Lucita sat in bed writing her book. She wasn’t supposed to be up this late, but she couldn’t sleep. Her mind kept turning and twisting, creating new plot twists, storylines, and character lines. She couldn’t write fast enough. Looking at her phone, she wondered if anyone besides her was awake this late. She wished there was.

Lucita thought she heard a sound and quickly got out of bed, shutting off her light. Maybe it was just one of the cats running around, not her mom. She wasn’t supposed to be up, and if she got caught, she would get into so much trouble. She couldn’t sleep, though. Counting sheep wasn’t working. She reached 123 before she gave up. Counting backward didn’t help, either. Even trying to focus on nothing but her breathing wasn’t working. Her mind was on hyperdrive.

So she wrote her book, and the thoughts were spilling out of her, fingers tingling with anticipation of getting the scene just right. Soon enough, though, her wrist began to hurt.

Something tapped on her window, and Lucita jerked. She knew she shouldn’t check her window, but she headed over anyway and opened the blinds. Outside, three floors down, were Blake and Jason. Lucita sighed and opened her window.

“What?” she hissed, briefly looking at her door, hoping her mom didn’t catch her awake.

“I have to talk to you,” said Blake.

“Seriously? Are you insane? It’s like—” Lucita stopped and looked at her clock. “It’s like two a.m.”

“Look, I need to talk to you.”

“So talk then.”

“Can’t you come down?”

“Are you insane? I can hear you perfectly.”

“Just come down,” said Jason, giving her that look again. Lucita didn’t know why he hated her so much and smiled when Blake shot him an annoyed look.

“I’m not coming down. I can’t, okay. So just talk.”

Blake sighed. “Look, I wanted to say I’m sorry for all the shit I’ve done. I honestly didn’t mean to do all this. I just—”

“You just wanted to hurt Silvia.”

“Do you know what kind of shit she did? She wouldn’t look at me during school. Wouldn’t talk to me, would talk shit behind my back and then fight with me about it and didn’t trust me and was a—”

“I get the idea. You really hated it, with good reason, but what do you want me to do about it?”

“I want you to forgive me, especially for how I’ve been treating you.”

Lucita didn’t know what to think. The apology caught her off guard, leaving her suspicious. His apology was the last thing she ever expected. She tried to peek at Jason to see if he could give her a sign, but he still glared at her, offering her nothing but unfathomable hatred, as if she ran over his dog or something. So instead, she returned her look to Blake, who looked so genuine. Maybe he actually meant it.

“Okay, I forgive you, but you have to fix things between Silvia and Becca, okay?”

In the darkness, she saw him nod. “Yeah, okay. See you around, Lu.” Blake walked off, and so did Jason. Lucita closed up her window and pulled down the blinds. Well, that settled that. All that was left was Elizabeth.

Silvia sat by a vending machine at the complex, waiting for Lucita. She bought a soda and almost got a heart attack when she turned around to see Lucita decked out like a Goth, complete with a purple studded wristband, black nails, heavy eyeliner, black corset (how could she even breathe in this heat?), and black cargo shorts. Her eyebrows rose up in glee as she smiled at her.

“Did I scare you?”

“You are seriously wacked!”

Lucita rolled her eyes. “I prefer the term insane, but okay.”

“Don’t sneak up on me.”

“Oh, then where would the fun be?” Silvia stared at her, exasperated, before calming down and staring at her, irritated.

“You wanted to talk to me about something?”

“Right. Okay, so guess who stopped by my window last night?”

“Who?”

“The one and only Blake. Jason was there too, emanating hostility, but that’s totally beside the point.”

“Why the hell was Blake outside your window? Oh my god, do not tell me he was outside your window with his radio,” snickered Silvia.

“Oo, I love that song, but thankfully no. He actually came by to apologize for being a jerk. Oh, and also, he apologized for this whole mess he’s created. He said, promised actually, pretty sure anyway, that he would fix this whole mess.”

Silvia’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Blake was the definition of self-centered. There was probably a picture of him right next to it. But, on the other hand, he was probably only apologizing because of Luci.

