Hector waited for what seemed too long, but hell, he’d waited for months. He could give this guy a few more minutes. He understood how Walter could be so stunned. An apology from someone he considered to be one of his bullies for so many years was probably the last thing Walter thought he’d ever hear. Of course, he’d been stunned into silence.

They both looked up as the noise from a public bus that turned into the college campus parking lot distracted them momentarily. “I gotta go,” Walter said. “That’s my ride.” He started toward the bus stop a few feet away from them but stopped just before he got to in and turned to Hector, still holding his side in obvious pain. “I always knew you weren’t like them.” The bus pulled up behind Walter, and he began to turn around to get on but stopped again one last time to face Hector. “Thanks, man.” For the first time that day, Walter smirked and lifted his chin. “I really didn’t have a plan back there.”

Hector smiled, laughing softly. “Yeah, I didn’t buy that shit for a minute.”

Walter smiled and got on the bus. Hector walked back toward the main building, flexing his now-aching fist and feeling a bit bittersweet. He finally got to say he was sorry, and it was good to know Walter never thought Hector was like his jerk ex-friends. But Hector couldn’t help shake the feeling that he had done Walter wrong and for way too long.

Chapter 2

More than a week after the whole Walter/Ross incident, Charlee still couldn’t stop thinking about the guy that saved them. At first, she kept shuddering at the thought of what might’ve happened if he hadn’t showed up when he had. Then, as the days went by, she stopped shuddering and started daydreaming.

The only information she had on him was what little Walter offered. His name was Hector, they’d gone to high school together, and he was an amateur boxer at a boxing gym over in East L.A. That explained how he’d knocked out Ross so easily. In her daydreams, Hector was now a superhero: a beautifully tanned, perfectly sculpted specimen of a hero.

What he said and did to her had become a little more elaborate with each daydream she had. She figured she’d never see him again, so it didn’t matter how ridiculous or naughty the dreams became. As far as she or Walter knew, Hector didn’t attend East Side U. Walter hadn’t asked him, but neither had he seen him on campus ever since. His being there at all that day was a mystery to them both. Never in her life had she felt so distracted and all because of a guy she got the pleasure of being in the presence of for about five minutes.

“Hello!” Drew waved her hand in front of Charlee’s face.

Charlee snapped out of it and smiled sheepishly at her friend, who held out a can of Red Bull for her. “What’s with you this week, girl?” Drew smirked at first, and then a look of concern washed over her face. “Are you sure you’re okay? Ever since what happened with that jerk Ross and his friends, you’ve been a little weird.”

Charlee shook her head, taking a sip of the much needed energy drink. “I’m fine. I’ve just had some stuff on my mind lately: midterms. You know that and the Jr. World Olympiad are coming up, soon.” In an effort to avoid her inquisitive best friend asking more questions, she tried changing the subject. “They’re having a knockout tournament this weekend to replace Vladimir.” She then frowned, thinking about what she’d just said. “I don’t think we’re gonna find anyone as good as he was.”

“How good could he have been, Charlee?” Drew rolled her eyes. “He got caught cheating.”

Charlee was about to argue that he technically hadn’t been caught cheating. He was just caught with a wireless device and headphones in his last tournament, something that was strictly against the rules, but it was never proven he’d actually used it to cheat. It was a bit unfair, Charlee thought. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty anyway? The punishment hadn’t even fit the crime. Not only had he automatically been disqualified from the tournament but he was kicked off the US team and the school team, losing his free ride to ESU. But before she could start her argument, she noticed Drew had slowed down and was glaring at something straight ahead. No sooner had Charlee looked up to see who she was glaring at than she regretted doing so.

“Why is it that before last week I’d never even noticed this guy and now it seems I see his stupid ass everywhere?” Drew asked as they walked out the cafeteria.

Ross and his friends were sitting just outside the cafeteria. Thankfully, unlike for Drew, this was only the second time Charlee had seen him since the incident the week before. The first time she’d run into him, he stared her down, giving her a major case of the heebie-jeebies but hadn’t said anything. His cheek still had some signs of the swelling Hector’s blow had left but nothing like last week when his left cheek was about an inch higher than his right and the whites of his left eye were all red.

Charlee didn’t look at him long enough now to take inventory of his injuries. But she may’ve looked too long because he smiled at her. It was early in the morning. Charlee and Drew were barely on their way to their first class of the day, but from the looks of it, Ross and his friends were already glossy-eyed. She turned away without smiling back.

“Just keep walking and stop looking their way,” Charlee said, pulling on Drew’s arm.

“Morning, Charlee.”

Charlee nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight and sound of Ross right next to her now. She flinched but kept walking. “Morning.” She responded, deciding ignoring him might elicit another rude reaction from him. Her heart was already racing.