Carlos managed to do a few things on his way to school but he still couldn't shake off the things he's had piled up in his mind lately. One thing That has been on his mind the most was his mom. He missed the way she always gave him advice when ever things looked like they were not working out for him. Whenever he felt sad or lonely, his mom was always there. She was sweet, kind and oh so beautiful but then something happened which interrupted his trend of thought. 

"ouch! Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like that." he stammered 
"oh that's okay, it was my fault anyways. Should have been paying more attention instead of talking too much on my phone." said the stranger.
 They helped each other up and Carlos was instantly stunned by her beauty when he finally managed to get a good look at her. He was speechless. His heart was beating ten times harder than usual, his palms where sweaty and his mind was racing and then she spoke yet again. 

"well I have to get going. Don't wanna be late for school. See you around?" 
She left before he could respond, which was probably a good thing anyway since he couldn't really think of much to say. He just watched her go, wishing that he  had asked for her name. With that in mind, he ran after her, hoping that he wasn't to late. Luckily, after some time - he managed to catch her. 

"um.....hie" he said, rather timidly.
"hey." she replied.
He remained quiet.......admiring, her long, soft black, shiny hair glistening in the morning sunlight. Her hazel eyes, where deep and meaningful. Her lips where glossed and her skin was like caramel, which looked almost perfect. She was too good to be true. Even just  being near her, felt like a dream. He had almost forgotten what he had wanted to ask when, she spoke again. 

"um, do you need help with something? You seem a little confused and kinda lost for some reason."
"oh right, i was just wondering if I could have your name and number if that's okay with you?" 
"hmmm.......what's the catch?" she asked suspiciously.
"uh....no catch, I just think you are gorgeous that's all. Was hoping I could get to know you better." 
"oh, alright. Thanks for that compliment by the way. You got a pen and paper with you? 

He then began to rummage quickly through his backpack. he then managed a great sigh of relief when he finally found something she could use. 

"and there you go." she said enthusiastically.  He looked at the piece of paper she had handed over to him and was pleasantly surprised to learn her name.
"Olivia harlem?" 
"yeah, that's my full name but usually people call me olive for short. well looks like we're both going to be late for school. It's already quarter to seven. Where you headed anyways?"  
"oh I go to, Saint Bernard's high school. Where you at?" 
"omg, looks like where at the same place. Let's get going, we can walk and talk at the same time. Come on." 
"ha-ha okay." he smiled as she grabbed his hand and hurried him over towards Saint Bernard. As they where rushing off to school, Carlos was quietly thanking God for finally giving him a chance at getting a girlfriend for the first time, in his entire life

"yo! Carlos! Get over here." his best friend Jonathan Grape, had just seen him come through the door.  John is the kind of guy who is very close with his friends and family. He is however, also a bit of a womanizer. He loves to look good at all times. He takes school very seriously and to top it all off he's an african-american 17 year old, star quarterback of the school football team - the Power Eagles. John and Carlos became friends when they both made it onto the team. They got to talking one day, whilst they where in the boys locker room after practice and they where inseparable ever since. 

"hey, what-sup, my man? Who's the chick?" 
"hey, uh...this is Olivia. Just met her. Olivia this is Jonathan. My best friend and class  flirt. So watch out for this guy." teased Carlos. 
"hey, hey, hey...I ain't no flirt. Just the kinda guy who appreciates women is all. How you doing little miss Olivia?" He reached over for the back of her hand and kissed it gently. Olivia seemed rather taken aback but ignored it non the less. 

"I'm okay, thanks." she replied. "and actually really late for homeroom, so I'll see you guys later?" she left them, staring after her. 
"man, oh man, where did she come from?" asked John excitedly
"was on my way over here, when I bumped into her a few blocks down. Got her name and number too. Hot ain't she? Replied Carlos 
"smoking. Ey um.....mind if I make the first move?" John asked, hopefully. 
"what? Oh hell no! I saw her first!" objected Carlos.
"oh come on man! You know I haven't had a girlfriend in over six months. It's only fair dude." 
"but John, you know very well that I haven't had a girl in over.....actually I've never had a girl before, to be honest." he stopped there and looked hopefully at John, who seemed to be thinking it over. 

"ayt, ayt dawg. Little Carlos can get the girl this time." 
"thanks, brother." said Carlos appreciatively. 
"so when you gonna ask her out?" 
"I don't know. I guess I was just thinking that I would get to know her first, before rushing into things you know." 
"haha, oh  man....you really like this girl, don't you?" teased John
"yeah, I guess so. Can't really explain though. It's like, my mind just goes kinda blank whenever she talks to me. Wish it didn't. Even though iv only just met her, I feel like as though there are fireworks or something exploding everywhere, y'know." Carlos ended his explanation with a dreamy sort of look in his eyes. 


