RIDE OR DIE

Chapter 1

The sun had set a while ago. Here I am, leaning on my bedroom's balcony railing on a New Year's Eve, just taking in the scenery in front of me. The city's always looked beautiful during this hour, but the peace and quiet it portrayed tonight due to the lack of bustle, made it all the more breathtaking. I don't get many chances like this to just collect my thoughts and, I don't know... breathe, I guess? It's a feeling that comforts me, but can't afford to get used to.

"Anna."

A familiar voice reached my ears and I couldn't help but groan. I knew that tone of her voice anywhere. Come on... How many times do I have to tell her that I'm not going?

I was planning on ignoring the voice with the hope that it would turn around and walk away, but knowing her, I knew that it was useless.

Didn't stop me from trying though...

A few seconds of silence later came a knock at my bedroom door. Well, knock is putting it lightly. Really, really, lightly.

"Anna Radcliffe!" The wannabe gorilla at my door continued to yell. "You'd better open up this door by the time I count to three, or I swear I will get Johnny to break this door down." *Pound pound pound*

The mental image of my friend pounding her chest and crying out like Tarzan entered my mind. A chuckle escaped my mouth as I shook my head.

"Gigi, have you actually tried, I don't know... Opening the door?" Another familiar voice spoke. Oh, yeah... This is gonna be good.

I straightened myself from leaning my forearms on the balcony railing, turned around and leaned my backside on the railing instead. I had the perfect view of my bedroom door from where I was standing. Crossing my arms, I readied myself for the show I was about to witness.

"What do you mean by 'have I tried opening the door'? Johnny, just who do you think I am? Of course I've tri- "

Just then, the door flew open and in walked a black, 6'4 tall man, who I know as Jonathan Simone.

"Told ya," said Johnny as he continued to stride towards me without turning around to face Hana, aka Gigi, who was frozen at the door. "And you, my friend," he pointed at me. "Need to start getting ready."

I uncrossed my arms and leaned my elbows on the railing. "Why would I need to get ready?" I pretended to be clueless. Johnny had already reached my side. This man was so tall that I had to crane my neck just to meet his eyes.

"Cause you're coming with us." Johnny pointed out and grabbed my elbow to pull me back into the room. I was too lazy to resist so I let him.

"Where are we going?" I continued to play dumb some more. At the door, Hana was still gawking with her mouth wide open. "Close that mouth of yours, chica (girl). You'll catch flies." I teased her and she shook her head, breaking out of her reverie.

Johnny gave me an incredulous look. "You know..." He started waving his free hand like it's gonna help a person remember. "The New Year's bonfire by the tracks. We told you over the phone that we'd be picking you up at nine." He let go of my elbow and walked towards my small walk-in closet and began rummaging through my clothes to find an outfit. I was still standing in the middle of the room so I went to sit at the edge of my bed.

"Hmm... Nope, doesn't ring a bell," I said while tapping my chin mockingly. "But what I do know is that there's this book that's just waiting to be read, and the chaise lounge at the balcony is already warm and ready for my butt to sit on."

"Nuh-uh, none of that nonsense, hermana (sister)." Hana walked over to me and grabbed my hands to pull me off my bed. She dragged me to my vanity table and pushed my shoulders down to make me sit on the stool. Her height gave her the advantage since she's 5'7, three inches taller than me.

I met her eyes in the mirror and frowned. "But you know that I don't like going to parties. Come on... Why can't we just stay in instead?" I turned myself around in the stool to face her. "We can call Nate and ask him to come over. You know he wouldn't mind staying in. He's more awkward around new people than I am." I tried to reason with her.

"Honey, everyone knows that you of all people are not awkward around strangers." Johnny called out from my closet. Seconds later, he walked out with a blue and white plaid flannel in one hand and a pair of skinny jeans along with a regular white t-shirt in the other. "You're lucky I love you and right now, I just want you to come to the bonfire with us. If it weren't for you already being so reluctant to go, I'd be forcing you into something else. And you know what I'm talking about." He gestured to the clothes in his hands.

I cringe at the memory of my friends forcing me to try on different varieties of outfits at Forever 21. It was during the most recent summer where Forever 21 had a sale, and Hana being, well... Hana, grabbed the first mini skirt she saw and shoved me into the closest fitting room in sight. Johnny was all too glad to look for more clothes for me to try on.

Most of the clothes they made me try were revealing and skimpy. I knew it was just to see how they looked on me, and we had no intention of buying it. Of course some, I had to admit, looked cute and I bought them with my own money, only so that the nightmare which I went through wouldn't have been all for nothing.

