“Tch,” Julian hissed between his teeth. He slumped moodily in the chair, propping his shoes up on the mattress. The white rubber of his Converse were dirty and cracked, and there was a large hole torn in the bottom of one.
When Yadriel moved to the edge of his bed and put his feet on the floor, he stepped on something sharp. “Ouch—what the—?” Yadriel’s eyes bulged when he finally took in the state of his room.
Well, now he was awake.
It looked like a bomb had gone off. Or maybe just a human hurricane named Julian Diaz.
“What the hell happened in here?” Yadriel demanded, picking up the unfolded paper clip stuck to the bottom of his foot. It was just one of maybe two dozen that lay scattered across the carpet.
“Got bored,” Julian said simply.
Yadriel shifted through the debris. Had he really been tired enough to sleep through all this? “Right.” His room was a little messy, sure, but it was organized chaos. The mess Julian had made was just … chaos.
“You got shitty taste in music, by the way,” Julian told him, his tone matter-of-fact as he nodded to Yadriel’s ancient iPhone that lay on the rumpled sleeping bag. The earbuds were dirty, and they crackled if he turned the volume up too loud. It had been a hand-me-down from his brother, and Yadriel used it to store his music, since there wasn’t enough space on his newer phone.
“No I don’t!” he said, feeling oddly defensive as he picked it up and stuffed it back into a drawer. His yearbook and old notebooks were on his unmade bed next to a Sharpie and more balls of paper.
Yadriel held up the tattered notebooks and glared at Julian. “Did you go through my stuff?”
Julian blinked. “Uh … what?” His ears burned red.
It was the guiltiest face Yadriel had ever seen.
“Don’t go through my stuff!”
“I didn’t!” Julian spluttered.
“You’re a terrible liar,” Yadriel growled and stuffed the notebooks back in their place on the shelf.
“It’s not like I had anything else to do,” Julian groused, kicking his feet up onto the bed.
“Don’t put your shoes on my bed!” Yadriel snapped.
“They’re ghost shoes, they can’t get your bed dirty!” Julian pointed out.
If Yadriel could’ve shoved Julian’s legs, he would’ve. But he had to settle on a death glare instead.
“So, what’s the plan, patrón?” Julian asked, unbothered.
Yadriel stood and went to the closet. “The plan is for me to go to school,” he said, digging around for a clean shirt. “And for you to stay here.”
“Wait, wait, wait—what?” Julian demanded, waving his hands. “Are you serious? Why are you going to school? We need to go find my friends!”
“I’ll look for them at school,” Yadriel said.
Julian gave him a withering look. “They’re not gonna be at school!”
Yadriel ignored him and tried to straighten up the mess. He grabbed his jeans off the floor and gave them a shake. There was some cemetery dust on them, but other than that, they were clean enough.
“Hey, are you listening to me?” Julian stood up. “I will lose it if you try to keep me here all day!” He held up a finger. “You wanna be haunted? ’Cause, swear to God, you ditch me here I’ll haunt you for the rest of forever!”
“You are being so dramatic right now,” Yadriel told him, shaking his head.
Julian groaned and smacked his palm against his forehead. “Look at me! Begging to go to school!” He collapsed onto the bed, his arm thrown over his face.
“You know,” Yadriel said, kicking some shoes into the closet, “if you’d just let me release you, we could end this here and now.”
Julian snorted.
“I know you want to check on your friends, but we also can’t let you turn maligno, okay?” Yadriel warned, peering down at Julian, who pointedly ignored him. Yadriel frowned. “You won’t be you anymore, you’ll turn into a—a monster.”
Julian peeked up at him from under his arm. “Bold of you to assume I’m not one already.”
Yadriel stared at him, trying to gauge if he was being serious or not.
Julian met his gaze, unblinking.
Knock, knock.
Both their heads snapped to the door.
Yadriel’s eyes went wide. That had to be Lita. She knew. She could sense he had a spirit in his room. He was totally screwed. If Lita found Julian, she’d tell his dad, and Yadriel would get in deep trouble for disobeying him and going behind his back and—Oh God, would they kick him out for disrespecting the ways of the brujx?
