and forced myself to turn around to head up the stairs. If I stayed down here with this bitch for another second, I might actually do something to get myself thrown into jail.
“We’re not done with this conversation!” Mom screamed.
I pressed my lips together and walked toward my bedroom, where I’d fucking disappear into until she left for the week, for the month. Who the fuck knew how long it’d be after how much I’ddisappointedpoor mother tonight. Doubted I’d see Dad anytime this year either.
After slamming my door closed, I locked it and tossed my skateboard down in front of it. If Mom somehow got into my bedroom tonight, I hoped she tripped on it because fuck her. She didn’t give a damn about me.
My headphones were fucking busted, so I turned on my speaker and decided to piss her off even more. If I made her angry enough, she’d leave for the night or lock herself away in the bathroom on the opposite side of the house.
I turned on some pop punk that I had been listening to at the skatepark as loudly as it would go, then crashed on my bed, pulling out my laptop and wishing that I had never come home tonight. This day had quickly gone to shit because of her.
At least I had a reason to get out of this shithole tomorrow—Mateo’s birthday.
ChapterForty-Four
BLAISE
Sunday morning, I walked out of the mall with two shopping bags for Mateo’s birthday party. Mom had left sometime during the night, like I’d expected, so I didn’t have to deal with her grounding bullshit. I slid into the car, tossed the bags onto the passenger seat, and pulled out the gift bag to slip a PS5 box into it.
I had preordered it nearly a fucking year ago for myself, but Mateo would probably get more use out of it than I would. Plus, I could buy another one from a scalper for double the original price if I really wanted it.
After wrapping my other gift in a black matte gift bag, I placed them both on the seat and headed for Vera’s house. Most parties I attended with my parents were black-tie events, so it felt fucking weird to show up in my regular clothes, but Vera’s mom had insisted.
To my surprise, cars were parked heavily on the side of the road in the slums. I found a space in front of a small, run-down house near the corner of the street, where a young girl who couldn’t be older than five ran around the front yard.
As I stepped out of the car, I grabbed the PS5 gift bag and shut my door.
“The fuck you doing in the slums?” someone said from behind me.
I turned toward the small house and saw João Rocha sitting on the front steps, taking a long drag on his cigarette.
The little girl ran up to him and wrapped her small arms around his shoulders. “When’s Mama coming home?”
“Soon, Ana,” he said, still staring at me. “You here for Vera?”
While I wanted to say some shit to him, I wasn’t going to make a scene in front of his sister. I still had a fucking problem with him flirting with Vera in front of me the other day at the library, and I would take care of him one of these days.
Ignoring him, I walked down the street and toward Vera’s busy house. I knocked twice on the door, unsure if they would even hear me. It sounded loud inside, like Mateo had invited half of Redwood to the slums.
As I was about to walk right into the house, Vera opened the door.
“What are you doing here?” Vera asked in surprise. Dressed in a long-sleeved maroon dress that hugged her curves, she stared up at me with wide eyes. “I can’t go out with you today. I have my brother’s—”
“Birthday party,” I finished, holding out a gift bag on my index finger. “I know.”
She furrowed her brows and stepped to the side, letting me pass. “You know?”
“Not everything is about you, Sunshine.”
