Authors: Elizabeth Reyes
Hector
Hector
Hector
5th Street #3
Kindle Edition
Copyright © 2013 Elizabeth Reyes
All Rights Reserved
Author’s
Note
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via
the internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is
illegal and punishable by law Please purchase only authorized electronic
editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of
copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Cover art by Ashley from
The
Bookish Brunette
and Claudia from
PhatPuppyArt
Editing by
Theresa
Wegand
To Mark II.
Your extraordinary
gift for the game of chess and funny stories about the chess club sparked
another story plot. Thanks for the laughs! Love you.
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.