CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Marina

          THE NEXT DAY Arlo was in the music room, practicing her guitar as her exam was coming up when the door slammed shut and she jumped. She looked up to see the last person she expected to see in front of her.

"Carla?" She questioned.

The two were on good terms. They weren't the closest when they were younger but they always respected each other and didn't mind the other's company. As they grew older, they still didn't talk much but whenever they did, they were nice.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Carla chortled.

Arlo shook her head. "No, no, it's okay. What's up?"

"It's about Marina." Carla said as she sat in a chair in front of Arlo. "She quickly left the study period earlier looking like she was going to puke. Is she okay? I haven't had a chance to speak to her in a while."

"I'm sure she's fine." Arlo smiled. If Marina hadn't told Carla about it, she wasn't going to be the one to disclose that information on her.

Carla nodded. "Did she tell you she was coming round to my house after school that day?"

The raven haired girl shook her head. "No, she didn't. She told me after."

"Did she by any chance tell you why she came over?"

Arlo shook her head again. "Nope."

Carla nodded again. "Did you know about her HIV before it was revealed to the class?"

"Um, yeah..."

"Sorry. Forgive me." Carla said. "It's just she said she only had Guzmán and her parents to talk to about it. I'll leave you to it."

Without knowing it, Arlo had given Carla the confirmation on the suspicions she had. Once Carla had left the room, Arlo was still in a state of confusion. Why would Marina tell Carla that? Arlo licked her lips and put her guitar in her case as she stood up, grabbing her other belongings before she rushed out of the music room.

She jogged down the hall to see Marina leaving the girl's locker room and she called out to her. "Marina! Marina, hey!"

"Lo," Marina smiled. "What's up?"

"Why did you tell Carla you had no one to rant to about the HIV?"

Marina's smile dropped. "She said what? She lied. Of course she lied, it's Carla."

Arlo squinted her eyes at the girl. "Why would Carla lie about that?"

"Cause some drama, I guess. I gotta go. I'll call you later!"

As Marina already jogged away, Arlo huffed before she continued walking and bumped into someone. She looked up to see Guzmán and the breath in her throat hitched. "Shit. I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's okay." Guzmán shook his head with a smile.

"How are you?" Arlo wondered, genuinely concerned about him.

"I'm okay." He forced a smile. "I'm gonna visit my father today."

Arlo's eyes went wide as she nodded. "Ah, really? Do you want some company? I can go with you. I doubt Marina will."

Guzmán laughed lightly. "Yeah, she already said no. But it's okay. I'm not going alone and I know how much you gotta study for the maths exam tomorrow and your guitar exam the next day. I'll be fine. I'll keep you updated."

"Are you sure?" Arlo questioned.

The boy beamed down at her, placing a hand on the side of her head. "Yes, I am. Study, okay?"

Arlo smiled at him, glad things weren't too awkward since the last time they spoke. "Okay."

           ARLO GOT OUT of the car outside Marina and Guzmán's house, telling Julio to wait there for a second just so she could see if Marina was home first. She walked up to the gate and was about to pressed the button, when she spotted an unfamiliar red car parked on the other side of the road.

Squinting her eyes, she spotted her friend in the passenger seat of the car with someone in the driver's seat that Arlo couldn't see because of the glare of the sun. In her head, she tried to list of the people they could be, but truth be told, Arlo had no clue. She had never seen that car before.

The girl's widened once Marina leaned forwards, kissing the stranger. She gulped, knowing that wasn't Samuel as she had texted him on her way to the house and he was at home. Rapidly turning on her heel, Arlo jumped back in the car and told Julio to drive her back home. She glanced out the window and at that car to see Marina still inside.

"Shit," she muttered to herself as she ran her hands over her face. "What the hell are you doing, Marina?"

          "IZZY! I KNOW you wanna throw your party here and on your birthday but I have exams and so do you!" Arlo exclaimed. "You have to focus on them!"

The two Calero sisters were currently arguing about Izzy's birthday party. The almost-13-year old had interrupted Arlo while she was revising for her maths exam about her party.

Once Arlo had got home, she turned her phone off and instantly dived into her revision to try and forget about what she had seen outside the Nunier house. How could Marina cheat on Samuel? And why would she? Fortunately for her, the overwhelming pressure of doing well in the upcoming exam drowned out most of her anxiety on a relationship she wasn't even part of.

"That's bullshit!" Izzy yelled. "Mine aren't as important as your's."

"Hey! Don't yell at me like that." Arlo snapped. "You focus on the exams first, then you can throw your birthday party."

