CHAPTER 14
"Now without further ado, I present to you, LOS AMIGOS DEL BARRIO!" The Friends From The Block.
Dani looks up at Antonio and he gives her a nod, telling her to start off. She starts to strum her classic guitar and starts up the beat of the first song.
After she strums the intro, the rest of the group joins in with her, Antonio with his acoustic guitar, Jose with his electric one, and Camila with her accordion.
They officially start the show. Antonio is the lead singer for the male side while Dani was second in vocals.
They always have a routine when choosing song genres to play. They study the crowd in order to know what type of songs to play, most of the songs in Spanish.
They started to play upbeat songs to get the crowd warmed up. After a few songs, they play more catchy songs in order to get the crowd dancing.
As the night goes on they played various music genres such from romantic love songs to duets. Always remembering to add in the songs requested by Richy.
In the end, they were singing sad breakup songs. This was done on purpose due to them knowing that half of the crowd would be drunk by now.
The people in the crowd who were drunk were singing along to the songs. They were holding a beer in one hand while singing in a heartbroken tone.
After they finish singing the last song for the night, the crowd fills them with cheers and applause. Dani loves the sensation of finishing a show.
It gave her a sense of accomplishment which always warmed her heart. It's been a while since she has felt this.
The group thanks the crowd and walks down the stage with a big smile on all of their faces.
After the group of friends finishes playing, the host of the party invites them to eat. He leads them to a table that is filled with different kinds of dishes.
The table has burgers, hotdogs, and a variation of steak. The smell of the food made Dani's mouth drool. She serves herself a burger and a steak.
When all four friends finish serving themselves food, they sit at an empty table at the back of the yard.
"Oh, man. This food is so good," Jose said while taking a bite of his burger.
"You can say that again," Antonio adds. "This steak is amazing."
"We really crushed it out there," Jose tells the group while pointing at the stage.
"Especially you, Dani. You haven't lost the magic touch."
"I will never lose the magic touch mi amigo," Dani tells him with a smile.
"I really enjoyed this. It was really fun."
"And this is just the beginning my friend," Camila chimes in the conversation.
She stands up and goes to a cooler that was next to the food table. She takes out four beers and brings them back to the table.
"The night is long my dear friends. We have to celebrate our successful concert."
Antonio takes out a bottle opener from his keychain and opens all four bottles. He hands a bottle to each friend at the table.
"We won't get in trouble because of this right?" Jose asks while pointing at the beer.
"You know, the whole drinking underage shit. That's kind of... well I don't know. Illegal."
"Not as illegal as you," Antonio snickers, and the group of friends laughs.
"La migra hast caught your ass yet. I highly doubt someone from the outside would know about us drinking."
"Chill. They ain't take me yet cuz I'm too slick. and if they do take me, ima make sure they take all your Mexican asses with me too," he says and Antonio just ruffles his hair.
"Relax, Jose. We are all under sanctuary here. Don't worry about it." Camila assures him.
"Dani should be worried about drinking. She lives with a cop."
"But, she ain't at home," Dani interjects with a smug on her face.
She knew very well that the agent was in another state. This gave her full freedom to enjoy the party without limits.
"The only thing I am worried about tonight is not having a good time."
"And that won't happen under my watch," Camila tells her while lifting her beer.
"With this and music, we will have a blast for the rest of the night."
"In that case," Dani said while taking a big gulp from her beer.
"Let's party!"
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During the course of the night, the group of friends was having a blast at the party. The teens all have a full bar of energy for the night.
They dance to the rhythm of the music, hardly ever stopping for a break. As the night went on, the teens had rounds of beer like if it was water.
One of the teens who drank the most was Dani. She lost count after the fourth beer. A normal teenager would probably be wasted with the amount she drank, but that wasn't Dani's case.
She was pretty used to the amount by now. After all, she learned from one of the best while being inside the foster care system.
The teen was always careful not to get too carried away. She didn't want to wake up in the middle of the street with a severe hangover.