"Carlos?Yo Earth to Carlos? You still here, brother?" asked john, concerned. 
"oh yeah right. Guess I sort of dosed off, for a moment." he replied. They where sitting in bio during that time and their teacher, Mr Javanshko, was just explaining brain tumors, for today's lesson. Although Carlos, planned on being a doctor in the near future, staying awake in bio was always a challenge for him. So he would be asleep almost half the lesson but revise the text book whenever he had some free time on his hands. At the end of the day, he didn't mind missing much of the lesson, just as long as he managed to get at least a B for every exam he took in that class.

When bio finally ended, Carlos  and John made their way over to their next class, where they met an unwanted visitor along the way. 

"oh great, look who's standing near the English room." said Carlos 
"don't tell me its.....?" said John rather timidly
"yeah,  little miss Rochelle Englewood."
"yo dude, she ain't my little miss. She only thinks she is. Ever since we got together that one time, she all of a sudden thinks that, she and I are like a couple or something." Explained John. 
Carlos laughed before asking..." What happened, that night bro?" 

"man I don't even know. All I know is that I was at Prince's party three months ago. I got drunk and started making out with a bunch of girls. Apparently she was one of them. Haven't been able to get rid of her ever since." he fished off,  with a look of horror and confusion on his face. 
"dude, we need to get out of here, like now, before she sees me, brother." said John, panic stricken. 
Carlos snorted before replying...."no dice bra, looks like we already to late." 

"oh Johnny !!" she called from across the room. See, Rochelle is the type of girl who wears tight, unflattering clothing. She has pretty much the same skin tone as Carlos, only she is slightly lighter than he is. She is loud, annoying and seemed to think nearly  every guy at school is attracted to her. Although she is rarely seen hanging out with other girls around school,  she always has a huge smile on her face. She is usually seen with glossy lips, blue eye shadow, shoulder length brown curly hair, has  a  somewhat skinny boyish figure and is constantly chewing large amounts of gum. She ran over animatedly  towards John, who seemed to look like he was about to mess up his pants at any moment.

Ignoring Carlos completely, she addressed all her attention towards John. "hey Johnny." she said again, this time a little bit more sheepishly than before. 
"um......hey Rochelle. How are you?" asked John 
"te hehe, I'm alright Johnny. Just been missing you and those giant, luscious, dark brown eyes of yours." she said, in her fake Mexican diva accent. "so..... we haven't hung out, since that night you and me got together. When's that magical day gonna happen? Sometime soon I hope, baby boy?" she asked. 
"uh, um....." John looked over at Carlos, desperately asking for help without being to obvious about it. Carlos at this point, seemed to have taken the hint. 

"oh uh....you see Rochelle, John got grounded the other day. Something about, grafting the walls of his parents  bedroom. He was bored you know, just needed a bit of entertainment is all but uh...his parents of course didn't take it to kindly. So long story short, he's pretty much not allowed to go anywhere....for at least the next three years." he looked at Rochelle, with a serious expression on his face, hoping that she took the bait. " oh, oryt.....wow johnny I knew you where hot but I didn't know you where a bad boy too. Shame, we can't hang out no more but uh......" she leaned in closer towards him and whispered something in his ear. After a quick wave and blow kiss in Johns direction, she took off -leaving John speechless, accompanied with a look of utter revulsion on his face. 

"haha, oh man....what did she say to you dude?" Carlos asked, whilst laughing at John's encounter with Rochelle.  He heaved a deep depressing sigh before saying......"I don't even wanna repeat it, bro. All you need to know is that, that girl is insane! And she needs to take the hint that, she and I are never going to be together." 

They hurried over towards English and spent the next hour reading the original version of Oliver twist. After that was lunch, where they sat at the same place they always sit.....outside, on a medium sized garden table, under a large leafy bright green tree - just near the cafeteria. It was easily one of the best places to sit, around the entire school during break. They didn't eat much, usually they just talked to a few people, caught up on some unfinished homework and listened to music before going back to class. Today however, was different. Little miss, Olivia Harlem decided to join them this time. 

"hey guys, fancy seeing you here." she said cheerfully. She sat next to Carlos and began opening up a brown paper bag. Carlos at this point seemed to have gotten nervous since her arrival. Luckily John spoke first whilst Carlos sat quietly trying to think of something clever to say, at the same time- John had also managed to cover up the suddenly awkward silence. 

"hey, olive. Why so cheerful, today?"
"oh well, if you must know....I've just found out that someone I like, likes me back!" she replied, with a huge smile on her face. John looked nervously over at Carlos, who had just chocked on an energy bar he was taking a bite out of. 
"so, who's the lucky guy?" John asked, whilst Carlos took the time to recover. " it's Bradley Cooper. He is the most hottest guy in my Spanish class. Maybe even in my entire grade. It's like poetry whenever I hear him speak. You guys have know idea how amazing he is." she finished off with a look of admiration on her face. At that point, Carlos had finally managed to find his voice again.  

"so uh.....what does he look like? Maybe I've seen him around somewhere." he asked. But at that moment a very tall, beefy, jock like character had just appeared through the back doors of the cafeteria. His skin looked tanned, his hair glistened with what seemed like large amounts of hair gel and he wore clothes that looked like as though they where more suited for the club instead of school. 

