Worlds Divided | j. baker

two

After school cheer practice was nothing short of exhausting. Serenity, team captain and Alondra's best friend, didn't take too kindly to losing or looking bad. That being said, she always pushed the team, especially when it came to performances. With the football season starting and the cheerleaders having to be at the sidelines for every single game, she was pushing them harder than ever. It kinda gave Alondra the feeling of being on the famous Navarro Cheer team, at least what she imagined it. To summarize, if one person messed up, the entire team had to restart. That's probably why the coach loved her so much and why she became captain in the first place.

Alondra was more of a tumbler and base, but she definitely knew how to be loud. At games, she was usually in front with Serenity, and she caught on quickly to dances, so if anyone ever needed to know counts, she was the first person to go to. She was kind of like an unofficial co-captain for the team.

Practice lasted almost 2 hours, and everyone was more than relieved to leave the gym and go home. Serenity was Alondra's ride, so they walked together. "What's this I hear about Spencer going to Beverly Hills?"

"You heard about that already?" If there was one thing all the people at South Crenshaw were good at. it was gossiping. " The head coach from Beverly approached him after the football game and try to get him to join his football team. He won't do it, but I think his mom will convince him."

"As he should. Does he not know how many people would jump at that opportunity? I would trade my left leg to go to Beverly Hills."

"Your leg? Bitch, it's just a whole bunch of snobby, rich white people who live in an indestructible bubble. They don't give a damn about the rest of us, so they keep buying materialistic shit."

Serenity looked to Alondra, a little curious as to where the sudden outburst came from, but she wasn't exactly wrong. "It is safer though. Plus, don't they always have scouts at the football shit? If he stays here, his talent is never going to get noticed. I'm surprised the coach even noticed."

"You know how stubborn Spence is. He won't do something he doesn't want to unless his mom really convinces him."  She stated.  "There's mi casa.  I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Oh, if your mom makes any of that pink sweet bread again, bring me some. And remember, if your brother asks, I'm 18.  Okay, adiós."

Alondra shook her head and watched Serenity's little car drive off. She pushed open the gate around her house and the first thing she saw was her mom working on the little garden by the porch. "Mija, look. The chiles grew." She smiled, proud that it was working so far.

"Finally, I thought you forgot to water them or something."

"Oye, you know Lupita's daughter is pregnant again?" Alondra watched her mom shake her head before suddenly stopping and looking at her with a serious face. "Are you pregnant?"

"Ma, I'm not even having sex."

"Mentirosa, I found a condom in your trashcan two months ago." She stated, and at that moment, Alondra sweared she was going to get beat up for one, lying and two, having sex. "And you can't get mad at me because I wasn't even snooping this time."  Her mom stuck her tongue out at her and then shooed her away.

While her mom continued gardening, Alondra went inside the house and the first thing she saw was her older brother sitting on the couch watching TV.  "Aren't you supposed to be at work, Tonio?"

"It was slow, so they let me go home. Marcos is still there though."

Alondra went to the kitchen to get a snack before she took a shower, but turned around to Antonio.  "Serenity wanted me to tell you that-"

"That she's 18?  She's been saying that since you were in 2nd grade."

"Well, I gave you the reminder."

× × ×

At school, Alondra was surprised to see Coop walking alone.  The night before, Spencer told them he was accepting Beverly's offer, but they didn't think he meant right away.  Since they were kids, they've all been stuck at the hip, so this was new to all of them.  They went the entire day without Spencer, but throughout the day, he was spamming the groupchat.

At lunch, Coop and Alondra sat with their group of friends, which was really weird because small but a very diverse group; football players, cheerleaders, the "nerds", etc. "This is so weird. Spencer's loud ass is usually laughing about something right now." Serenity commented.

Chris, who was bitter about everything, shook his head. "Yeah, well he picked his side."

Alondra was sitting beside him and scrunched her face up. "You know it ain't like that. Spence left to get noticed by scouts, that never come here by the way."

"So you'd leave too?"

"If I had an offer like his? Hell yeah. We barely even have enough funds to keep the school open, let alone have boosters and college scouts come."

"He betrayed us. He left after the season already started."

Serenity rolled her eyes and restrained herself from throwing her food tray at him. "He didn't betray anyone, stupid ass. He finally has an opportunity to be seen and he took it. Plus he still lives here."

At the name calling against Chris, Alondra sent a look to Serenity, but she didn't disagree with her. "Hey, he's not stupid, but quit being so bitter. Spence was just lucky enough to get a shot to work at his dream."  Chris shook his head, but finally shut up seeing as his argument was going nowhere.

ngl im lowkey rushing bc i have an essay due at 5 but i wanna get to the drama and sad shit already 🥰

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