With the voice of Samuel's frantic mother in the background of the small television in her likewise small apartment, Alaska would be lying to herself if she thought she wanted to offer any moral support for anyone but herself in that moment. 

Her small fingers were shaking uncontrollably as she folded them under her chin, waiting for the hot water to boil in the kettle so she could make a cup of tea for Samuel's mother as she'd promised. 

"Taking interviews without consulting me is not going to help the case." 

In Samuel's bedroom, the inspector said to the anxious woman. 

"Really? Great . . . of course I am going to ask for help wherever I need it because both of my sons have disappeared. Both of them. Not one of them. Los dos."

At that, Alaska's own anxiety spiked up as she leaned forward on the table trying to block out the noise. 

Samuel was missing and it'd been 63 hours. 

Everything was toppling over her like a building with a bad foundation. 

Nobody knew what to do, especially her with the things she'd just discovered, and not she was not taking them well. In the very least, she had hoped Samuel would have already been found alive and well but even with that, it was uncertain.

A muffled sob escaped her lips and as soon as that happened, Samuel and Nano's mother came and laid a hand on her back, rubbing slightly, making her feel like a failure.

She was supposed to be comforting her, not the other way around.

-

"So run me through it again because I am so so so confused." Alaska asked again for what felt like the hundredth time to Alejandro.

Leaning back with a sigh, Alejandro propped the pool stick up and tried his best to make it simpler for her and Valerio. 

"Escuchar bien; Nano made bail. He came to the school, I don't know what for, to try and clear his name or something maybe? Not sure. But he did, and Guzman lost his shit."

"Joder . . . the one time we're not in school; We have horrible luck." Valerio scoffed, looking through the striped balls to see which one he'd strike next.

"Please; I could care less for this type of drama." Ala replied, turning to face her twin once more, "how is he? Nano? Was he like healthy looking like what happened, I need more details."

"Like I said before, he was fine. A little pale, a few bruises, but it's nothing anyone wouldn't have anticipated. In fact, I expected worse."

Valerio watched as Alaska soaked in the information, trying not to be too suspicious and ask why she was so invested in Nano's wellbeing.

Was it something more?

"I'll ask Samuel at school if I can go by and see him. What else?" 

"Guzman almost charged at him."

"Of course he did, he's a hothea-"

"Are my eyes deceiving me?"

A new feminine voice intruded, making all three teenagers turn around to see face her.

Mariposa's eyes lit up as bright as two stars as she looked at Valerio in all his tall glory. Surely it had to have been over three or four years since she'd last seen her daughter's best friend. Mariposa's heart felt warm as she though of how you and happy Alaska was back when she was friends with Valerio.

"Hola." Valerio grinned cheekily, walking over to the older blonde woman to give her a big hug.

"Cariño," she returned the smile, meeting his embrace with a small kiss on both of his cheeks, "you've gotten so tall now, how have you been?" 

"And you've only gotten more beautiful than the last time I saw you," he charmed.

"Oh, stop it-"

"Si, por favor; Stop it." Alaska's voice now stepped in, making the other three turn to face her this time. 

Mariposa's smile wavered slightly, but not enough to allow her son to notice, which would cause him to be annoyed with Alaska. 

Deep down, Mariposa new Alejandro tried his best to smoothen the relationship between her and Alaska because she noticed the little looks and nudges. 

But there was only so much he could do. 

"Alright then, I'll let you go on with your game. Enjoy yourselves- and Valerio please stay for dinner so you can tell me all about how you've ended up back here."

-

"So are you going to tell me what's going on between you and your mother?" Valerio asked from beside his friend who was scrolling through Vogue Magazine on her phone on bench facing the duck pond.

"What do you mean?" Alaska replied, not fully hearing his question due to how engrossed she was with the article she was reading through.

"Your mother?"

"What about my mother?" She asked, still not fully there. Upon realisation, Valerio gently shut took her phone, causing her to snap out of it this time.

"I was mid-purchase, bro." she sighed, running a defeated hand through her hair. 

"Valeria."

"Que?" 

"Why are you avoiding the question?"

"I asked you one back; What about my mother?" 

"What's going on between the two of you?"

"Rio, this is definitely not the place to talk about my shitty relationship with my mother."

"We're sitting in front of a duck pond, guapa. This is the best place to do it. And come on, you already know you can talk to me. Whatever the relationship is, it can't be worse than the relationship I have with my own mother."

Ala looked away from him, feeling just the slightest bit embarrassed because Valerio was right, and now all she can do was feel ungrateful because he was right. 

"It's not that serious and I don't want to bother you with anything-"

"You're not bothering me, I genuinely want to know and see what I can do to help."