"oooooh.....that's him over there!" olive, now pointed towards the tuck shop, where Bradley and his posy where now situated. "wow, he doesn't seem like the type to be into Spanish." inquired Carlos. "yeah...he looks more like the type to be into parties and alcohol, rather than books and learning to be honest." added John.  "Are you sure you like him, olive?" asked Carlos."he just doesn't seem like your type of guy." he added. "well at first, I wasn't so sure about him but then one thing led to another and we started talking, getting to know each other and stuff like that there, y'know. Figured out he's actually a really sweet, down to earth kinda guy." 

olive was now no longer paying much attention to Carlos or John.
"so I'm gonna go and talk to him, okay guys? Catch ya later ?" she packed up her barely eaten lunch and took off towards the other side of the tuck shop, where Bradley was now showing off his physique to a couple of other girls passing by. when olive arrived however, he stopped and turned his attention over towards her instead. 

"so what are you going to do now?" asked John, when olive was finally out of ear shot. "I don't know, have to act fast don't I? Before anything starts to get too serious between olive and that meat head."  Carlos continued to glare evilly towards olive and Brad. Wishing that it was him whom olive was interested in. 

School ended on a somewhat high note that day. Their math teacher, Mr Erin Fisher had just postponed their test till next week Tuesday, which gave John and Carlos more time to study - then it was announced that their evil French teacher Mr Cole Flanders was out sick for the rest of the term. They planned to celebrate all their good fortune by spending the evening at Prince's pool party. 

Prince is currently the king of all parties. Although he is a short, pale skinned, not so good-looking kinda dude, he is still freakishly rich-which enables him to throw massive pool parties almost every weekend and give himself high popularity standers. 

"well, almost time to go. You ready to impress olive tonight?" asked John, whilst he and Carlos where preparing themselves for the party. "I think so, I'm a little nervous though. I hear what's his name is going to be there." 
"okay, first of all olive probably won't be to happy with you if you get Brad's name wrong and secondly try not to get too stressed over the whole situation. Okay? Just relax and be yourself. But what ever you do, don't try to imply to much that she should dump the dude and instantly go for you, type thing. Cause honestly we haven't exactly seen them together for that long,so we can't exactly tell how deep the connection is between those two. So just stay off that topic and be her friend for now at least.this thing will work itself out eventually," advised John.

 "alright but how long do I have to wait before I make my move?" asked Carlos. " I guess just wait until she looks like as if she loosing interest in da dude. Relationships always last longer and are better when it's friends first, so just keep that in mind." he replied.  "okay, I think I'm ready." said Carlos. "cool. let's get outta here....if we leave now we can just about make it to the 6:30pm train, that rides over to Jackson vill." 

 The boys actually looked pretty good for tonights event. Carlos was sporting black faded baggy jeans, together with a simple red shirt and a black leather jacket.  He had brown Timbaland sneakers and his hair had it's usual spiky swag. He was the typical bad-boy you would usually see in those  action-thriller modern day type movies. John was also wearing black faded baggy jeans, a tight white v-neck that showed off some of his muscular physic - a  somewhat heavy black jean jacket and a pair of black designer sneakers. He pared it up with a few gold chains around his neck and a pair of fancy shades to complete his overall look. They managed to reach the subway station on time and caught the train that led right over to Princes neighborhood.

When they finally arrived in Jackson vill,  they followed the loud, thumping DJ music which led to a huge two storied house-which had a slick white colored paint job. there was a vast, perfectly clean cut front/back yard that was lit in several different areas.They walked up the colorfully decorated pathway, that led towards the front door.When they knocked a tall, cream skinned, dark red haired women answered the door.  She had a wide, welcoming smile on her face and a stiff oder of what smelled like rather expensive foreign perfume.She introduced herself with an elegant, American accent. Which  actually sounded somewhat similar to someone who is most likely seen on tv  advertising a brand new kitchen appliance. 

"hello boys. I'm Mrs Denis Carter, Prince's mom."  
"hey, um....i'm Carlos and this is John. We've come for the party. Is this the place?" 
"nice to meet you boys. Yes, the party is out back. Some of Prince's friends have already arrived. Please come in and enjoy yourselves." 
"thank you. It's nice to meet you too Mrs Carter, we'll just head out back then." 

They filed in and headed for the large glass doors-where they could  see a massive sized pool and several other people already dressed in either swim suits or grass skirts or just normal casual clothing. Tonights party theme is "a night in Hawaii" where they now could recognize different Hawaiian based decorations situated around the area. They stood stunned in front of the party scene where more and  more people were now  arriving. Carlos now  released why Prince is the king of all parties. The place had everything from palm trees to fire eaters. There where people serving vast platers of food and all the latest tracks could be heard coming from the DJ who was Prince himself. A lot of people Carlos knew had arrived but the one person whom Carlos had wanted to see the most looked as though she hadn't arrived yet. 