Izzy groaned in frustration. "It's my thirteenth, Arlo!"

"Why are you making such a big deal about it? Tell me why it's so important that you have to have it now. You can have a party after the exams are over." The older girl repeated.

"Because I'm becoming a teenager! It's vital!"

"No, it's not. Doing well on your exams right now is vital. Do you want dad breathing down your neck like he does to me? Now, can you leave me alone? I have a maths exam tomorrow."

"I don't have to listen to you! You're not mom or dad!"

Arlo put her pen down and stood up. "Yeah, I'm not. But do you see either mom or dad helping you, huh? Do you see either one of them here? No. I am."

"They're paying for it and right now that's all I care about? I'm an A student and so are all my friends. One night break from studying won't kill us!"

"But it might kill me." Arlo grumbled, then looked back up at her sister. "Look, Iz, I realise turning 13 is important, I do. But all you have to do is wait another week and plus, Diego isn't feeling all too well either. Do you want him puking all over your friends?"

"So I can't have my party because of Diego or you? I wish mom and dad would take me with them." Izzy muttered under her breath.

Arlo clenched her fists. "Okay." She took a deep breath, trying to ignore that comment. "Izzy, it's not the end of the world."

Izzy looked up at Arlo and glared at her with a hatred she had never seen before and was frankly scared of it. "I hate you!"

Arlo's mouth parted as she watched the girl run up the stairs, followed by a loud slam. Arlo gulped as she slowly sat back down in her chair. Izzy had told Arlo she hated her before, but that was always playful banter. This wasn't. Arlo could see the hatred in Izzy's eyes as she said it and she had no idea what to do. She had no idea what to do with heart dropping to her stomach.

Luckily before she could dwell on it too much, the door bell rang and the girl shot up instantly and opened the front door revealing Marina.

"Marina, hey." Arlo breathed out. "What are you doing here?" Marina couldn't manage to get any words out as her lips quivered and her eyes filled with tears. For a second, Arlo completely forgot about what she had saw as she hugged the red head tightly. "Hey, hey, it's okay. It's okay. I'm here."

Marina squeezed Arlo tightly as she cried into her shoulder. The red head took a deep breath before she pulled away and wiped her eyes. "Can I revise here with you?"

"Yeah, of course." Arlo nodded. "Come in." When Arlo sat back down at the dining table, Marina sat in the chair next to her, placing her bag down on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"I went to the abortion clinic that Nadia gave me the address to."

Arlo swallowed. "Did you um..."

"No." Marina shook her head. "I got cold feet."

"I see."

"Do you think I should have gone through with it?"

Arlo shrugged. "I think you should do what you want to do."

Marina nodded, then wiped her eyes again with her sleeve. "I don't know what to do."

"Did you go with anyone? Samuel?" The raven haired girl questioned reluctantly.

"No." Marina shook her head. "I went by myself."

"That was brave." Arlo smiled, hiding the small amount of anger she felt that the girl was lying right to her face.

"Thanks."

They were soon interrupted when Diego came running down the stairs, holding his dinosaur figures, then spotted Marina and smiled, obviously feeling better. The red head grinned for the first time since she arrived as she lifted the boy on her lap as he started talking about dinosaurs to the both of them.

"You feeling better, bud?" Arlo asked as she felt his forehead. "Yeah, you're not boiling. Just another night's rest."

Izzy then came downstairs, not looking at Arlo as she and Marina engaged in a conversation about the best nail colours and favourite movies as Arlo continued revising.

After a while when both Diego and Izzy had their own things to do and left the two girls alone, Marina looked up at Arlo gratefully and nodded. "Thank you." Being with Arlo and her siblings was exactly what she needed.

THE NEXT MORNING Arlo was stood by the door holding Diego's back pack as she yelled his name. "Diego, come on! We're gonna be late. Izzy's already in the car! Come on!"

Instead of running down the stairs like Arlo was expecting, Diego popped out from behind the couch smiling. "Okay!"

"I thought you were upstairs." Arlo said, her eyebrows pinching together as she helped put his bag on.

"No. I found this." Diego said cheerfully, holding up a small plastic bag that contained something green and a small dash of white. "It's like different broccoli. I want to try it. Can you open it?"

Arlo raised her eyebrows. "Nice." She then did a double take as she looked closely to what Diego was holding and her eye's widened, realising what it was as she snatched it out of her brother's small hand. She got on her knees and took a hold of Diego's shoulders. "Diego, look at me. Where did you find this? Did someone give it to you?"

