Worlds Divided | j. baker

thirty eight

"Oh, come on!  Best two out of three."

Alondra dramatically groaned and faced JJ with a slight glare as the last donut sat in between them.  They both put their fist out, shook their fists 4 times and on "shoot", Alondra had rock and JJ had paper.  Now, they were tied so they played once more.  This time, Alondra had paper and JJ had scissors.  "Damn it!"

JJ cheered and grabbed the donut twist from the napkin.  "Here, because I'm nice, you can have a bite." He held the donut in front of Alondra's and she glared at it for a second before leaning forward and biting off a quarter of it. "Jesus Christ, I said a bite!"

"What are y'all doing?"

The two turned away from each other and saw Spencer and Jordan staring at them with certain looks on their faces. "We fought for a donut, but I won."

"Where'd you get a donut at 8am?"

"Oh, I walked into the teacher's lounge and it was the last one." JJ smiled. "And she caught me coming out." 

Alondra nodded proudly as she chewed and Spencer shook his head because that would be something she'd do.  Jordan just looked between her and JJ for a second, realizing that by sitting next to each other, their knees were touching and their arms were only separated by a few inches.  "Why you staring?  Do I have donut crumbs on my face?"

JJ being the closest took the liberty to wipe off the donut glaze that somehow got on her cheek.  "We have class in a few minutes.  Come on, Alo."  Jordan grabbed her wrist gently but tugged her enough to straighten her arm.

Before leaving, Alondra kissed both JJ and Spencer on the cheek and waved, saying she'd see them at lunch.  The cheek kisses had Jordan tugging Alondra's arm a little harder until they were both speed walking down the hallway.  "Slow down,  Speedy Gonzales.  We're walking like freshman in the first semester of school."

× × ×

After school and practice, Alondra, Ruben and Lily all came home to find out that Rachel got stuck at her office and wouldn't be back for a few hours.  Immediately after taking showers, the three were in the kitchen.  Ruben and Lily were following everything Alondra was telling them, doing their part in helping her make Pan Dulce.  They were waiting for the dough to rise, so they started making their own personal pizzas. 

While they were in the kitchen listening to music and laughing, Armando was hiding out in his office and Madison was sitting on the couch rolling her eyes.  "Guys, I put too much sauce."  Lily whined, hitting her palms against the counter.

Ruben just sighed and scooped up some of her sauce to put on his own dough.  For whatever reason, Ruben was acting like he was making a New York pizza, so he was stealing all of the ingredients on the counter.

"Can you guys shut up?  I'm watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians."

"Okay, and?  You're just mad because you'll starve while we eat everything."  Lily said, making both Ruben and Alondra snicker.

Madison's jaw dropped and she turned around, her hand on the back of the couch to face Lily who was kneeling on the bar stool beside Ruben.  "I won't starve!"

"What are you gonna eat?  Kale chips?"

"Lily, be nice."  Alondra tried to stay serious, but ended up laughing.  Madison just scoffed and turned back around with her arms crossed. "Can you hand me the cheese before you dump it all?"

"Alo, your phone's ringing." Lily said, somehow being the only one to notice how it was buzzing on the counter.

Alondra continued pouring cheese on her pizza and answered her phone. On the other side, Spencer was explaining how he and Kia were holding a park clean up in Crenshaw to try and get a petition signed to protect the kids. "Tomorrow? You sure that's enough time to let the entire neighborhood know what's going on?"

"Look, you have just as many, or even more, connections as I do. We need as many people as possible to help out tomorrow."

Thinking of those connections, Alondra wasn't sure if that was such a good idea. "Uh, I get it, but I don't know if asking some of my connections for help would help. Most of my East Los connections are like Marcelo, but I'll ask Jaime and Evelyn to come."

Spencer nodded on the other side of the line as he stood in his dining room. "Anything helps. Are you making food?"

"Spence, go eat your mom's food." Spencer smacked his lips and said goodbye before hanging up and letting Alondra get back to her pizza.

After handing the cheese to Lily, Alondra felt a tap on her shoulder from Ruben. "What's happening tomorrow?"

"Oh, uh just some Crenshaw stuff. Spencer wants to clean up a park that the gangs were using so kids can use it again."

Once she mentioned a park, Lily's head shot up and she paused mid-cheese pour. "Can I come? I know how to clean!"

It was like something was planning the timing because Armando walked in, no longer wearing a suit, but now sweatpants and a shirt. "Go where?" The three stayed silent, putting toppings on their pizzas as if they didn't hear him come in. "Is it a secret place?"

"I'm going to Crenshaw tomorrow to help Spence clean up one of the parks." Alondra said slowly and quietly, not too comfortable with speaking to him.

"Cool, I'll drive you."

Alondra was about to decline and say she'll just take an Uber when Lily cut her off. "Can I come too? I like parks and I know how to clean." Lily pleaded.

"Yeah, and we could see where Alo grew up." Ruben added.

"No, that's okay. I'll just order an Uber."

Armando shook his head, grabbing leftover dough to make his own pizza. "No, you can save your allowance money. I'll drive everyone to the park tomorrow."

not armando going to his old city for once 💀🤚🏽 this is just a filler but i realized Alo and Jordan have to get together at some point so i'm building that relationship up rn 😌 taking out some stupid shit he did in the show though bc baby that aint gonna work

can we talk about how there wasn't a halloween, thanksgiving or christmas episode??? like bro imagine the halloween party😡‼️

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