"hey dude, seen olive anywhere?" asked Carlos. 
"nah man but wait a sec I think I see her standing over there. She looks like she's alone, watching the fire eaters down the yard." observed John. 
"yeah, that's defiantly her. Alright I'm gonna go talk to her ayt? Think you can manage  the place by yourself for a while?" he looked over at John who was now eyeing the hoola dancers near the bar area. "what? Oh yeah man go ahead and do your thing. I'll be over there dancing with them fiiiine looking Hawaiian girls. Holla if you need me, ayt?" 
"ayt, thanks bro." 

Carlos then began to make his way over to olive but his heart kept beating louder and louder with every step he took. 

As Carlos walked further towards Olive, he could now see that she was dressed in what looked like a dark purple mini skirt, a simple black spaghetti top, a long short sleeved blue faded Jean jacket and a pair of stylish black high tops. She had her hair half tide in a pony tale and a shiny silver necklace of a dragon around her neck. She looked really pretty tonight, which wasn't exactly helping carols' nervous.

"hey Olive. You look good tonight" he said to her nervously. 
"hey Carlos. You look good too. Enjoying the party?" compared to Carlos, olive sounded more relaxed and easy going than he did but non the less, Carlos continued to try and remain calm, even though right now-his stomach was in nots, his palms and arm pits where somewhat sweaty and his mind was racing. 

"yeah, this party is pretty cool. I can see why prince is the current king of all parties. So you bring someone else with you? Or did you come by yourself?" 
"I did come with someone actually, he's over by the bar getting some drinks."
"oh don't tell me it's that guy you have a crush on. What's his name again? Uh.....Donald flopper?" 
"Bradley Cooper and yes it is him." she looked intuitively at Carlos and what she said next made Carlos even more nervous than he was before. 

"you don't like Bradley, do you? 
"who me? Nah....ofcorse I like the dude. He's uh..... interesting."
"come on Carlos....tell me the truth. There's something going on between you guys isn't there?" 
Carlos remained quiet for a long time - unsure of what to say next. Instead he just secretly crossed his fingers behind his back and hoped for the best. 

"don't worry. There's nothing going on between us. I just don't know him all that well is all." He looked over at olive. Who seemed to be wondering if what he was saying is true or not. 
"alright. If you say there's nothing going on between you guys then there's nothing going on."  
"you don't believe me, do you?" he asked. 
"nah, it's not that. Really. It's just that i can be pretty laid back when I wanna be. Don't like to dwell on to many things y'know."
"ah okay. So I guess your life is pretty complicated right now? Or is it just kinda normal at the moment?"
"hmm....my life is somewhat, indescribable to be honest."
"really? What makes you say that?"
"well, I just have a lot of things going on that makes me wonder what it would be like to slow down a bit and relax. Enjoy the finer things in life, y'knw"
"hmm...sounds rough." 
"yeah, well. That's how it is I guess. So tell me something about you."


"that depends....  what do you wanna know?
"well for starters, where you from?"
"ah...well Now that's an interesting story. I'm from new Mexico. Well Actually to be more precise, I'm half Mexican and half Puerto Rican." 
"really? She asked, sounding intrigued by his origin.
"yeah, my mom was Puerto Rican and my dad is Latino."
"hold on a sec, was?"
"yeah um....my mom passed away about five years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that. How'd it happen?"
"well I guess you could say that it was rather dramatic actually. There was a time when I had an injury during football practice. My mom was at work and when she had heard that I was in hospital nursing a broken leg she got in her car and rushed right over. On the way over however she uh-" his voice trailed over those last few words and it seemed as though the memory of this tragic event was starting to affect him but he managed to keep his composure and continued to tell her what happened.  

"I was told that her brakes weren't working properly and she hadn't realized it until she tried to stop at a red light. She panicked as her car continued to drive without her control. Until eventually she hit a wall at an unknown building. Everything exploded and caught fire. The fireman and the police man came and discovered who she was. I was heart broken, still am." he finished off his horrific tale with a somber look on his face. 

"wow. That's sad. Really don't know what to say. So are you close with your dad? Or is it difficult to tell right now?"
"well I guess you could say  we talk and everything but just like about school and stuff but we don't generally talk about anything else other than that y'know."
"and How you coping with everything else that's been going on?" 

"eh, I'm alright. Could be better but its no big deal, really. I guess I've just gotten pretty used to it by now." 
"yeah but he's still your dad, I mean....shouldn't you at least try to get along? You've been through so much together, so shouldn't that at least count for something?" 
"oh believe me I have. I've tried for years and nothing seems to have changed since." 
"well, maybe your not trying hard enough."
"trust me when I say this, I have been trying as hard as I possibly can but I've just given up at this point. It's hard y'know, your just there trying to think of ways to get closer with your dad and seeing that he doesn't really care much about it, makes you think does he even care about you?" 

"I guess you have a point but maybe you could talk to him you know. Make him see how important it is that he needs to be a part of your life." 
Carlos didn't say anything for a while - apparently thinking it over. 
"well it's a defiant option  but I don't think it will work."
"trust me, if your as convincing as I think you are then you might just have a chance at making things right with you and your dad." she looked at him with a      strong sense of confidence and admiration but what she said next shocked and pleased Carlos at the same time. 

