Prologue
As he approached his locker, Hector could see that the drama going on all week wasn’t over. It was really starting to get old. Lisa, a girl whose locker was a few lockers down from Hector’s, had been having issues with her boyfriend. Apparently that past weekend after an argument, her boyfriend, who was drunk and mad, posted something about her on his Facebook status, and it was the talk of the school.
Hector neither cared nor bothered to ask anyone what the idiot posted. All he knew was he was forced to be witness to their constant bickering all week because the dumb ass was trying to beg her back and she wasn’t having it. What sucked is they did it right there by his locker, and usually they had small crowd listening in on their arguing. It was so stupid.
Today the crowd was bigger than the norm, and Hector could hear that the argument was a bit more escalated. Even hearing her boyfriend’s angry accusatory tone when he spoke to her now, Hector had every intention of staying out of it as he had all week.
Ironically, Lisa had been someone he’d been interested in getting to know a little better the previous semester. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was the new girl to his school or because she was quiet and shy, but she’d sparked an interest. Most of the girls he knew had been going to his school the entire four years and were loud and anything but shy about flirting with him. There’d been something refreshing about Lisa’s timid smiles.
As usual, by the time Hector would so much as consider getting to know a girl for real, not just think about getting in her pants, she started seeing someone else. He was never one to move in on another guy’s girl. His brother Abel said, “There are too many girls out there to be fighting over one,” so Hector left well enough alone.
Lisa had been seeing this guy now for months. Up until this week, as far as Hector knew, things between them had been peachy. For the most part all week, Hector would overhear their arguments while he got whatever he needed out of his locker but only because it was inevitable. Not so much Lisa but her boyfriend was one of those persons that didn’t care who heard his business. He’d argue with her loudly no matter who was around. In fact, Hector got the feeling he enjoyed the attention. Today, he was louder than he’d been all week, and with his friends there laughing and egging him on, he got even louder.
From what Hector could see as he walked up to his locker, she wasn’t even looking at him. She was staring into her locker as he stood behind her, demanding something. “Move,” Hector said to the guys blocking his locker, and they did immediately.
As annoying as it was that she was obviously uncomfortable with the attention her idiot boyfriend was getting, Hector was still going to mind his own business and not say or do anything.
“Just admit it,” her boyfriend said. “You were skyping with his ass all night, right? Why not just text if it was such a friendly conversation? Huh?”
Lisa was ignoring him. If she did respond, Hector hadn’t heard it. The banging on the locker forced Hector to pay attention. Annoyed, he turned to see the guy’s fist against the locker next to Lisa’s. She’d finally looked up and was facing her boyfriend now, but that wasn’t good enough for the punk. He got in her face all menacingly as if she were another guy. “Admit it. Did you show him your tits?” He got even closer to her now, and she tried to back up, but the guys behind her were too close. “Did you? You skank!”
Instantly on fire, Hector slammed his locker shut and pushed the few guys in his way aside. Without giving it so much as a thought, he grabbed the guy by the hair and slammed his face into the locker right next to Lisa’s more than once. “You think you’re a tough guy talking to your girl like that!”
Now, the crowd, which had closed in so much that Lisa hadn’t been able to move, backed up real fast. Just as Hector suspected, there was absolutely no fighting back from her boyfriend. Hector lifted the guy’s bloodied face away from the lockers and turned him to face his stunned friends. “He look like such a tough guy now?”
None of them said anything, and not one of them so much as stepped up to try and help her boyfriend either. Hector threw him against the locker, this time letting him go. “Get in my face, tough guy!” He took a step closer to the guy. Seeing the guy brace himself only pissed Hector off more. “Or is that something you only do to girls, you fucking pussy?”
Luckily for the guy, in the next instant, Hector himself was pushed up against the lockers by school security as was Lisa’s boyfriend. They were both hauled into the dean’s office.
