Page 64 of Chasing Mr. Prefect

“She crossed the line, Cholo,” I replied, trying to even out my breathing. The panic was sinking in just now. “What she said was uncalled for.”

“Technically, there was nothing wrong with what she said,” he answered, gritting his teeth, and I realized he did not knowthat I had heard them talking that morning. “Iaman illegitimate kid.”

“No one in the team even knows about that! Did you expect me to take all of that sitting down?”

“That’s just really how she is. I’m used to it.”

“Doesn’t mean you should be okay with how badly she’s treating you. I’m on your side here.”

“What you said to her was not okay either! That battle was not for you to fight. Please, Vinnie. I could have handled that on my own.”

I was about to tell him that I heard them talking that morning but my mind raced and I fumbled, unable to formulate coherent explanations.

“No. What she did was not okay. I’m not going to apologize for standing up for you.”

“What about the fact that she’s a brand rep, huh? What would become of this club once word gets around that we treated a brand rep like that? And god, after all the issues with your disciplinary case, what are they going to say about you?

You were doing so well, Vinnie, and you knew what was at stake. How could you throw all that work away?”

His words echoed, reminding me of everything Summer said earlier.

“Are we still talking about the event or is this about me being your ongoing project?”

Cholo gave me a frustrated look. “Are you kidding me?”

“Are you really just angry with me for talking to your cousin like that or did I fail some goal you hoped I would be hitting by now?”

“No, I’m angry because you are the last person I expected to look at me differently just because of what I am!”

“Tangina, Cholo, it’s not like I only choose to react when your family history comes up. No matter what name people call you, Iam going to want to stand up and fight back because it was you who was involved.

If you find that problematic or unbecoming because whatever I did would reflect on you or cause a delay with your mission to straighten me out, then I’m sorry. Maybe next time I shouldn’t bother or care!”

Cholo clutched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. I leaned on the window and stared outside, breathing like I had just run a mile.

“There will always be something he’ll want to change. Is that something you can put up with?”

What if Summer was right? Cholo had always been too good for me and somewhere in my mind a nagging voice was saying that he did deserve better. It did not help that I had heard Miss Mikayla tell him that I was no good and that my irresponsibility was rubbing off on him.

I could not just shake this off. Soon enough, I would have to look at this realistically. Somewhere deep in my mind I was sure that I wanted to move ahead to the future with him but what I now feared was that he was not. Would he really want me to change? Even if I asked him, I was sure he would say what I wanted to hear but could I really fit into his world without bringing him down?

His frustrations seemed so much clearer to me now. He was under pressure from his extended family to make something big out of himself and somehow, a part of that depended on me.

I remembered the conditions of the club work. Now that I failed and got kicked out of the event, I was going to face the consequences. I had walked right into a trap and I was currently in a freefall.

Was I taking him down with me?

We came to a stop in front of my house. Exhausted, I barely got out a thank you as I moved to open the door latch but he pulled my other hand before I could get out.

“I have to go back,” he told me quietly.

“I know.”

“I don’t want you to get out of here without getting this resolved,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“You shouldn’t be. You were right, that was your battle and I had no right to meddle,” I said, blinking back tears. I was more exhausted than anything as the seeds of doubt that miss Mikayla and Summer had scattered in my mind were blossoming into weeds, seeping into every crack. “You have to go back.”

“You do know I’d rather stay and fix this with you, right?”