The music was blasting and the teens kept on dancing. From reggaeton to bachata, they were always on their feet dancing.
After a while, the teens took a seat back at the table. All that dancing has finally caught up with them, leaving their feet sore and tired.
They were at the table telling stories and crazy events that they remembered. They were all laughing and giggling like they never were before.
It was around one in the morning when Jose checks his phone.
"This was the best party I've been to for a while," said Antonio while stretching his arms.
"Unfortunately I have to go before my uncle kills me," he says while getting up.
He picks up his guitar case and smoothes his hair back. He then takes out the money that he received from Richy and hands out an equal amount of cash to his friends.
"Hasta luego chicos. Don't waste all that cash in one go," he says with a smile.
He then heads out, not before ruffling Daniela's hair.
"See you later, chiquita," he tells her and leaves.
Daniela just rolls her eyes and fixes her hair that the boy messed up.
"I also need to get going. My parents would beat my ass if I don't arrive soon," Jose tells the rest of the group.
"You guys are still staying?"
"No, we will head out too," Camila replies as she gathers her things.
"Dani, you are staying at my place tonight so you don't have to go all the way back to the city," she said while tapping Dani's shoulder.
"Sounds good," Dani agrees as she stands up, fixing her blouse.
The friends gathered their instruments and said their goodbyes. Dani went out with Camila to her house, which was only a five-minute walk from the party.
They arrive at Camila's house, which is a small, white house at the corner of the street.
Camila unlocks the side door and both girls enter the kitchen. It was a small-sized kitchen but well kept. Camila turns on the living room lights and heads back to the kitchen to get a bottle of water.
Dani places her guitar down and sits down on the couch, her feet tired of dancing during the whole night.
She takes off her shoes, placing her all-white Air Force's on the side of the couch. Making sure they aren't obstructing the pathway.
She then noticed that one of her shoes had a slight scrape on the side of the sole. It was light but visible enough for the girl to be annoyed.
She wasn't the most luxurious person in the world. After all, she grew up in the foster system in which would provide her with a simple quality of living.
Though that didn't stop her from admiring nice shoes, especially when they were from Nike and Jordan.
The design, the color sways, and the comfort from such shoes would always get her attention.
She practically can name any shoe in FootLocker with ease. Dani is a sneakerhead, to say the least. That is why it bothers her so much that her crispy white shoes had a scrape.
She sees Camila, who was entering the living room with two bottles of water. Daniela smiles at her and then asks,
"Is your mom working the night shift?"
"Yep," Camila answers while handing Dani a bottle.
"She left around twelve so she won't be home until eleven," she said while taking a seat.
She is the daughter of a single mother with no other siblings. Her mom works in cleaning office buildings in DC.
"So the house is all yours?"
"Si," Camila responds while nodding.
"Don't worry about her. You can stay and sleep. Do you want to sleep in my bed or here on the couch?"
"The couch is fine," Dani tells her friend with a tired smile.
"You sure?"
"Yep. This will do," Dani said while stretching. She didn't want to bother her friend.
"Sleeping on the couch hits different."
Camila nods with a chuckle. "I can't argue with that," she tells her friend.
"Oh, and if you want to change to more comfortable clothes, your bag of spare clothes is in my room. I will go get it for you."
"Thank you," Dani replies with a smile.
"Alright," Camila said while getting up.
"I will also bring you a pillow and blanket so you can get comfy," she said.
Camila went to her room and came back with a purple blanket and pillow along with a black and grey book bag.
She gives it to Dani and tells her if she needed anything else to just tell her. Dani thanks her and heads toward the bathroom in order to change.
She searches through her bag and finds a pair of sweat pants and a black t-shirt.
She has the tendency to stay over the night at her friend's house so she had a bag of clothes in her house. She used to stay over more often before she met Emily.
In past foster homes, each time she didn't feel comfortable staying in a particular house, she would go to Camila's house and spend the night.
Of course, she wouldn't do this consistently in order to not annoy her friend. Dani would only resort to this matter in particular instances.