"i'd like to meet your dad one day"
He stifled a laugh  before saying..."really? Why?"
"I don't know.....just tryna get a picture of what kinda guy you are I guess."
"thought I gave you a vague description already?" 
"yeah but that's exactly what you said it is- Vague. Want the clearer version of what's hidden behind Carlos Martini." 
They looked in each others eyes  for what seemed like forever. Realizing that the silence lasted a little while longer than it should have, Carlos spoke next. 

"Wow, you know.... i've just realized something."
"what?"
"for some reason I've found it really easy to talk to you, tonight." 
"really?" 
"yeah."
"well, you know I'll always be here if ever need a friend or just someone to talk to about anything. I'm a pretty good listener and I can help with whatever it is that's bugging you at the time."  
"thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

 Things where more quiet, peaceful and serene when he was with her. It was like as though all the troubles in the world and in his life where suddenly gone in a blink of an eye. He was actually really happy for the first time in a long time. Well, he was until  Bradley finally managed to catch up with them. 

"Bradley! There you are. Was wondering where you had gotten off to." said olive. Tonight Bradley was dressed more casually than usual. He was in all black and he paired up his look with a few gold and silver chains. He also looked extra beefy tonight but for some reason he wore an expression on his face that resembled someone who was rather uncomfortable about something. 

"hey olive. Who's this?" he gestured towards Carlos, as he handed Olivia a drink. He had a soft but deep and gentle voice. Carlos however seemed unamused by his sudden appearance  and with that he made a hasty introduction - accompanied with a lame excuse to leave the unbearably awkward scene. 

"hi, I'm Carlos. Olivia's friend." 
"hey, nice to meet you. I'm Brad."
"cool. It's uh.... Nice to meet you too. Well I best get going, so I'll see you guys around?" they both nodded in agreement but as he started to make his way back, Olivia managed to catch up with him before he had gone to far. 

"Hey Carlos! Um..... are you sure you don't wanna hang out with me and brad for a bit?"
"yeah...no it's cool, I have to go find John anyways, he's my ride home y'knw. You have fun though but I'll uh....see you around maybe?" He asked, sweetly. 

She nodded and kissed him lightly on the cheek before she scampered back towards brad - who seemed to be watching them very closely.  Carlos then began to look for John, at the same time wishing that he  could have spend some more time with olive. He searched for John for what felt like an eternity before finally finding him making out with one of the dancing girls he remembered John admiring earlier. Wanting to let him know what had happened between himself and olive,  he rushed over towards John and grabbed his arm - at the same time pulling him away from what looked like his almost one night stand. 

"hey dude! What the heck was that about?" John asked, irritated at carols' sudden interruption. 
"sorry man but we have to leave." 
"why? What happened?" 
"it's a long story dawg. I'll let you know about it on the way out." 
"alright but can't it wait? I mean the party hasn't even started yet, it's only 1:00am, bro." 
"nah, we gata go now. I'm not staying here another second with Mr meat head over there." he jerked his head over towards Olive and Brad who where now kissing almost as furiously as John and his unknown dancer where,  just moments ago. He seemed to understand the current situation and agreed to leave the nauseatingly romantic scene between Olivia and Brad. 

"alright brother, let's head out." 
"thanks bro, I owe you one." said Carlos appreciatively.

As they walked out they could  hear the familiar "oh Johnny!" echoing loudly behind them. Now glad that they where leaving Rochelle behind them, apparently heartbroken that she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to John all night - they hurried out the door without another glance back at the overly decorated Hawaiian party scene. 

"glad we got outta that one." said John, relived.
"yeah, Rochelle was just about to catch up to us. You do realize that she's not gonna leave you alone when we get back to school, right?" teased Carlos. 
"yup. Shame really, if Rochelle would just fix herself up a bit then maybe I would have considered making her my next little miss. Even though I won't deny that the girl does have some potential but as of now its a no, never, not gonna happen situation." he looked over at Carlos who  now had a disbelieving expression on his face. John then decided to change the Subject and talk about something that wasn't about Rochelle's  never ending love for him. 

"so, how about we get back to the real situation at hand?" 
"meaning?" 
"what went down with you and olive tonight?" 
"well for starters, even though she looked like she was alone she wasn't. She came with Mr meat head himself but when I got there he was no where to be seen. Apparently he had gone to the bar to get drinks. It was kinda fishy though cause it shouldnt take someone that long to get two drinks if you know what I mean." 

"okay then what happend?" Prompted John. 
" we talked for a long time. I told her about my past and a lot of other deep stuff and she told me bit about herself too. She didnt get too much into herself though, wonder why. Anyways, She and I seemed to have really made a connection cause I felt like if she hadn't been going out with meat head then she and I probably would have kissed tonight. But before I could make any kind of move on her that's when he showed up. she introduced us and after that I made up some lame excuse and left. Then just as I was leaving, she caught up with me and asked if I could stay with her and meat head for a while. I told her no...politely of-course, she accepted, kissed me on the cheek and went back to gawk at meat head for the rest of the night. " he ended his explanation with a slight grimace on his face as though remembering his almost kiss with olive was a somewhat painful event he had just experienced.       