As much as it sucked since he knew this was grounds for suspension, Hector had a feeling his brother Abel would go easy on him for this one. All Hector would have to do is defy his brother to stand there and watch a guy get in a girl’s face the way this asshole had and not do anything about it.
Months Later
By the time Hector looked up, Vanessa was too close for him to tell his friend A.J. to be cool. The huge mole that covered half of her cheek had always been a draw for cruel jokes, and A.J. had one of the biggest mouths in school.
“Morning, Spot.” A.J. waved at Vanessa, who after all these years had gotten pretty good about playing it off like she didn’t care.
She ignored him and kept walking past them.
Hector shoved A.J as they reached the top of the stairs to their school entrance. “Why do you have to be such an asshole?”
A.J. laughed. “What? That’s what everyone calls her.”
Before Hector could respond, a commotion by the front entrance caught their attention. “Check out nerd boy’s toy robot.”
Two of Hector’s other friends, Raymond and Theo, were playing keep-away from Walter, a heavyset awkward guy who was in a few of his A.P. classes and someone they’d been picking on forever. Walter tried in vain to get it back. Walter’s eyes met Hector’s for a moment.
In class, the guy was nice enough, even on the funny side, but Hector didn’t talk to him outside of class, not that Hector wouldn’t if Walter ever attempted to. He just seemed to disappear in between classes. This, no doubt, was probably the reason. The guy was overweight, hadn’t a fashion clue, and was a social disaster. He may as well have a “kick me” note permanently posted on his back.
But Hector remembered hearing about the impressive chemical-smelling robot Walter had built for the science fair earlier that year, which not only won first prize in the district but had qualified to enter the national event in a few weeks.
Holding up his hands and laughing wickedly, A.J. caught the toy robot Theo tossed him. Geez! Hector’s brother, Abel was right. Maybe Hector did need to get some new friends.
A.J. motioned to Hector, about to toss the robot his way, but Hector frowned, shaking his head. He was about to tell them to give it back to Walter when he felt a soft tug on his arm.
He turned to see Lisa standing there smiling at him. Her pretty brown eyes sparkled, making him forget all about Walter. “I wasn’t even going to come today because I figured there was no need to.” She bit her lip, glancing away for a second then looked back in his eyes. “But I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to you.”
Surprised by the overwhelming disappointment he immediately felt, the fact that she’d come by just to say goodbye to him didn’t even register. “Goodbye? Where you going?”
The sparkle in her eyes faded a little, and she cleared her throat but then smiled again and shook her head. “It’s a long story. I’m gonna go live with my grandparents up north now.”
“But you just moved here.” He insisted.
After his suspension a few months ago, he’d come back to school to find out she and her boyfriend, who Hector now knew as Jairo, had broken up. But it was weeks before Hector’s dumb ass began considering the possibility of getting to know her a bit better. There’d been something about those haunting dark eyes of hers that had made him put it off for too long.
Lisa lifted a shoulder. “Like I said, it’s a long story. Maybe someday I can tell you about it in an email or something, but for now, I just wanted to say goodbye.”
Loud cackles brought Hector’s attention back to the guys heckling Walter. He turned just in time to see them all rush into the main building, and he hoped that maybe that meant a teacher would see them and put an end to their harassing Walter. At the moment, he couldn’t tear himself away from Lisa.
“Well, that sucks.” He shrugged. “I mean I don’t know the details: maybe this is a good thing for you, but I think it sucks that you’re leaving.”
The sparkle was back in her eyes. Hector couldn’t help but smile, wishing he could touch her, even if it was only for a second. She glanced away for a moment, giving him a chance to openly admire that dark, almost black, long hair he’d begun to have visions of running his fingers through and maybe putting his face against.
Before he could ask anything more, she took a step forward and hugged him. Taking advantage of the moment, he did the very thing he was hoping he could and pulled her to him, burying his face in the side of her neck. Her hair felt as soft and smelled as perfect as he thought it would.
“I’ll miss you,” she whispered in his ear.
