“Go,” Papi said, smiling ear to ear. “Impress me.”

Now Héctor had something to look forward to.

“What’s good, fam?”

Tim spun in the chair in his father’s music room, and Héctor admired his newly dyed hair. It was normally jet black like Héctor’s, but now, half was red and the other half was blue.

“You know . . . trying my best,” said Héctor. “Orangevale is a weird place.”

“Please tell us,” said Sophia. “Weird like how?”

Héctor told them pretty much everything: the lack of a drama club, which Tim and Sophia booed at; how everyone seemed to look at him weird; and about Mike, including Héctor’s tense confrontation with him.

Tim raised his hand at that point. “Wait, hold on,” he said. “Do these people seriously have a problem with you?”

“Yeah, what’s that about?” said Sophia.

“Are we gonna have to take an Amtrak out there and get a little physical?” asked Tim.

“It’s not that bad,” said Héctor. “I promise. I just think he was uncomfortable with . . . you know.”

“How can someone be like that anymore?” Tim shook his head. “Like, who actually cares about stuff like this?”

“Imagine if he met us,” said Sophia. “Two bi kids, one Black and the other Mexican. His brain would probably explode.”

Héctor laughed at that, but then the video chat went quiet. He watched as Sophia played with one of her knots and Tim spun around in his chair.

“Is everything okay?” Héctor asked.

“Yeah,” said Sophia. “It’s just . . .”

“We’re worried,” Tim finished. “I’ll be straight with you.”

“Tim,” said Héctor, “you’ve never been straight.”

A goofy grin spread over Tim’s face. “Okay, true. But neither have you! And that never mattered before.”

“Are you going to be okay there?” said Sophia. “You’re not in danger, are you?”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, fidgeting in his chair. He remembered how Jackson had warned him that Mike would eventually turn on Héctor. But why did it have to happen so quickly?

“You sure?” asked Sophia.

“He’ll probably just leave me alone eventually,” said Héctor.

“But what if he doesn’t?” said Tim.

Héctor hadn’t thought of that. Mrs. Caroline’s class had gotten his mind off it. But now, as he gave it some attention, something gnawed at his stomach: fear.

“Is that why you’re dressed all preppy today?” Tim asked.

Héctor stilled. “What?”

“That polo shirt thing you got on. I’ve never seen you wear something like that ever.”

“It is a little weird for you,” added Sophia.

Heat rushed to Héctor’s face, but he tried to recover as best as he could. “No, no, it was just for this thing my mami had me do,” he said, laughing nervously. “I just haven’t changed out of it yet.”

There was an odd silence after that.