John seemed to have noticed the sadness in Carlos's eyes because at that point he started to make an attempt to cheer up his best friend. 
"so nothing eles happened after that?" asked John. 
"nah...after that I went back to go and look for you." 
"oh okay. Well don't dwell on it so much, ayt buddy? I mean you'll have plenty more opportunities to try and make it work with olive." 

"yeah but it just feels like as though tonight was my first and last chance to show her that it's me she's supposed to be with, you know?"
"I get it but right now you can't exactly go back in time and change what happened. All you can do for now i guess is just try to be her friend. Besides Relationships always turn out better when it's friends first anyways. I mean, look at Angie Carmichael and Steve Johnson."
"yeah, what about them?" asked Carlos, suddenly intrigued. 
"they where best friends since kindergarden and then started dating when they where in junior high. Even now they still can't get enough of each other" 
"alright, so what's your point?"

"my point is....give it time, things will come around. If it's meant  to  be then you guys will be together soon enough."

 at this Point, he and Carlos where already in front of their houses. They've been living next door to each other ever since Carlos moved into the neighborhood soon after his mother died. Even though they had spent so many years living in the same neighborhood -  they only started to really get to know each other when they joined the school football team and  Life (obviously) hasn't been the same since. 

" yeah, i guess your right. Thanks, I'll uh...see you tomorrow ayt brother?"
 not looking entirely convinced, John agreed non the less and Left Carlos standing in the middle of the drive way - speechless. He then began his walk back into his house feeling like this night couldn't possibly get any worse than it already has. 

"where were you tonight son?" his voice sounded deep and emotionless. When the lights turned on, Carlos could now see his dad sitting on a wooden chair in front of the door. It looked like as though he's been waiting for him throughout most of the night. 

"I was out." 
"out where?" he asked 
"non of your business." 
the minuet Carlos said those words, it seemed like as if they might have crossed the line somehow because at that point - his dads voice suddenly changed from being deep and emotionless to cold and judgmental. 

"non of my business?" 
"yes and I'll repeat it again...it's non of your business what I do anymore." Carlos continued to keep his voice strong and steady because he's been waiting for a chance to confront his dad about  a lot of stuff that's been going on between the two of them for a long time now. So this was the first and probably the last opportunity that he'll get to talk to his dad and he wasn't going to blow it. 

"oh really?and what gives you the right to tell me what I can and cannot do or how I should act? I am your father young man! And as far as I am concerned that gives me the authority to care about what happens to my son!" 
his voice was now raised and his face was ruby red with anger but Carlos seemed unfazed by his fathers sudden rage. 
"wow, you really don't get it do you?" 
"don't you interrupt me boy!" 
"okay you know what dad?! I don't care anymore, I don't care that I've interrupted you, I don't care that your mad as hell - in-fact I've stopped caring about a lot of things a very long time ago incase you haven't noticed!" 

"and since when did you stop caring about everything?!" 
"since mom died!" 
They where quiet for a long time - Both where breathing hard with anger by  now but Carlos continued the  confrontation. 
"I have tried for years, to get you to understand what it meant to me when mom died but all you did was ignore me and continued your life as though nothing had happened. So then I figured hey, maybe he doesn't want to talk about it. Maybe if I bonded with him then he'll open up to me a little bit - but no. There was nothing like that. You stayed quiet ever since it happened and all we ever talked about was school." 
"listen to me son--"
"No dad! You've never listened to me once, about what was really important then so why should I listen to you now?" 

They looked at each other in silence   and as Carlos stared at his dad, he tried to figure out what was hidden beneath the eyes of his father. Was it anger? Understanding? Maybe even love? He couldn't tell. All Carlos could see was the man who had lost himself after his mother died and refused to pay much attention to him ever since.  

"what happened to you, dad?"  
"what do you mean what happened to me son?"
"since mom died, you've changed but I guess both of us did. The only problem is, we'll never know how to fix this almost broken relationship, unless we talk to each other dad." 
"all I'm trying to do, is be a good father to you but I guess I've just forgotten how." 
"but dad, you have to show me that you are actually trying to reconnect with me because as of now....I don't even know any more." 

"alright son, how about this....we move on from the past and try to look forward. We'll take it one day at a time and if by some miricle you and i can make this work, then great but if not then we'll figure out what to do then - does that sound like something you can do?" 
"yeah, I think so. Thanks dad." 
"no problem son but that doesn't change the fact that you still left the house without me even knowing about first."
"I know and I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"it's okay son and I'm sorry too. I'll let it slide this time but if you do it again I'm grounding you for a month." 

As Carlos walked back to his bedroom he thought about the current situations that where going on in his life. He thought about the confrontation he just had with his dad. He thought about school and what he was going to do about his grades but most of all he thought about his mom and he thought about olive. He thought about how he could develop something more with her. He thought about wether or not he still wanted more. Being in this particular situation was difficult for him because one: he didn't  want to pressure her into doing something that she doesn't want to do and two: he would still like to let her know how he feels about her before it's too late but how? How was he going to approach this cautiously without hurting her and or in the worst case scenario: ruin their friendship completely? This was something he had to make sure was done properly and without wasting too much time dwelling on the matter at hand. 

