𑁍༆𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮 !
ᶠᵗ ᵃˡᵉˣ ᵃˡᵛᵃʳᵉᶻ
010. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲🌹.•✰

VALERIA'S POV !

We sat at the table for dinner, basically celebrating that Lydia and Schneider will be citizens tomorrow. "Hey, here's to you guys." Penelope picked up her glass. "Tomorrow, you will be American citizens. This is my last night with a bunch of foreigners at my table." She smiles, gaining a laugh from all of us.

"Yep, I'm finally ready to renounce free health care, economic prosperity, and diplomatic respect for... Oh, God, maybe I didn't think this through." Schneider said.

"And tomorrow I will be as American as El Pollo Loco. Sallud." Lydia announced before we all said "Sallud." and tapped our glasses together. Lydia was about to take a drink of rum before Elena tried to take it out of her hand.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey. You can't drink. You have a test tomorrow." Elena placed the glass on the table.

"Ay, please. In Cuba, we have the four 'R's. Reading, writing, 'rithmetic and rum." Lydia took the shot of rum as Matt looked at weird.

"You know, writing and arithmetic don't start with 'r', right?" Matt questioned.

"Matt, would shut up, please?" Lydia faked smiled at him.

"You only need to get 60% right to pass the test." Schneider mentioned.

"So, basically in order to be citizen of this country you need to prove that you're at least a D student?" I chuckled.

"It should be easy for Schneider to pass then." Sofia took a sip of her drink.

"What are you trying to say?" Schneider tilted his head, as if he were a lost puppy.

"Nothing, Schneider." She patted his shoulder.

"It's like the same requirement to become president." Schneider said in a duh tone.

"That explains why our president is so stupid." Alex laughed.

"Hey pen, do you need help cleaning up?" Schneider asked.

"Nah, you're gonna be an American. Let the Latinos do it." Penelope replied, taking his plate. We all got up from the table.

"That's weird." Elena mumbled as her phone dinged.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked as we sat down on the couch.

"Syd just sent me a text. It's the dancing girl, salmon sushi and prayer hands." Elena explained.

"Okay, don't panic." I warned her.

"Why would I panic? Now I'm panicking." She started to freak out

"Relax." We all said in unison. "When you get confusing emojis from someone, you just send confusing emojis back. The same thing happened to be when Sofia sent them a few weeks ago to me and I had no idea what was happening."

"Matt's right. You need to do it until someone breaks. You're in an intense game of emoji chicken." Alex said.

"So do I just send Syd a chicken?" Elena asked.

"Oh my god." I shook my head. Alex took her phone.

"Okay, how about a ghost, a ski lift, and the Swedish flag? No, the Swiss flag." He dropped her phone in her lap and moves his hands imitating and explosion.

"But what does that mean?" She questioned.

"Exactly." Sofia smiled. "And I also won that time."

"Aw, that's cute." Matt pouted. "You definitely did not." Sofia made a face at him.

"Thank you. You guys are the best!" Elena exclaimed as she hugged all of us.

...

"Abuelita, you're still studying? Don't you know everything by now? Alex questioned. We were all at the place where Schneider and Lydia were taking their citizenship test. We got signed out of school early but Schneider said he needed something from the apartment.

"Of course. I'm just trying to avoid getting propositioned by all these guys." Lydia moved the book away from her face.

Schneider came bursting through the door in a outfit that looked liked the American flag. "They didn't call my name yet, did they?" Schneider asked in a nervous tone.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Lydia looked at him up and down.

"I'm trying to look more American. Is it not working?" Schneider started to freak out a bit. "I should have brought a gun." He scoffed.

"No you shouldn't have." Matt said.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked.

"No!" Schneider yelled causing everyone to look at him.

"Calm down Schneider, jeez." Sofia sighed.

"Last night, I was testing the pH of the water in my seahorse ranch and, as I looked at the vomiting little guys, I realized I suck at tests. All tests. Drug, sobriety, vision, IQ, somg. You name it, I fail it!" Schneider rambled.

"It's true. One time he made our mom pee in a cup for him because he had a drug test the next day." I said. Alex gave me a weird look.

"Relax Schneider. You go in, they ask you a few questions, you come out. Fricky-fracky. American." Lydia smiled. "See." Lydia pointed at some guy walking out in handcuffs with a police officer behind him. Schneider jaw dropped.

"Oh, my God! They're gonna send me to Gitmo!" Schneider panicked.

"Hi, folks. I'm looking for Lydia Margarita Del Carmen Inclan Maribona Leytevidal de Riera. Ooh, that's fun." A man walked out. Lydia got up and extended her arm.

"Hello." She smiled and held his hand.

"He seems nice." Schneider smiled at us.

"Listen up, people, because I'm only gonna say this once." A woman came out yelling. Schneider smile immediately faded. "First name is a little, uh, smudged. Uh, something Schneider."

We all encouraged him since he was a literal reck. He walked up to her with a smile. "You like my outfit?" He asked. The woman rolled her eyes and walked in the room.

"He's screwed." Elena crossed her arms.

"I'm gonna miss him." I sighed. I got up and sat in Alex's lap and leaned into him. "Wake me up when they get out." I felt him put his arm around me and kiss my forehead.

...

Alex would not let me sleep so I stayed awake the whole time. Schneider walked out with his hands behind his back. I started to get worried and I quickly got off of Alex's lap. "Oh my God. Are you in handcuffs?" I asked.

"No, I passed." He pulled two tiny American flag from behind him. We cheered and hugged him.

Soon after, Lydia came out. "Ooh, here comes Abuelita." Alex announced causing us to look up. We all started cheering but Lydia had no expression on her face.

"Wait is something wrong?" Sofia walked up to her.

"I don't know. He said to wait here. Maybe they make everyone wait while they figure out if you passed." Lydia said.

"Well, they didn't make me wait. She told me in the room and I showed her my YouTube video. Do not look at it!" Schneider pointed at us.

"I answered every question. I aced the English test. Did I do something wrong?"

"This is because you're Latinx." Elena sighed. The white guy goes in there and cruises to citizenship, despite having nothing to offer this country."

"That's right." Schneider waved his flag. "Wait, are you talking about me?"

"Could I lose my green card?" Lydia gasped.

"No." Alex shook his head.

"I'm sure everything is okay." Matt tried to calm her down.

"Maybe. You would not be the first proud immigrant who got treated like a criminal." Elena said.

"I cannot believe this. It is this government today. This whole country has changed. It has turned to caca. This has been my home for more than 50 years, and they don't want me? Well I don't want them." Lydia went off.

The man that took Lydia in opened the door. "Oh, Lydia, sorry, we just had a typo in your social. You passed."

"I love this country." Lydia ran and hugged him.

...

THE NEXT DAY !

6AM

I was awoken by the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned and picked it up seeing it was Alex. I left his apartment early last night after we came in and thought Penelope was having a baby.

"Hello?" I whispered.

"Abuelita is in a coma. When mami woke up for work she saw her on the floor in her room. You guys need to get here soon." He said.

"Okay, we will." I hung up and started to get worried. I woke Sofia and Schneider up and we quickly went down to the hospital.

Karissa's messages...!

I had this idea today to add Valerias father in and she has and encounter with him. Also I'm sorry if there is any typos.