Hector didn’t want to let go. “I’ll miss you too,” he whispered back.
She began to pull away, forcing him to loosen his hold on her until they were facing each other. Damn. He wanted to kiss her now. Why the hell had he taken so long to get to know her? This sucked big time.
“When do you leave?”
“Tonight.”
“How come,” he paused, knowing he really didn’t have any right to be upset. It was his own damn fault he’d been so slow to get things going with her and they’d barely gotten to the talking-often-and-texting stage. But damn it, he wanted to know now. “How come you hadn’t mentioned this before?”
“I just found out a few days ago, and, even then, it was iffy. But it’s a done deal now.”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. To hell with it. Hector turned his face and pecked her on the lips. He knew he’d stunned her, but he’d at least get that much out of this. For weeks, he’d been taking it slow and was really beginning to think he wanted so much more with her. Now this may very well be his last chance. To his surprise, she pecked him back. It took him a second to get his thoughts together, but he brought his arm around her waist, pulling her in and really kissed her this time. It was soft and sweet but enough to warm his insides and begin to ignite other parts of his body, and then she pulled away a bit breathless.
“I’m,” she looked away, licking her lips, “I’m sorry we didn’t get more time together, Hector. I thought I regretted it before, but now I really do. Maybe someday we’ll meet again.”
Feeling an unexpected ache in his heart, he forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m sorry too, but never say never. It’s a small world. We may just meet again someday.”
She smiled and nodded. “You have my number. Text me or call me whenever you want.”
“I will.” He stood there, his jaw tightly clenched as she walked away, thinking back to the day he’d finally really noticed her—the day he’d gotten back to school after being suspended.
He thought he’d noticed her before she got a boyfriend, but that was the first day she’d actually spoken to him, and that was to thank him for what he’d done. Even though she didn’t have to, she’d also explained about the skype chat Jairo had been so pissed about. After chatting with a friend from her old school, her friend thanked her for the chat by posting an image of a bouquet of flowers on her Facebook wall. When Jairo’s stupid friends saw the post, it went viral.
Admittedly, though Hector dare not tell her, he probably would’ve been a little pissed himself had he been her boyfriend. But no way would he have acted the way Jairo did, and he certainly wouldn’t have made a public stink out of it.
The warning bell rang, pulling Hector out of his Lisa thoughts, and he remembered Walter. Suddenly feeling a little worried, he hurried to the front doors of the school building they’d all gone into. There was no way those idiots realized they were messing with the science project that would be representing their school in the national contest.
With no sign of any of them as he entered the main building, he hoped that was a good thing. Hector got to his Advanced Stats class just in time but noticed immediately that Walter wasn’t there yet. Not only was Walter never late but they had a final today. Feeling the smallest bit of guilt sink in that he’d lost all interest in helping Walter out when Lisa had showed up, he wondered now if something bad went down after he left.
By the time class was over and Walter never made it in, Hector was really feeling like crap about not having done anything to help him out. He ran into A.J. and Theo on his way to his next class. “Hey, what happened with Walt? He never made it to class.”
A.J. brought his hands to his mouth, trying to stifle a laugh and pointed at Theo.
“Nah,” Theo laughed, shaking his head. “That was all you!”
“What?” Hector asked, the concern weighing even heavier now.
A.J. lifted his arm to flex his muscle. “It’s not my fault these guns can throw so hard.” Then he turned to Theo. “And it’s not my fault you can’t catch for shit.”
Theo busted out laughing heartedly now. “Man! That guy is probably still trying to put his toy together.”
Feeling his insides go hollow, Hector looked at A.J. disgusted. “You broke the robot?” Without thinking, he grabbed his stupid friend by the shirt. “Why would you do that?”
A.J. laughed a little nervous now and brought his hand over Hector’s. “Hey! I told him I was sorry. I didn’t mean to.” A.J’s attempt to loosen Hector’s grip on his shirt was a weak one, and it only made Hector grip it tighter. “What the hell, man?” A.J. asked his words a little shaky.
