Héctor slipped into a fog. He wasn’t able to remember much of the day, just images and the overwhelming feeling that everything was wrong. He hid in the library during lunch and couldn’t bring himself to eat. After gym, he saw the Room. Had it appeared earlier but he was too lost in his head to notice it? Maybe.

But Héctor made a choice. He didn’t open the door to the Room and kept walking. It appeared again just a few seconds later on the opposite side of the hallway. He ignored it again. Then it sat next to the exit, almost like it was beckoning to him.

Héctor shook his head, walked out the front door of his school, and headed to the pickup area. His papi arrived soon after, and Héctor still said nothing as he climbed inside the car. He simply leaned his head against the window, watched the world of Orangevale rush by.

He knew he had probably disappointed Sal and Juliana.

He knew he had probably lost the only friends he had.

But this was what he deserved, right?

He didn’t belong here. He didn’t belong anywhere.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

The next week of Héctor’s life seemed to last forever, and yet it also passed in a blur.

He didn’t go back to the Room once. He saw it every single day; it often appeared just ahead of where he was walking, anticipating his movements. It was next to the boys’ room. It was adjacent to Mrs. Caroline’s class Tuesday afternoon. It was across from the entrance to the gym on Wednesday. One morning, just before lunch, he spotted it by the big water fountain on the north side of school, the one that had such intense pressure that if you weren’t careful, your face would get blasted.

He glanced at it, and the door opened all on its own.

Every time he considered it, he thought about having to tell his friends why he’d missed the library move. Even worse, though, he knew that while seeing Sal and Juliana would certainly make him feel better, he would still have to come back to Orangevale. He would have to deal with this nightmare all on his own.

So he drifted through the days, avoiding the Misfits, too, even though each of them tried to talk to him at one point or another. That meant he sat far from Aishah in Mrs. Caroline’s class, and he ate all his lunches in the library.

Jackson came up to him while he was waiting for Papi to pick him up on Friday afternoon. He didn’t say anything for a few moments and instead just scraped his shoe against the cement.

“Hey, Héctor, are you mad at us?”

Héctor turned his head. “At who?”

“Me. Aishah. Taylor.”