"First of all, before I say anything, you really can't help. This is something I'll have to recover from myself."

"Hit me with it."

"Okay so;" she paused, turning to fully sit while facing him, "you know when my dad died, right?"

"Yes?"

"Do you remember how my abuelos had to come and stay with us for months before you left?"

"Si?"

"They had to stay even months after you left; Almost a year."

Valerio cast his mind back to how he always tried to make his friend feel better by coming over almost everyday after the funeral, in an attempt to take her mind off things. Now that he was remembering, he did faintly remember how Alaska and Alejandro's grandparents stuck around after the funeral, even though they were ideally meant to be there a week before and a week after. 

But they stuck around. 

"Why?"

"Porque," she paused, sighing and leaning back, "do you remember seeing mama at the funeral?" she asked, meeting his gaze once more.

And when he thought about it, he couldn't place Mariposa anywhere on the grand three day funeral. Not the day before the burial, not the day of the burial, and not the day of the church service and wake afterwards. 

" . . . Now that I think about it-"

"No; The answer is no, you didn't see her. It's because she wasn't there." 

Valerio watched as Alaska's face scrunched up with disappointment, as if she was feeling upset all over again just thinking about it.

"What do you mea-"

"We were all sat around Papi's bed while he was in and out of consciousness. He was cracking jokes and making declarations while he was on his death bed and his organs were shutting down one by one because Ale couldn't stop crying. The three of us: me, Ale, y mi mama, were sitting around his bed when he said that he knew he wasn't going to make it and he wanted only two things; he didn't want his death to break us. He wanted us to stay strong and achieve nothing short of greatness, and he wanted a funeral like royalty. Of course we tried reassure him that he would pull through and that no one would plan a funeral for him until he was an old man but as you know, he died hours later."

Valerio clasped his hand around hers in an attempt to comfort her as soon as she said that last part. She didn't even look like she needed it, but alas it was just a way for him to show that he was there for her.

As usual.

"Anyway, Mariposa took off the morning of the funeral. I went to her room to ask her if I could borrow a black cardigan and instead I found Abuelo and Alba standing there in the room, which by the way was so messy as if she left in a big hurry, and Abuelo had a note in his hand that she left. All it said was, 'Lo siento'. That's it. My father - her husband, who she made vows to had died, and all she could do was run away to God knows where. She took 'till death do us part' literally, clearly not caring about what happened to her kids while she was at it and all she had to say was 'sorry'.

Alaska remembered that 7am morning so well because she was sleep deprived. She had caught a total of two hours off and on worth of sleep because she couldn't bare the thought of closing her eyes and opening them knowing her father closed his and never opened them again.  Meanwhile Mariposa was next door probably planning her great escape. 

Ala didn't know if she would ever forgive her for that.

"Bailing on the funeral is one thing, but abandoning us without so much as a text or anything for about a year is completely fucked up. Completely. She missed our birthday, our first day of high school, she missed so much shit and for what? At least she could've waited until after the funeral to fuck off- I don't even care anymore, just like she didn't care when she left us." She scoffed, feeling fidgety. 

Valerio looked at her sadly, realising that in fact she did have a reason for disliking her mother, but just because he realised that, doesn't mean he didn't also sympathise with Mariposa. 

Alaska was a hothead, so making rational judgements was a rare concept for her, but surely there was some sort of explanation. It didn't matter to him though, he would always be on her side. 

Valerio was about to reply when the sound of both theirs phones dinging cut him off. 

@ halloween_rebeka

Unknown added you to the group

'Hola chic@s!!! Estais tod@s invitad@s a un fiestote en casa de Rebeka!!!!'

-

"Does throwing a party right after a murderer has threatened us all seem normal to you?" Carla asked, annoyed to her friends right after Guzman pushed the vending machine in frustration. 

"You're going to stop living your life because of that? We are going to that party." Guzman said firmly, focusing on the contents in the machine.

"Amor- Really? Do you really want to go back to your old house?" Lu asked, confused and slightly baffled at Guzman's declaration. Polo and Cayetana were likewise confused as they glanced at each other briefly and back to Guzman, "I don't know, I just think it's really creepy if you ask me-"

"Escuchame!" Guzman interrupted, raising his voice and looking at all his friends, "We are all going. We'll have a great fucking time, got it? And if Nano comes anywhere near one of us, I'll bust his head open," Everyone silently looked at him as if he were crazy, "did you think I was bluffing before?

And with that, walked off.

The classroom was a similar setting with everyone discussing the party and how random it was that Rebeka's mother had invited everyone instead of Rebeka herself doing that. The brunette even tried explaining that to Valerio as he was seated behind him, but was cut off by his sister walking towards them and giving him shit about his drug problem. 