Instances shell rather forget.
She quickly changes and brushes her teeth. Once the girl was done, she steps out of the bathroom and places her bag on the side of the couch.
Dani then lays down on the couch, her eyes were very heavy with exhaustion. It surely wouldn't be a struggle to sleep tonight.
Everything ran well and smoothly. She thought to herself while rubbing her eyes.
She was glad she decided to leave the house and party with her friends.
If for some reason Emily were to find out that she snuck out, Dani knows she would pay a high price for her actions.
The agent would scold her until she would run out of words in the English lexicon. Then she would transition to Spanish.
That woman knows so many languages she mine as well scold her with every language she knows though the teenager wouldn't know a thing of what she would say.
Dani bit her lip knowing that she would be facing a very angry Agent Prentiss if she were to get caught.
"Worth it," she said with a rebellious smirk.
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Ding
Dani wakes up to her phone notification. The girl rubs her eyes and shifts her head to the side, seeing how the window reflects sun rays from outside.
She sits up and instantly regrets getting up so fast. Her head was pounding and spinning around the whole living room.
I shouldn't have drunk so much. Why the hell do I do this to myself? She asked herself. She rubs her eyes and got her phone.
Her vision was blurry and the bright phone screen didn't help. Once her eyes adjusted, she checks the time. It was roughly nine o'clock.
She saw a message from Emily pop up as her most recent notification.
Em: Hey, honey. We solved the case. I will arrive in DC in a few hours but I have to pass by the office to fill out some paperwork. Take care :)
"Shit", Dani mumbles under her breath.
She should have seen this coming since the agent did tell her they were close to solving the case but it still caught her off guard that she was arriving back.
The teenager stands up, waiting for a minute for her body to balance in place. She wasn't wasted per say but it did take her time for her body to recover from the night before.
It's been a while since she has had an alcoholic beverage and she should have minimized the amount she took last night.
She was too caught up in the moment to measure herself completely, something she now regrets.
Once she was certain she wasn't going to fall, the teen walks into the bathroom and the first thing she did was look at herself in the mirror.
She looked like hell with roughly no hours of sleep. Her eyes were slightly red with dark circles under them.
"Oh my God. I look like I'm going to audition for the walking dead or some shit," she tells herself, still staring at her reflection.
She washes her face with cold water to fully wake herself up.
After finishing, she steps out of the bathroom she sees Camila walking out of her room, looking in the same tired state that Daniela was in.
"I see you are trying to get rid of the hangover too," Camila chuckles while walking with Dani towards the kitchen.
"Emphasize trying," Dani says while sitting down in the dining room.
"Emily is coming back today. I don't want her seeing me all woozy and shit."
"Oh crap. Will she be here soon?" Camila asks, searching for something in the upper cupboards. Dani followed her.
"Not until the afternoon," Dani answers with a yawn.
"But I still need to sober up. The last thing I need right now is for her to be up my ass telling me how I was supposed to be home because I'm grounded."
"Yeah, that doesn't sound like fun," Camila said. "But I have coffee. Some caffeine can help us both wake up."
She gets a pot and adds water to it, waiting for it to boil. Once to water is ready, she prepares two coffee mugs hands a mug to Dani.
Dani takes a whiff of the coffee smell and it almost woke her up without taking a sip. The girls sit in the dining room and chat, eating animal crackers with a coffee in hand.
Once both teens finished drinking, they washed their mugs and placed the kitchen utilities back in place.
Daniela packs up her things in order to get going. Her clothes from the night before she places them in a gym bag, with her friend telling her that she was planning on washing some clothes today.
That she had no problem with Daniela leaving it so she could wash it which the teenager is grateful for.
"Thank you, Cam," Dani says while picking up her guitar case.
"I gotta go now. I need to shower and change before Emily smells the alcohol."
"No problem," Camila said with a smile.
"I can't wait for the next gig. It was fun rocking it out there."