Yadriel panicked. “Hold on!” he called, grabbing the sleeping bag and tossing it over Julian, but it fell right through him, landing in a heap on the chair.
Julian arched an eyebrow and pointed at himself. “Ghost, remember?” he whispered.
“Shh!” Yadriel hissed, flapping his hands at Julian uselessly. “Hide in the—”
The bedroom door swung open.
Maritza leaned against the doorjamb.
Yadriel let out a breath and clutched his chest. “Jesus, Maritza!”
“Good morning!” she greeted cheerily. Her eyes swept back and forth between the two of them—Julian lying on the bed, Yadriel clutching his jeans. Her dusty-rose-painted lips curled into a smirk. “How was the sleepover?”
Yadriel dragged her into the room and slammed the door closed behind her. “You’re going to get us caught!”
“Chill, Yads!” She laughed, crossing the room to sit on the dresser.
Julian was on his feet. “Going to school is a waste of time!” he repeated, as if Yadriel had forgotten.
“No, it’s not,” Yadriel said as he snatched a clean pair of underwear and a fresh binder from the dresser. “I’ve got a math test—”
Julian scoffed.
“And unlike you and your friends, I actually care about my grades.” Yadriel closed the drawer with a snap and spun to face Julian.
“Then you gotta take me with you!”
“No way, we are not taking you to school with us.”
“You can’t just ditch me here!” Julian whined.
Yadriel clenched his jaw, his patience wearing thin. “Look—” he said, rounding on Maritza for some backup. There was a highly amused look on her face. “We’ll take a vote!”
“That’s not fair!” Julian scowled.
Yadriel ignored him. “Maritza.”
She arched an eyebrow in response.
“Do you think that Julian should stay here while we go to school?” he asked, sounding perfectly logical and even-tempered.
“Of course she’s gonna side with you!” Julian objected, gesturing wildly. “No voting!”
“Actually.” Maritza thoughtfully twisted a pink curl around her finger. “I think he should come with us.”
Julian blinked, arms still aloft. A satisfied smile broke across his face. “Well, you heard the bruja!” He sat down in the desk chair and locked his hands behind his head. “I’m going!”
It was Yadriel’s turn to splutter. “What?!” He shook his head at Maritza. He must not have understood her correctly. “You’re not serious.”
She shrugged. “I mean, it makes the most sense, Yads—”
“Traitor,” he hissed.
Maritza looked like she was trying not to laugh. “Mira! We’ve got to take him with us.”
Julian grinned.
“If we leave him here, he’s going to get caught,” Maritza reasoned. “He’s too loud and can’t be trusted not to get in trouble while we’re gone.”
Julian’s grin quickly vanished.
Yadriel groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. “We can’t—”
“If he stays here, he’s one hundred percent getting caught by Lita,” Maritza pointed out. “She’s a Cuban abuelita who’s got nothing better to do than hang around the house and pick up after a house full of boys.”
Yadriel didn’t want to admit it, but she had a point. By the time he got home from school almost every day, his room was straightened up, or his laundry cleaned and folded on his bed.
Well, at least today Lita would have plenty to keep her busy.
He looked over at Julian, who appeared hopeful, though mostly desperate. Logically, Yadriel knew Maritza had a point. He knew it was dangerous to leave Julian at home unsupervised, but still.
“Maybe we could just leave him in the cemetery,” Yadriel tried, which was met with another series of groans from Julian.
“Yads,” Maritza said firmly, standing upright and frowning at him. “What’s the deal?”
Heat clawed up Yadriel’s throat. “I don’t want to take him to school.”
“But why?”
“Because of what happened with Lisa!” he lashed out.
Maritza’s shoulders sank. “Yads…” Her expression softened to a look of pity. It made his skin crawl.
Meanwhile, Julian was looking around, annoyed. “Uh, should I know who Lisa is?” he asked, voice edged with impatience.
“She was a dead girl who haunted my elementary school,” Yadriel snapped at him.