The little exchange between Rebeka and Cayetana and Lucrecia last for a few more seconds before Alaska managed to slip in and take the seat beside Valerio. The brunette was so engrossed with the music she was listening to that she almost almost did not notice that Rebeka was being ganged on by Lu and what looked to be another follower.

Taking her earphones out, she just about caught when Nadia told Rebeka that it wasn't worth it, and she replied by saying 'Saved by the bell', making her retreat.

Cayetana and Lu laughed and mocked her as she walked away to sit beside Nadia, but all they looked like was a bunch of bullies, and if she was being honest, Ala was looking for any excuse to finish what she started with Lu in the club weeks prior.

"What the hell are you two even laughing at? How can you take pride in being bullies?" Ala asked them both, making them turn to her abruptly. At once, Valerio rested a hand on her thigh to do his best to hold her down if she tried to get up.

"Mind your business first and foremost." Lu replied.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with you." Cayetana butted in, making Ala turn to face her with a scowl.

"Who are you again?" She asked, standing up anyway.

"Alaska it's useless-" Rebe's voice helped from next to Nadia as she wanted to get up to help calm her down. 

"You know who she is, stop acting like you're not a bitch." Lu defended.

"I know I am actually, and I take pride in that."

"Everyone settle down and let's begin the class please." And this time, it actually felt like someone was saved by the bell because Alaska had reached eight when she was counting in her head and didn't feel herself getting any calmer. 

-

The sun had begun to set, turning the sky orange and pink which was rare for that time of year considering it was Fall time and almost winter. The walk home had definitely worn her legs out as she put the car in Neutral at the traffic light. Alaska knew Samuel lived quite lengthy away from her, but she didn't really process how long the drive would feel from behind the wheel. Although it still was not too far, it still stretched to about twenty five minutes. 

After talking to Samuel  during the P.E period, he agreed to her request to go over to his house after school to go and see Nano. The original plan was to  go over to his house with him after school, but during the last period, Samuel messaged her because he'd remembered he had 'work' after school so they should meet up around 5pm instead and he'd just send the address again. 

She was about to ask her twin to drop her off but he had a headache halfway through the school day, so she told him to take the rest of the day off and she'd catch an Uber after school. At first, Alaska wanted to ask Valerio, but knowing he would be taking Lu with him, she didn't want to take that chance, and thought that maybe a walk would do her some good as well as clear her mind a little bit. 

Big mistake.

Alejandro was at the gym by the time she got home however, and perhaps that was even for the best because she did plan after all to put some distance between them so she could try and be independent from him just a little bit no matter how hard it was sometimes to go from having someone who said yes to every request to just not being able to do that as much. 

But Alaska knew that Alejandro was always going to be there though. No matter what. And that made her feel just a little bit better about it all.

Pulling over onto the side of the road opposite Samuel's apartment complex, Alaska locked the door and walked up the stairs leading up to his apartment which she vaguely remembered from the party she'd been to at his apartment months prior. 

When the doorbell rang through, she vaguely heard thumping footsteps closing in one her, before the door opened to reveal the man of the hour himself. 

Alaska had to admit that she didn't expect Nano to open the door himself. It was obvious that he didn't know she was coming over either because he had a similar look of confusion on his face.

"Well, well . . ." he grinned cheekily, puffing smoke from his lips into the air as he stepped to the side to let her in.

The brunette rolled her eyes and said nothing as she walked into the home, Nano shutting the door behind her.

"What are you doing here, mariposa? Samuel isn't home yet." Nano spoke again, taking a seat on the other couch next to her. 

"I know, stupid. I'm here to see you, not Samuel."

Nano dramatically hit his hand over his chest.

"I'm touched," he snickered, "pero por qué?"

"I wasn't in school yesterday so I missed your 'grande debut' and I just wanted to see for myself if you actually were alive and out, so here I am." She teased, folding her arms.

"When you say it like that, you make it seem like you actually care about me, princesa" 

Ala looked at the smug look on his face and couldn't help but roll her eyes once more. 

"Yeah well Marina liked you, I guess. So you're alright in my eyes." 

The brief mention of Marina dimmed Nano's smile just a little bit, but not out of sadness. When he thought of Marina, all he could picture was how tragic what happened to her was. 

"Well as you can see, I'm doing quite alright. If you wanted to spend some more time with me, that's all you had to say and I could arrange-"

"Oh God, you're so vain it's sickening."

"But you love it though," he laughed and paused again. The two of them basked in a very brief silence mostly because neither of them really knew what to say, until Nano said:

"How are you doing though? For real? Your ex almost pummelled my face in by the way at the school yesterday. I wanted to hit him though; not just for accusing me about Marina, but also for what he did to you. It would have felt good."