We also have another member of our friend group, Nate, who was with us at the mall that day. And while I was receiving what felt like hours of torture, that traitor was lounging at the bookstore. THE BOOKSTORE! Can you believe that?

Well, I think it's pretty obvious that I love books, right?

"Please, Anna? Por favor? (Please?)" Hana pleaded with her Spanish accent while clutching her hands together in front of her chest.

I looked from one friend to the other and back again. I let out a sigh and said, "The both of you would have found a way to drag me to the car anyway." I pressed both hands on my thighs as I stood up and grabbed the clothes in Johnny's hands and made my way to my closet.

Before I shut my closet door, I tilted my head to face Hana. "Oh, and Hana..." She looked my way. "No makeup, alright?" I finished and shut the door without waiting for an answer.

I quickly stripped out of my current grey loose tank top and black sports shorts and changed into the outfit that I took from Johnny. Through the mirror inside the closet I saw my reflection. My eyes focused on the silver dog-chain hanging in front of my chest. On the front of it, tiny little amethyst gems were arranged to form up a capital A.

I sighed and left the chain hanging out of my shirt. After quickly tying a knot at the bottom of the flannel, I made my way out of the closet. At the entrance, I was greeted with Hana holding up a tube of mascara, some eyeliner and lip gloss.

"Hana, I- " I began to protest.

"Just one, Anna. Please? You can pick any one you want." She cut me off.

I looked to where Johnny was and saw that he was closing the French doors to my balcony. "I can feel your eyes at the back of my head, Anna," he said as he drew the curtains. "Do whatever you want, but the party's gonna start in about..." he checked his watch, "...fifteen minutes or so. So, we'd better hurry up."

Hana whipped her head to his direction and glared at him. "You weren't supposed to give her a choice, you tonto (fool)." Johnny just shrugged and went to sit on my bed. Hana turned back to face me. "Come on, tonight is one of the very rare times where we have a day off. Especially you. You should make the most out of this opportunity and have fun. While looking good at that." She waved the makeup in front of my face to prove her point."

I stared at her for a few more seconds, sighed and plucked the eyeliner out of her grip. I made my way to the vanity table and started applying it to the edge of my eyelids. Since I've been to more than one occasion where makeup was needed, I had no problem at all putting it on and was done in no time. I've always preferred to do things myself, so I made the most of those situations and learned.

"You see?" Hana came and stood behind me with her hands on my shoulders as she bent down until her face was right beside mine. "Your pretty eyes just got prettier."

She was right though. Even I had to admit that the eyeliner defined my brown eyes in a way that made them look bigger and bolder. But I wasn't gonna tell her that.

I smiled at her through the mirror and closed the cap of the eyeliner. I handed it back to her and tied my black hair up into a high ponytail. When I was done, I set the brush down on the table and stood up. "Let's get this show on the road."

I grabbed my phone and wallet and chucked it in the Adidas sling bag that Johnny brought with him. I couldn't be bothered to carry those around with me.

"Is Nate gonna meet us there or are we picking him up?" I inquired while wearing my watch then followed them out the room and we descended the stairs together.

"He's meeting us there," replied Johnny as I switched off all the lights. I left the living room lights on though. "But not before he picks up Rivera's cousin." Johnny added.

We headed out the door and I grabbed my black converse from the shoe rack by the doorway. I bent down to put them on as Hana locked up for me. She, being my best friend since kindergarten meant that she came over a lot, and by a lot, I mean a lot. So, I had a duplicate key made for her so she could let herself in whenever she wants.

As we walked to the car, I asked her, "The one who moved from Connecticut two weeks ago, right?" I noticed that Johnny decided to drive the Camaro today.

"Si," she answered as she went straight for the passenger seat. Johnny unlocked the car and we got in, with me at the back and Johnny in the driver's seat.

The seating has been like this since the day Johnny got his license. Me, being a January baby and the oldest of the group, I obviously had my license months before them. I would be the one to pick them up and drive us wherever we needed to go.

At first, it was my sister, Katie who picked them up and drove us around. By the time she graduated high school and went to Harvard, my brother, Austin already had his license, so it was his turn to drive us. He's now in his second year of university at MIT. They're now sharing an apartment they rented in Massachusetts. Anyhow, ever since Johnny got his license in the spring of our sophomore year, we've always sat like this whenever we carpooled.

"So, you're telling me, that you ditched your cousin, who just moved to California, just so that you could get my nose out of a book and go to a party?" I said, pausing at every few words to stress on what she did. "And you somehow convinced Nathan to pick him up instead of you?" I added.