“You really are an asshole,” Hector said, releasing him with a shove then turned to Theo who looked a little nervous himself now too. “You are too, Theo—assholes—both of you.” He walked away, shaking his head, feeling like an asshole now himself for not having stepped in and taken the damn robot from them.
Hector was just glad he was almost done with high school. He only ever hung around these jerks at school. Outside of school, he hung out at 5th Street, the boxing gym he was now part owner of, with his brother and his older partners and much more mature friends.
He couldn’t even believe now that he’d spent all this time with these guys and never stood up for Walter and all the other people they’d picked on and messed with over the years.
Just before getting to his next class, he saw Walter. Feeling the sting of guilt even deeper when he noticed Walter’s red-rimmed eyes, he was almost afraid to ask, but he had to. “Hey, Walt, did you fix your robot?” Walter walked past him, the contempt in his eyes nearly burning a hole through Hector, but he didn’t say a word.
“Listen, Walt, I’m sorry I didn’t stop them. I got sidetracked, but if there is anything I can do to help you fix it—”
“Are you kidding me?” Walter snapped so loudly a few heads turned their way. “You or your sorry-ass friends wouldn’t know the first thing about building something like that! Why don’t you and those other jerks just go fuck yourselves!”
The moment his words were out, Hector saw something flick in Walter’s eyes—fear. Fear that in a moment of anger he’d said something he would’ve never said before because under normal circumstances it might’ve gotten his ass kicked. Walter glanced around, a little pale-faced now at the other students standing around looking just as stunned.
Hector decided he’d let the guy off the hook this time. Walter had every right to be pissed. “I’m sorry, man. I hope you get it fixed.”
Walter stared at him for a moment wide-eyed, apparently just as stunned as everyone around them that he hadn’t gotten Hector’s fist to his face. Without saying another word, Walter spun around and stalked away. Yep, Hector deserved that. He only hoped the outburst had made Walter feel a tiny bit better. Knowing Walter, and from what Hector had heard about the things that robot could do, it probably took him years to perfect it.
Hector walked away in the opposite direction, leaving a very confused audience standing around behind him whispering. He knew they were all wondering why he hadn’t at the very least given Walter a fat lip. Today was different. He didn’t think he could feel any worse after hearing Lisa’s news, but now he did. He should’ve done something to stop his dumb-ass friends. But it wasn’t like Hector always stood back and didn’t say anything. Lisa’s ex-boyfriend wasn’t the only one who’d ever had to answer to him for threatening or trying to hurt someone weaker.
Besides, this was different, he tried to convince himself. The guys he hung out with might be jerks sometimes, but they never hurt anyone. Mostly they just messed around and poked fun at people. The only thing they ever bruised was maybe a few egos.
Hector tried to appease his guilty conscience by reasoning that, just like all the other times, Walter would get over it. And he insisted the guy was going to have to stand up for himself sooner or later or this kind of crap would keep happening to him.
The next day, Walter didn’t show up to school, nor did he show up at all for the rest of the semester. Since he wasn’t popular and didn’t have many friends, no one really knew what happened to him. He just never came back. The only news they’d gotten was that his science project hadn’t been entered in the national competition.
As much as Hector wanted to believe Walter not coming back had nothing to do with the robot incident, that maybe Walter had moved or something completely unrelated was the cause of his absence, his conscience kept reminding him of all the other times Walter had been the recipient of his friends’ taunting. This may’ve been the last straw that just drove Walter over the brink.
Now standing here in the school’s crowded football field while his mom and brother and the rest of the gang from 5th Street happily snapped pictures of him in his cap and gown, he still couldn’t shake the guilt from not having done the right thing.
A weakling had been picked on in front of him, not just this one time but time after time, and for years, he’d watched and done nothing about it. His only hope now was that dropping out of school was the only thing his idiot friends had driven Walter to do.