Hector

  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.

  Chapter 1

  The laughter and loud screeching from other students happily making their way through the campus of East Side University was just another reminder of why Charlee was so out of place here. Her best friend, Drew, assured her that after a few weeks she’d begin to enjoy college life. That was easy for Drew to say. She’d attended public school her whole life. Charlee had been homeschooled after a disastrous two-month stint in the first grade that proved she had the social capacity of skunk.

  Although she later attempted public school a few times, each time, she’d had the same basic outcome. Even what would’ve been her senior year in high school, when Drew had just about convinced her to her to enroll that one final year so they could do prom and all the other fun senior things together, had been a no can do.

  For three weeks now, Charlee had managed to not make a single friend. She was just as much a friendless hermit as she’d been most of her young life. If it hadn’t been because Drew lived next door to her since they were both babies and because Drew was a social butterfly, Charlee was sure she wouldn’t have even attended the few parties and school dances her friend had dragged her to over the years. This, too, was Drew’s idea. Charlee would’ve been perfectly happy attending online and keeping any need to actually be on campus to a minimum. But no, Drew insisted, and she somehow convinced Charlee that moving clear across the country to attend college full time would be fun!

  Charlee glanced around, careful not to make any eye contact with the group of guys not too far from where she sat. The whole time she’d been sitting there waiting for her ride, they’d been teasing and taunting just about every girl that walked by them. They seemed harmless enough. Some girls even appeared to be flattered by their remarks, but there had been a few times they’d crossed the line and gotten a little rude. Charlee would die of embarrassment if they said anything to her, even if they kept it nice. As they’d inched closer in her direction, she’d actually considered getting up and moving to another spot. But they were already too close, and walking away might call more attention to her than if she just sat there and hoped she could remain as invisible as she usually felt.

  She pretended to be immersed in her phone as so many other students seemed to be all the time. Only she wasn’t using Facebook or Tweeting or even texting like she knew most were. She was reading—one of her favorite pastimes—although right now she was having a hard time concentrating on the latest steamy novel she’d downloaded and was supposed to be engrossed in. The guys’ voices were getting closer, and she’d heard the dreaded phrase, “Check out red over there.”

  Charlee froze, her palms becoming instantly moist, and her heart began doing that pounding it always did when she got nervous. Shaking off the incredible urge to grab her things and run, she stared at her phone screen, praying Drew would miraculously drive up before they reached her bench.

  Why the hell did her car have to break down? It was the one thing that she’d been counting on when she decided to take the plunge and move here. She bought the thing first thing when she got here so she could just drive herself to school, go straight to class, and leave as soon as classes were over. Now she was forced to hang around campus longer after classes until Drew or Drew’s dad could pick her up. And Drew said this was a good thing?

  “Hey, Red!” One of the guys called out to her.

  Though there was no doubt he was talking to Charlee, she pretended not to realize and continued staring at her phone.

  “Don’t act like you didn’t hear me, Ginger. Because I know you did.”

  Forced to, Charlee glanced up at him but couldn’t help frowning. Of course, it would be the loudest, most obnoxious one of the group who’d taken an interest in her. It took all but a second to recognize the familiar and undeniable smell as they all got close enough. She knew the stench all too well since her own step-dad been smoking marijuana for years for his “glaucoma.”

  “What?” he smirked. “Why you looking at me like that? I just wanna say hello and find out what your name is.”

  The guy had that same sleepy, somewhat glossy-eyed look her father got when he smoked the stuff. She forced a faint smile. “It’s Charlee.”

  Scrunching up his nose, he turned to his friends then laughed a little too loudly as he turned back to face her. “Charlie? Ain’t that a guy’s name?”

  “Apparently not,” she said as she began to gather her things.

  His friends began laughing now too as if she’d just said something hilarious. “Okay, okay,” he said a little too amused. “Don’t go. I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Ross and this must be your first year here, right? Because I know I would’ve noticed a beautiful thing like you before.”

  “Yep,” she said, feeling her face warm from the compliment, “first year.” She flung her bag over her shoulder just as he lifted his hand toward her.

  “That hair, wow, it’s . . . so bright.”

  Charlee cursed her bright head. Her entire life, all she wanted was to go unnoticed—blend in with everything, but this hair had and would always be the bane of her existence. Even after Drew’s plan to make it less noticeable, she still may as well sit there screaming, “Look at me! My head’s on fire!”

  She smiled faintly and tried making her way around Ross.

  “Wait, wait.” He stepped in front of her and stared at her hair with an almost perverted expression. “Are you red everywhere, Charlee?” he whispered but loud enough for his friends to hear because they burst out laughing and were already falling all over each other.