"I couldn't agree more," Dani replies. She hugs her friend goodbye and heads out.
She walks two blocks in the quiet house area until she reaches a bus stop that was located at the top of an inclined hill. She waits about fifteen minutes until the bus arrived.
She enters and quickly pays the 2 bus fee in cash. She didn't want Emily to know that she was out so paying with cash is a better and less trackable alternative.
She walks and decides to sit in the back portion of the bus, seeing that the back was almost completely empty.
She sits at a seat next to the window, watching how the small-town buildings passed by, eventually turning into taller buildings as she was nearing DC.
With Daniela running on a rather empty stomach, with her having only coffee and a few animal crackers in her system, she decides to stop by a Dunkin Doughnut in order to get a more substantial meal.
She ordered a breakfast wrap and an iced coffee with the hope that this food will help her sober up.
After finishing eating, she feels way more energized so she decided to walk the rest of the way home. It would only take her about ten minutes to arrive home and a morning walk wouldn't hurt her.
In fact, she likes the idea of walking through peaceful scenery. The girl takes out her phone and headphones, quickly picking a playlist to listen and starts the rest of her journey home.
The walk was uneventful to be expected. The streets were quiet and only a few people were walking outside.
People heading to work while others were out in their morning jog. Dani was only a few blocks away from the apartment.
She decides to take a shortcut to arrive faster, walking through an apartment complex to save time.
The place was calm and quiet. The morning sun rays were beaming lightly creating beautiful scenery between the apartments.
The only thing Dani could hear was the sound of birds chirping in the background.
While walking, Dani's music pauses abruptly. She stops and looked at her phone, wondering why her music paused mid-way through a song.
"Damn it. Why is my data going slow?" she said to herself.
She closes her music app and opened it again, hoping it would load.
She was waiting for her song to load when all of a sudden she felt something hit her hard on the back of her head, making her stumble to her knees near the wall. Her guitar case landing next to her.
Feeling her head pounding with the strong impact, Dani turns around and sees a person with a hiking mask standing over her.
"What the hell?" she asks out loud to the unknown figure.
The person doesn't reply. Instead, they dunk down, at level with the girl.
Dani notices that the figure was in fact a man, seeing the way his body was structured. she then feels how he raises her chin, making her look at him.
"You're coming with me," he tells her.
His voice void of any emotion. He reaches out for something in his back pocket.
In those few seconds of him being distracted, Dani quickly swings a punch that lands on the side of his face, making him stumble to the floor.
The girl gets up and starts running but her head was too fuzzy for her to have coordination.
She doesn't manage to go far out of the ally, with the man quickly catching up to her and yanking her shirt, making her back crash to the floor.
Daniela quickly reaches for her front pocket, taking out her pocket knife as she sees him approach. She sits up, seeing how the man kicks her in order to make her elbows crash the floor.
He grabs her by her shirt's collar bone, with Daniela managing to jab her knife at the man's forearm, making him groan in pain.
He backs up, holding his arm as he bleeds.
"You little bitch!" he hisses as he sees his blood trickling to the floor.
Daniela sits up once again but her head was constantly pounding, making her unable to stand up. Her body is rushing with adrenaline, feeling how she has her heart rate beating at a fast pace.
She was in full fight or flight mode.
She scoots back until her back hits the brick wall in hopes that she could somehow be able to get herself up.
"What do you want from me?" she asks angrily but receives no response.
The man walks towards her again. Dani clenches her knife in order to throw another jab at him but he quickly kicks her in the stomach area, making her drop the knife and drop her whole body to the floor.
He kicks out the knife to the side, leaving her completely defenseless.
He dunks down and covers her mouth and nose with a tissue.
Dani tries with all her strength to push the man away but in a matter of seconds, her brain started to feel foggy and her eyelids were feeling heavy.
The girl knew this sensation before. She knew what was the purpose of such cloth. She knew because that is what was used when she was first taken.
Aww shit. Not again, she thinks as she inhales one more time.
Then everything went dark.