"I found it by the table." The boy informed, pointing to the dining table. "Next to the chair."

Arlo followed his finger to the chair Marina was sat in the day before and she clenched her jaw, her hand squeezing the small bag she held. She looked back at Diego. "This isn't broccoli, okay? Now, go on. Get in the car."

Diego followed her instructions as he ran to the car and Arlo looked back at the dining table, nearly shaking in anger. She slammed the front door behind her and marched to the car. No one said a word the entire ride, Izzy was too mad at Arlo to even look at her, but with one glance at the older girl, Izzy could tell she wasn't to be messed with right now.

Arlo stormed into school to look for one certain red head, her blood boiling with an anger she only felt with her parents. Spotting her by her locker, Arlo marched towards her and slammed it shut. Marina jumped. "What is your problem?"

"This." Arlo snapped, taking out the weed and cigarettes the girl had left at her house. "What the hell were you thinking, huh? Bringing this shit into my house where my brother found it. Do you have any idea what this looks like to a 5-year old who likes broccoli? Are you fucking stupid, Marina?"

"Calm down." Marina hissed, snatching the things out of Arlo's hand and stuffing them so far down into her bag so they wouldn't escape. "I didn't mean to leave it there."

"The problem is you brought them inside the house in the first place!" Arlo jeered. "You're not even supposed to being doing either one, you're pregnant for god's sake and you promised me!"

"Keep it down!" The red head seethed, looking over her shoulder.

"I saw you."

"Saw me what?"

"Outside your house yesterday. In a car. Kissing someone that definitely wasn't Samuel. You're lucky I didn't manage to see who it was."

Marina squinted her eyes at her. "You were spying on me?"

"Of course not! I went to see you before you came over and when you did, you were so upset I didn't bring it up. I figured you felt so bad about it and I didn't wanna make it worse, but I don't even know anymore. What has gotten into you? You're constantly lying to everyone. You're constantly lying to me when all I've done is try to help you. And don't get me started on Samuel. You're treating him like shit. So I'm gonna tell you this once, break up with him or tell him the truth before I will." Arlo threatened before she turned on her heel.

"Hey!" Marina yelled after her, catching the attention from people passing by. "You don't get to interfere with my relationship!"

"What relationship, huh?" Arlo fired. "You treat him like crap! And even after all that, he stays by your side. And you don't even have the decency to tell him the truth. No. Instead you smoke weed or anything you can get your hands on to forget about the guilt you feel and make yourself the fucking victim!"

Marina let out a bitter laugh. "You wanna talk about treating people like crap? How about you ignoring my brother for years and all of a sudden you want him back in your life again? It's bullshit, Arlo!"

"No! What's bullshit is that I've been your friend for years. I've helped you through everything. Ander and Nadia both told me what you did to Omar. Samuel sometimes goes crazy with how you treat him and I defended you. And the way you thank me is putting my little brother in danger?"

"And I've been your's! All I'm asking is for you to just take my side!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Do you even hear yourself, Marina? All I've done is take is your side! All I've been doing is take your side! And have you seen where that's gotten me? You have been constantly screwing over the people around you for weeks and unbelievably, you've still managed to come out of it unscathed!"

"What the fuck do you want me to do, Arlo, huh? Not everyone is like you! Not everyone can be a fucking Saint, acting like they can do no wrong. People make mistakes!"

"Stop making excuses and take some god damn accountability for once in your life. You claim everyone at this school can get away with anything and that every rich kid here is full of bullshit and only care about one thing! You're no exception."

Marina pursed her lips. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means? Look at yourself. You walk around here thinking you're different– that you're a novelty because no other rich person values whatever you do– that you're some kind of unique misfit. But no. You are a mess. You're just as entitled and just as ignorant as everyone else. You can't just think you can get away with all the crap you've pulled. Look around you, Marina. You've managed to alienate everyone in your life, but you still had me." Arlo then shook her head, letting out a light chuckle before she stepped closer to the girl. "But not anymore."

"Hey!" A loud voice interjected but neither of the two turned to face Guzmán who stood next to them, pushing them apart. "What is going on? Hey, Arlo, calm down."

Arlo ignored him and glowered at Marina. Even after everything that's happened, Arlo would never tell Guzmán anything. "Why don't you ask your sister? Her version of the story is usually more plausible. Right, Marina?"

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A/N: on the bright side of being on lockdown I have all the time to write chapters now ahaha
Also in honour of the fact that I have over 15k  vides and 1k+ votes in a short amount of time I thought I'd give you guys another early chapter :)