“I don’t trust him, and I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Oh, I knew you’d think that way, and I agree with you. Blake isn’t one to be trusted, but come on, at least try, pretend . . . lie, dammit. You know what, how about we not piss Blake off.”

“Whatever.”

“No, no, whatever, Silvia. Do you want to be friends with Becca or not?”

“Will yeah, I do, but what am I . . . oh fine, I’ll be nice to that douche bag.” Lucita hugged her.

“That’s my girl. Now, I’ve got to go. I have a paper to write. But, in the meantime, I think you should talk to Elizabeth.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to. Besides, I don’t feel like it.”

Lucita shrugged. “Have it your way. I’ll talk to her soonish. I hope you’re okay with that.”

“I’m not, but you don’t really care, do you?”

Lucita winked at her and waved as she began to walk away. “Later, gator.” Silvia watched Lucita walk off; her long black hair was loose and blowing in the wind. Despite herself, she was smiling and couldn’t figure out what Luci did to make her smile.

Silvia walked back to her apartment, and on her way, she spotted Blake and Jason talking in the distance. Jason looked upset and angry, while Blake looked obnoxious, as always. She stood there for a little while, watching until Blake seemingly sensed her and looked down at her. Jason followed his gaze and pulled Blake, who seemed as rotten as ever, along with him.

Jason looked back at her, which got Silvia thinking. The look in his hazel eyes was one of dislike, eyes slanted like a snake, diminishing his good looks. He stared at her like he stared at Lucita. It bugged her too.

Jason had always been her friend, always laughing and joking with her. Now though, he was looking at her angrily. It offended her.

Silvia followed them to their building and hid behind the wall.

“Seriously, are you a complete idiot?” she heard Jason exclaim.

“Do you ever get tired of bugging me, dude?”

“Dude, don’t dude me right now. I’m not in the freaking mood.”

“What are you going on about now?”

“Last night. That stunt you pulled by going to that chick’s house.”

“Girl’s vicious. I like vicious.”

“Are you insane? If you screw around with Lucita, it will completely screw things up and ruin all my chances with Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth is too uptight anyway. I don’t see why you like her. Why do you like her anyway?”

“Not the freaking point Blake. Look, seriously, Luci seems full of herself, kind of like you.”

“I like that about her.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Maybe. Look, whether or not we date, I have to look at the bright side.”

“Which is?”

“Maybe I’ll get to ruin Silvia’s life.”

Silvia’s body tensed as she suppressed the urge to step out of her hiding spot and say something, biting down her tongue. Instead, she listened on as Jason sighed.

“You need to get over this mess with her right now.”

“Why should I? She was a total bitch then and still is. So I’m only treating her the way she deserves.”

“This is going to bite you in the ass, Blake.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“I swear to god, freaking grow some sense before I knock some into you.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see you try.”

“Stop screwing around, Blake. I mean it.” Silvia took that as her cue to leave and ran down the cobblestone walkway as carefully as possible.

On her way back to her apartment, she thought about everything she had heard as she saw Rebecca and Elizabeth hanging out together. She should be there too, she thought, hanging out with her friends.

“You’re just as selfish as Blake,” came a voice. Silvia spun around and looked at Jason.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You are just as selfish as Blake. How about instead of only giving a damn about yourself, you give a damn about other people. Hell, Lucita does. She’s trying to fix something that shouldn’t be her business. She’s trying to make the situation better for everyone.”

“You don’t even like her.”

“Yeah, I know. But she’s not that self-involved; I can respect that. You don’t have to like someone to respect them.”

“Whatever, Jason.”

“You two were freaking made for each other.” Jason walked off simultaneously, flipping her off. Silvia really hated everyone right now. No one knew a thing about her.

Silvia stormed into her house, thankful that no one was home. She lay in bed and grabbed her rabbit from its cage, placing it on her chest, stroking its white fur, and calming herself down. She loved her little Thumper.

She wasn’t selfish. She knew she wasn’t. So why was it only Lucita noticed that? Or maybe . . . Silvia shook her head against the thought creeping into the back of her skull.

“Dammit,” she muttered as she picked up her phone.