"Más o menos, si." (More or less, yes.) Hana shrugged like it was no big deal. Maybe it wasn't a big deal to her, but I just never liked it when someone dropped something that they were doing just to turn their attention to me.

"It's nothing, Anna. Besides, Luca has already met Nate once. It was when Tía Camilla y Tío Matteo (Aunt Camilla and Uncle Matteo) came over to visit and Nate just happened to knock at the door. Really, it's fine, chica." Hana reassured me.

I hummed in response but still didn't like it.

"You said that time that he was half Puerto Rican and half, what was it again? Italian, right?" Johnny inquired.

"Si," Hana confirmed. "Tío Matteo's from Venice. He met Tía Camilla when they were in college. I guess they just decided to get married and live in the state where they met."

"Well, if that's the case, what made them decide to move from Connecticut all the way to the other side of the country? And during this time of the year at that?" I wanted to know.

"No estoy segura (I'm not sure). But I think that it has something to do with tío wanting to start his own mechanic business. They've been planning to move closer to family anyway, so I guess that's the reason," Hana explained.

"Well, new year, new start, right? I guess that's why they chose to move around Christmastime." Johnny figured and I nodded in understanding. Guess I'll ask him when we get there.

"Oh, and Luca does kickboxing. He's better at fighting than me. Has a pretty good aim too." My ears perked when Hana brought this up. "He found out I'm in Human Resources so he asked me to sign him up for initiation. He's coming to orientation on Friday."

I raised my eyebrow at the news. "How did he find out?"

"Well, during the times when we go to visit he'll ask for me to be his sparring partner. So, there was this one time when we fought he noticed I got so much better, wasn't good enough to beat him but I managed to hold my ground longer than I did before. It was around the time after inauguration so it made sense."

I nodded to myself in understanding cause I knew Hana was a good fighter. She isn't the one of the best, but she's good enough.

"He of course wanted to know how I improved myself. I just said at first that my friend taught me some of what she knew, which was true 'cause you did help me improve on my skills. He accepted the explanation, although I could see that he was sceptical," she explained.

"The next day, he overheard me talking to Ray over the phone." I managed to catch her biting her lip before she continued. "He probably heard me saying 'yes, sir' more than once so he questioned me about it when I hung up. I gave the excuse that my boss at the cafe I worked at wanted me to come back into work as soon as possible. That's where he caught me though cause he said, and I quote "why would a fourteen-year-old like yourself need to work with well off parents?". I guess I froze cause he then asked if the call had anything to do with you."

Johnny chose this time to speak up. "Let me guess. You couldn't think of anything to cover that up so you ran your mouth like water runs out of a faucet?"

"Well, I didn't tell him everything..." Hana said sheepishly. "I only ever told him who I work with and what we do. I didn't mention any names whatsoever."

I sighed and told Hana, "It's okay, Hana." She adjusted herself in her seat to face me. I gave her a small smile and she returned it. "Though, do you know why Luca would want to join?" She only shrugged.

"Alright, guys. We're supposed to go out and spend our time away from work. Not to discuss a future recruit," Johnny complained.

I only chuckled. "Yeah, you're right." Just then, Bang Bang by Jessie J started to play on the radio.

"Oh Dios mío! (Oh my God!) Turn it up Johnny, turn it up!" Hana started squealing while jumping up and down in her seat.

"Yo, can't you see that I'm driving here? You've got two hands and a brain, just do it yourself," Johnny said before he added, "Actually, you know what? Don't do it yourself cause Anna and I will go deaf before we even reach the tracks."

An audible smack was heard throughout the car followed by an ow and a what's wrong with you, woman before the volume of the radio was turned up exactly at the build-up to the chorus.

It's safe to say that Hana 'killed' the song and us along with it since we practically died from laughter by the time the song ended. Hana may or may not be the worst singer out there, but the girl's got some sick moves. I mean, come on... She's the head cheerleader of our school for goodness sake. But I think it has something to do with her being Puerto Rican. You can take my word for it, those ladies can dance.

After another ten minutes, we arrived at the tracks. You could see that a lot of people were already there judging by the number of cars parked around there area close to the actual tracks. The tracks, you could say, were located in the middle of nowhere, but there was still the occasional vegetation here and there. However, other than that, the place was pretty much deserted. Around the area that was more secluded with trees few metres away from the tracks, you can clearly see a bonfire lit ablaze. It seemed like most of the people that came were either hanging around the bonfire or leaning against their vehicles while having a conversation with each other.

"Come on. Nate texted me saying they've arrived and are at the bonfire. Let's go meet them, shall we?" Hana spoke, looking up from her phone.