"You should've," Alaska chuckled slightly, fiddling with the strap of her handbag.

"Answer me."

Ala looked up at him for a few seconds, trying to see if he was being serious and didn't recognise any sign of joking on his face. She shrugged, adjusting the bag on her lap when she felt her phone vibrate through with a message.

"It's fine, I'm fine. I don't really care anymore, I'm just seeing everything through day by day."

Nano nodded slowly, digesting what she said. 

"Have you been going out? Having fun?" 

"I've been forced to go out like three times, but I've had no fun at either outing."

"You should try though, you're a senior now, this is your prime time. Halloween is coming up, what're your plans?" he asked.

"This kind of feels like therapy-"

"I'm being serious, mariposa. I'm coming at you like a friend."

"We're friends?"

They looked at each other again momentarily before Nano broke it yet again.

"As friendly as can be."

Ala didn't even realise she was giving him a small smile before he smiled back, making her clock.

"I don't have any plans for Halloween. There's a party going on-"

"Samu told me about that."

"I'm not going though -  and before you give me a speech, I just don't want to go to a place where I'll be surrounded by people I don't like. I don't have the energy for that, and I don't want to spend my birthday that way."

"Your birthday is on halloween?"

"The day after." 

"That's even more of a reason for you to go out, no?" Nano sighed, leaning forward, "look; I can't tell you what to do, but in the future you're going to regret not going to these kind of things because the real world is gonna hit and it's going to be hard. Maybe it'll be different for you because you will have more opportunities than I did, but if there's one thing Marina's death taught me, it's that you don't know where you'll be tomorrow so you just have to live life to the fullest-"

"It's easier said than done, Nano."

"It's worth a chance though, no?"

Ala looked at him unable to believe he was actually trying to have a good conversation with her for once. But the more she looked at him, the more she noticed how spent and exhausted he looked.

"Forget me, what's going on with you?"

"I'm  also taking things one day at a time, but . . . if I'm being honest, it's been a lot."

"I mean . . . I'm bad at giving any and all advice but, you can talk to me about it if you want-if it makes things easier."

Nano smiled at her attempt to be caring. 

He was going to miss her frigidness if he actually decided to go through with the plan  he had in his head for himself.

"I'll take you up on that-"

The sound of keys jingling and the door opening cut her short and both Nano and Alaska looked at the direction of the front door as it was opening. Ala thought that surely it was Samuel, but the she saw a heeled boot stepped in first and she kew it couldn't have been him. 

Pilar stepped into the house, still looking down trying to get her things together, so she didn't notice the guest on her couch until she looked up to tell Nano to put out his cigarette, and her speech caught in her throat.

"H-Hola." She stammered, not expecting the pretty girl seated on the couch to be there. 

"Buenas." Alaska replied with a half smile, slightly uncomfortable and not knowing how to act. 

Upon realisation, Nano cleared his throat and stood up, making Alaska follow suit. 

"Mama, this is Alaska Velazquez. She's a friend of Samu's from Las Encinas and she was waiting for him." He said briefly.

"Oh! Oh hello! I'm so sorry for my bad manners, I'm Pilar; their mother." Pilar quickly apologised, sticking her hand out for a handshake. 

"I should be the one apologising, this is your house!" Ala quickly interrupted, meeting her soft handshake. 

"Will you be staying for dinner, Alaska? Samu might not be home from work for about another hour or so at most and by then it would be 7 or something-"

"Oh no! Please don't stress yourself out, I was only here to leave something for him and see how Nano was doing as well, that's all. I'll leave now." Ala replied, walking around the coffee table and closer to the older woman. 

"Are you sure? It wouldn't be a problem-"

"I'm so sure. It was nice to meet you, Pilar. You have a very lovely home, honestly." Alaska complimented with a smile, turning quickly to face Nano.

"I'll see you later?" 

Nano hesitated to answer and gave her a hug instead and whispered in her ear: 

"I have to talk to you, but it can wait till later." 

Backing up from the hug, Ala looked at him suspiciously, but nodded none the less and told him to get her number from Samuel. 

Finally reaching her car, Ala let out a sigh of fatigue and started it to begin her drive back home, but not before reaching for her purse to connect to the car's bluetooth system to play music. But then her heart skipped a beat as she looked at the message on her lockscreen from thirty minutes prior.

Para: Guzman💙

6:03pm

'Hola'

'Can we talk later?'

'Please?'

A/N:

👀

Yikes.... honestly, I blame writer's block and university. You should too, but I wrote this In a day so I'm definitely getting my groove back. 

Hope you're all staying well and safe.

Quick question and please please answer :D

How many of y'all want her with Guzman?

If yes, why? If no, why? and who would you eat to see Ala with?