When he reached the front door of his room he stopped and thought back to the days when life was so much more simpler than this. When all he had to worry about was what color pencil he would use on his drawing or what cartoon was going to play in the next few hours. Basically he just wished he could go back in time and relive his childhood - even if it was just for a little while. Things where less stressful then but now life has changed and he figured that he best get used to it sooner rather than later. 

By the time he pulled off his cloths and got into a comfortable pair of boxers, it was already 3:00am. After realizing how late it was he slowly got into his blankets, closed his eyes and instantly fell asleep. 

He was walking in what looked like a dark, secluded place. There where shadows surrounding him. The wind was hard and the air felt cold and empty. 
"Carlos!" yelled a disembodied voice from a distance. It sounded eerily ghostlike and creepy.  Carlos began too frantically turn his head around and around in search of who had called him. 
"Carlos!" there it was again. 
"Carlos!" and again but Who was it? He couldn't tell if wether it was a man or a women, all he knew was that this voice was not to be trusted and that he had to get out of here-now. 

He tried to look for someplace out - an exit sign perhaps. Like one of those huge bright red letters spelling the word EXIT hanging on top of a door or something.  However there was nothing like that here. All Carlos could see was darkness. A vast empty space of nothing. When all was quiet, he assumed that the voice had decided to disappear along with everything else that used to be here but he was wrong yet again. 

"Carlos!" this time, it defiantly sounded like it belonged to a women. It filled his ears with fear and uncertainty.
"who are you?" he called back. "where am I and what do you want?" he asked.  

There was no answer only silence and the uncomfortable feeling of the possibility of being watched. Then the voice spoke to him again, only this time it sounded more welcoming than it did before.  
"oh Carlos! Come to me Carlos. You have nothing to worry about when your with me." 
"show yourself!" he yelled.
The voice laughed as she said...." now why on earth would I do something so reckless?"  her laugh was  high pitched and yet almost seductive at the same time. 

"I'm not going anywhere until you show and tell me who you are." 
"show and tell? Why you defiantly are a naive and sweet little boy aren't you Carlos martini?"
"how'd you know my name?" 
"why I know everything about you Carlos." She Replied
"but why? who are you?" 
"Carlos, there is no need to be frightened by me my dear boy. For I am not here to scare or confuse you. I am only here to guide you."

"I'm not here to play games." said Carlos, now definitely  not believing in what the voice had just told him. 
"neither am I. " she Replied
"okay then let me ask you something."
"yes?" she encouraged 

"is this a dream?" he asked, hoping that she would say yes. 
"not entirely." she replied
"but I am asleep? Am I not?" 
"why yes, this is true." 
"then where am I?" at this point he was trying to choose his words carefully-so as not to anger or irritate the disembodied voice. 

"you are at a place where there is no light but only darkness. Where life as you know it seizes to exist but only for a fraction of a second." 
"does this place have a name?" 
"no, it does not." 
"so why am I here?"

"you'll figure out that part in time, Carlos. As of now I must leave you."
"wait, will I hear from you again?" 
"yes, you will."
"and when will that be?" 
"I will come and go when you least expect it, my dear child." 
"what may I call you?" 
"you may call me Duchess." 
"Duchess?" 
"Yes, Carlos. Duchess. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go. There are others awaiting for my assistance in matters that do not concern you. Now goodbye Carlos." 
"goodbye duchess." he said  

The voice was gone and with that Carlos awoke with a start.

When Carlos woke up later that day, he needed to tell somebody about the dream he had just had. He had no idea if wether it was real or not. He didn't understand what it all meant. All he knew was that it was something he needed help with. 

"John? You there brother?" 
"hey, dude! You alright? You sound all agitated or something." 
Carlos was instantly relieved when he heard his best friend answer the phone on the first ring. 
"I'm okay buddy. Just had this crazy, messed up dream last night. Thought maybe you could help me try too understand it better y'know." 
"oh alright. What was it about?" he asked, now sounding curious. 
"I woke up in this weird place that was just filled with shadows and darkness."
"okay, continue." 
"then I tried to look for a way out but there was nothing."
"nothing?" 
"nothing." he confirmed 
"so what did you do then?" asked John now intrigued.  

"well I started to panic, obviously. I mean who wouldn't right?"
"right, right, go on." encouraged John. 
"all of a sudden I hear someone calling my name." 
"someone was calling you?"
"yeah, at first i thought it was gonna come after me or something but then it said come to me Carlos!" 
" I still don't understand how that thing could have known your name, dude. This is getting kinda creepy just so you know but go ahead and continue." he prompted.

"after that I tried calling back to it." 
"you did? Damn, I would have been too scared to say anything if I where you." 
"dude! Would you let me finish and save the comments till later? It's getting kinda irritating when you keep interrupting--" 
"ayt ayt brother, I get it! No need to get your panties all in a twist. Continue." agreed John. 