We made our way towards the burning flame and I easily spotted the ginger-haired man that we were looking for.

I let the guys know and we headed over to Nate.

"How's it going, Nate?" I called out once we were in hearing distance.

"Hey, guys. Luca's over there at the drinks section." He directed the last part at Hana as he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to where the drinks were.

She nodded and muttered a quick I'll be back before leaving to find her cousin. I noticed how Nate's eyes followed Hana's retreated figure as she walked away. This guy's got it bad.

"And then there were three," said Johnny. I looked over to him and he caught my eyes. I jerked my chin to where Nate was standing beside me and he looked in his direction. He seemed to notice the same thing I did as I saw his eyes widen.

He looked over to me once more and we had a silent conversation. What the actual heck?! The look on his face seemed to say.

I just shrugged in response. I'm not surprised.

Johnny's eyes widened some more. You mean you saw this coming?

I bobbed my head a few times lightly. I mean, it's kinda obvious.

We looked over at Nate who was still gazing into the distancing. I sighed and called his name, "Hey, Nate."

Silence.

Johnny decided to give it a go. "Oi, Nathan," he said while snapping his finger at him.

Nate only let out a hum but he was still fixing his gaze on where Hana walked off to.

I walked up to stand in front of him and grabbed the sides of his arms and started shaking him vigorously. "Earth to Nathan Drake, is anyone home?"

"Huh, huh?" He finally broke out of his reverie. "Wait, what? What did I miss?"

"Apparently a certain Puerto Rican chick that goes by the name of Gigi Rivera." Johnny teased him.

I could see his cheeks and ears turn into a faint shade of pink. It was slight and not really noticeable in the darkness but it was definitely there. Aw... Little Natey's blushing.

"Well, my man, if you like her, then I say go for it." Johnny encouraged him. "A and I here..." he draped his arm over my shoulders. "...will be glad to be your wingmen. Just say the word and we'll tell you everything we know about her. Though I'm pretty sure since you're crushing on Rivera, I wouldn't be surprised if you knew which brand of tampons she uses," he said with a smug look on his face.

"She uses pads," Nate looked down at the ground as he muttered to himself, stopping me from smacking Johnny at the back of his head.

I whipped my head over to face him. "The heck?" I couldn't help but say. Damn, this guy's in real deep.

At the corner of my eye, I saw Hana along with a guy in sunglasses coming our way. I lifted an eyebrow. Really? It's past ten pm and he's wearing sunglasses?

I faced Nate again and pointed at him, "This isn't over, Nate. We'll talk about this later."

I pushed Johnny's arm off of my shoulders and approached Hana and her cousin. "You know, I didn't think there was such a thing as moonglasses," I directed towards the guy beside my best friend. Behind me, I felt the boys' presence coming closer.

The newcomer took off his shades and hooked them on the neckline of his plain white t-shirt. While he was doing so, I noted that the shades were Ray Bans. Hmm... So he's either stylish or really well off. Could be both.

I lifted my eyelids to look him in the eye and my breath nearly hitched. Keyword: nearly.

He was freaking drop-dead gorgeous. And that's coming from me, because I've seen a lot of people in my life and never once have I ever been interested in a guy's looks. Sure, there were a few people who I considered 'cute', but this man standing in front of me right now, I just can't seem to want to look away.

He had nice, naturally tanned skin thanks to his bloodline, and thick dark brown, almost black hair which was tousled, but somehow looked perfect. I saw that he had a sharp jawline of which I noticed bore a two-day-old stubble that made him appear even manlier. However, what awed me the most was how green his eyes were. His pupils were slightly dilated due to the darkness of the night, but the green in his eyes, although it's a darker shade, managed to overrule the darkness surrounding us. I'm probably a bit biased with the eyes since green is my favourite colour, but with the way the moonlight shined down on him like a spotlight, I can honestly say that I've never seen anybody look more...

"Bellissima. (Beautiful)" 

*~*~*~*

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking some time out of your day to check my book out. This is my first ever story so I'd appreciate it if you guys comment and give me some feedback on it.

As you can see, I incorporate languages other than English in my story, so to those out there who are fluent in the languages I use, please do not hesitate to correct my mistakes if there are any. I'll be sure to edit them as soon as I can.

Once again, thank you so much for giving my story a shot. I had this plot at the back of my mind for some time now, and since we're all in quarantine at the moment, I didn't have much to do. So I thought, 'why not write a story' and here I am.

I know most people aren't into reading author's notes so I'll stop right here.

Thank you, guys. :)