  Her face was instantly ablaze and she looked away.

  “Can I touch it?” he asked.

  With a jerk of her neck, she was facing him again. “What?” She stepped back away from him.

  He took a step forward with a sardonic smile that made the hair on
the back of her neck stand. “I meant the hair on your head, not on your . . .”

  “No, you can’t,” she gasped, glancing around wishing to God she’d spot Drew’s car in the parking lot somewhere. “I gotta go.”

  His friends laughed even more now. “Burn!” One of them said, covering his mouth, because her having to go was apparently side-splitting.

  Ross didn’t seem quite as amused as they were now, but he still managed to smirk. “C’mon, Red,” he lifted his hand toward her again. “I just wanna see if it feels as soft as it looks.”

  “Sorry, I gotta go,” she repeated.

  She started to walk around him, beginning to feel a little nervous about how deserted the campus suddenly felt. This wasn’t unusual for a late Friday afternoon, and normally she wouldn’t care, but being alone here with these three obviously high guys was really starting to unnerve her.

  His hand touching her made her gasp again. Ross held her arm as she tried going around him. “I’m asking nicely.” His voice was low and deliberate now.

  Charlee tried to shake his arm off her, but he held it firmly.

  “Let her go.”

  They all looked up at once, and Ross immediately laughed. A heavyset boy she recognized quickly as Walter, a guy on both her chess teams, stood there looking a bit unsure of himself, but he cleared his throat and spoke even louder the second time. “I said let her go.”

  Ross dropped her arm and took a few steps toward Walter. “You’re gonna tell me what to do, fat boy?”

  The voice in Charlee’s head screamed for her to get out of there. She was free to run now, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t just leave Walter there with these three pothead assholes.

  “J-just let her be is all I’m saying.” Walter looked about as scared as Charlee felt.

  “Yeah? Or what?” Ross asked, taking a few more steps toward Walter. “What are you gonna do, fat ass?”

  “Let’s go, Walter.” Charlee said, walking toward him, but Ross stopped her, grabbing her arm again.

  “I said let her go!” Walter pushed Ross, making him tumble back off balance for a second, but he recovered quickly and swung, landing his fist solidly on Walter’s nose.

  In the next few seconds, while Walter brought his hands to his bloodied nose, Ross swung at him again. Charlee screamed at him to stop when she saw Walter lose his footing and tumble to the ground in pain. Ross began kicking him in the stomach and chest, and his friends joined him, kicking Walter mercilessly. Completely panic-stricken now and terrified that they were going to kill him, especially when she saw one of Ross’s kicks go for Walter’s head, Charlee begged them to stop. She thought for sure security or someone would’ve come by now, but unbelievably, there was no one around. That’s when she saw him.

  Out of nowhere, a guy ran up to Ross, and with one swift powerful punch to the face, he knocked Ross out cold. Charlee was too stunned to move, even when Ross’s body flopped lifelessly at her feet. He never even knew what hit him.

  “You okay, Walter?” The deep resonate sound of his voice barely registered as she finally pulled her eyes away from the body lying at her feet. Looking up, she watched the mystery guy bend over at Walter’s side. Ross’s friends were long gone, running the moment they saw Ross drop like a sack of rocks. The guy hadn’t bothered going after them, too concerned about Walter instead.

  Mesmerized, she now couldn’t take her eyes off him as he lifted Walter’s big body effortlessly, helping him to his feet.

  Charlee hadn’t even noticed that Drew had driven up until she honked. Coming out of her daze, she turned to Drew, stepping away from Ross’s body and lifted her hand at Drew to give her a second. “Are you okay, Walter?”

  Walter nodded but looked away. He seemed upset or maybe just embarrassed. “Are you sure? I can ask my friend to take you to the emergency room if you want. We can also call the cops.” She turned to Ross who was still lying on the floor but appeared to be coming to. “We can try and keep him here until the cops come.”

  “He ain’t going anywhere.” The guy assured her with a lift of an eyebrow.

  Her eyes met with the guy’s intensely serious eyes for a moment. She’d never seen such heavy lashes on a guy in her life, and she was having an awfully hard time keeping her eyes off his big arms. Looking at his face now, she could see he was probably her age, but he had the body of a man—a full-grown amazingly built man. With his toned arms and shoulders and his more than confident demeanor, he was a complete contrast to Walter, who stood there still spitting out blood.

  “I’m good.” Walter said after wiping the blood away from his nose again.