Carlos continued to tell John about his "dream" for what seemed like hours. By the time he was done, John was speechless but he knew exactly what to say. It was only finding the most gentlest way of saying it, which was a problem. 

"uh....dude, don't take this the wrong way or anything but.....are you sure you haven't gone insane or anything?" he asked, terrified of Carlos reaction to his question. He held his breath and hoped that Carlos would at least try to understand where he was coming from. 

"insane? What do you mean insane?" 
"well it's just that....." he paused whilst attempting to find the right words to say.
 "it's just That this "dream" of yours, doesn't exactly sound like a normal kind of dream that people usually have, now does it?" explained John, now sounding mildly concerned for his best friend. 

"so do you think its real or something?" asked Carlos 
"it could be. Wait a sec....where you stressed or upset  about anything  before you went to bed? Besides the whole olive drama that went down I mean." 
"come to think of it, I did have a sort of confrontation with my dad when I got home. Then I started to think about a whole lot of other stuff after that." explained John. 

"hold up! You had a confrontation with your dad and you didn't even bother to tell me?" said John, sounding irritated at the fact that his best friend had conveniently forgotten to tell him about what happened last night. 
"sorry man, I guess I just forgot." 
"now how could you forget about what must have been a  very crucial moment between you and your dad? Now lets get to it then. Give me all the deats brother." 

Carlos then began to explain what happened between him and his dad. He told John all about what they said to each other and the emotion behind it as well. He told him about what his dad had said about forgetting to be a proper father and how he had promised to be better.

"wow....he actually admitted that he wasn't being a very good dad to you since your mother died? Now that's deep." said John in a small voice. 
"yeah, I guess I kind of understand where he's coming from now but it still brothers me that we had missed all those years we could have spent together. Now It's like he's trying to make up for it y' know." 

"yeah..I guess we'll just have to wait and see if he'll live up to his word but let's get back to that weird dream of yours buddy." said John 
"okay, so you think it may have something to do with my being stressed about a number of things right?" inquired Carlos 
"yeah, because something like that hasn't happened before, am I right?" 
"yup. It was the first time I have ever had a dream like that but then again, my dreams have always been a bit obscure and hard to read. It was only last night that it turned into something completely different." explained Carlos. 
"well, I like my previous diagnoses for your father issues, we have no other option but to wait and see if you have that dream again. Let me know when she comes, how she acts and how you where feeling before you went to sleep then maybe we'll be able to deceiver the true meaning behind it."

"ayt brother and thanks for your help dude." 
"no prob. Hey, you know I heard something very interesting from Rochelle today." 
"really? What happened? Don't tell me you guys are dating now?"  
"nah, no man it ain't like that dude. See it all started when I woke up to find her staring at me through my bedroom window this morning." 
Carlos laughed out loud before saying......"wow! She was at your window dude? She really is crazy. So what did you do?" 

"well, I yelled at her ofcorse and I told her that she better have a good reason for freaking me out so early in the morning." 
"and did she?" asked Carlos 
"yup. She said she had some very intriguing information about the happy couple we all love to hate." 
"let me guess, it's about olive and meat head isn't it?" 

"you got it. Apparently, sweet little meat head, isn't as awesome as olive says he is." 
"what do you mean?" asked Carlos.
"hold up there brother. You owe me big for this info imma about to give you because I had to go out on a date with Rochelle for this." 
"hahaha! Wow, this better be good. Alright what do I owe you brother?" 
"let's just say this favor shall be named on a later date. Dont wanna give away my options to soon yo know." 
"okay, deal. Now what's this about olive and meat head?" 

"well, get this brother. Remember when you where telling me about how meat head had taken way too long to being olive those drinks she asked for at Prince's party last night?" 
"yeah....?" prompted Carlos. 
"well, I've just found out the reason why he took so long in the first place." 
"really? What he do?" 

"apparently Rochelle spotted him talking to an old girlfriend of his." 
"Yeah, so?" 
"so this girlfriend isn't as old as she appears to be." said John 
"watchu taking about John?" asked Carlos 
"don't you get it man? Meat head is cheating on olive with some girl we don't even know." 
"how'd you know?" 
"because Rochelle said that when she saw them together, they where a little bit too friendly if you know what I mean." 

"oh...I get it now. So what do you think we should do?" 
"man, I don't know. Your the one who's got a crush on her." 
"okay, okay...I think of something." 
"ayt brother but keep this in mind. This may be your key to getting olive. So use it wisely ayt?" 
"ayt and thanks again brother." 
"no problem, bro. Hey, I gatta head out. Got some stuff to take care off today." 
"stuff? What kinda stuff?" asked Carlos suspiciously 
"aye, i'll let you know about later ayt? But can't say anything about it right now." explained John 
"alright, will see you later then buddy." 
"ayt, bye." said Carlos 
 

With that the phone cut off and Carlos was left with a hell  of a  lot of things to think about, much more than he had before.