  Drew honked again. Charlee knew Drew was in a hurry, but she felt terrible about just leaving Walter there.

  “Go ahead.” Walter said, already starting to walk away. “I’m fine, really.”

  She hurried to him before he could get too far and gave him a quick hug. “Thank you. I’m so sorry this happened.”

  Walter nodded and gave her a small smile. “It wasn’t your fault. Don’t worry about it.”

  Of course, Charlee felt entirely to blame, but she wouldn’t argue with him. She glanced at the guy who’d really saved the day, suddenly incredibly grateful that he’d showed up when he did, but dared not attempt to even ask his name much less hug him. Instead, she smiled softly. “Thank you too.”

  He winked at her, the intensity suddenly gone, then flashed one of the most breathtaking smiles she’d ever seen. In an effort to not become completely mesmerized again and make a fool of herself, she glanced away from his lips and his nearly perfect teeth. Instead, she focused on the skin on his big arms. Being so pasty white her entire life, she’d envied people with skin like his: so perfectly tanned. She felt almost ashamed that any thoughts about Walter’s well-being had been completely snuffed by visions of touching this incredible guy’s skin.

  Another honk from Drew yanked her out of said visions, and she turned to Drew then waved back at Walter one last time. “I’ll see you next week.”

  She noticed Ross was attempting to sit up now, holding the side of his face in pain. Walter and his hero were already walking in the opposite direction.

  “I’m sorry I had to pull you away from that delicious guy, but my dad’s waiting, and I’m already running really late.” Drew stared at her as she sat down and started putting on her seatbelt, the delicious guy still in her head. “So what happened? Why is that guy on the ground?”

  Charlee glanced one last time at Ross who was now being helped up by his coward friends. They’d finally come back after they saw Walter and the other guy walk away, but they kept looking nervously in their direction. Then her eyes turned to where they really wanted to be. Even from behind and from this distance, the guy’s body was unbelievable. She took a deep breath, looking back at Drew as they started out of the parking lot, not even sure where to begin.

  ~*~

  “Is she gone?” Walter asked, staring straight ahead.

  Hector turned to look back just as the car that picked up the redhead he assumed Walter was talking about drove out of the school’s parking lot. “Yeah.”

  These were the first words they’d exchanged since they’d walked away from the scene silently. Other than that, Hector had asked him if he was sure he was okay to which Walter simply nodded.

  Suddenly, Walter flung his backpack against the fence next to him with a loud grunt. “Gadamn it! For weeks, I’ve been trying to make a connection with Charlee and then this,” he pointed forcefully in the direction they’d just come from. “That happens? Fuck!” He hunched over for a second, holding his side in obvious pain.

  Hector was still stuck on what Walter had just said. Charlie? At a loss for words, he turned back to the direction they’d come from as Walter continued to pace, cussing and grunting under his breath, Hector tried to figure it out. He’d heard of stuff like this. Gay guys coming out to the guys they were into, and it turned out the guy they were into was not only not gay but homophobic. Was that real
ly what had happened? Did that guy lose it because Walter tried making a connection with him?

  Turning back to Walter, who was kicking his own backpack now, he stared at him for a moment, still not sure what to say. He had no idea Walter was gay. But it did explain a lot of stuff. Like why he’d been such a loner all those years.

  “So he got mad?” Obviously the guy had been mad, but that’s all Hector could think of to ask. This was so damn awkward.

  Walter slowed his pacing to look at Hector, a little confused. “Well, yeah, that kind of jerk doesn’t like being told what to do.”

  Almost afraid to ask, Hector had to. “What did you tell him to do?”

  “To leave her alone,” Walter said, wincing in pain as he bent over to pick up his backpack. He unzipped it, pulled out a t-shirt, wiped his bloody face with it, and started walking again.

  “I’m not following, man,” Hector admitted, walking alongside of Walter.

  Walter winced as he dabbed his nose with the t-shirt. “I’d been watching her sit there for a while. Then these pricks start harassing her, being stupid and asking if she was red everywhere. I wasn’t gonna say anything until he put his hands on her. So I told him to leave her alone, and when he didn’t, I pushed him.”

  Hector smiled. “Good for you. Was Charlie the one I knocked out?”

  Walter’s face soured. “No! Charlee’s the girl, and now she probably thinks I’m the biggest wuss ever—no thanks to you coming in with your one-punch knockout.”

  Charlie’s a girl? Then it dawned on him. “Wait.” He stopped in front of Walter, forcing him to stop. “You’re mad at me for helping you out?”

  Walter frowned. “I could’ve had that guy. I was getting ready to make my move.”