He froze and noticed that she wore a canary-yellow tracksuit. Today, it felt intimidating rather than impressive.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Heath,” he said between breaths.

“Young man, there is no running in our hallways!” Ms. Heath scolded. “Why do I always have to tell you this? There are rules here for a reason.”

Shoes squeaked on the tile behind Héctor. He saw Ms. Heath’s eyes go wide.

It was Mike, Frank, and Carlos, who came to a stop.

She looked at them.

Then down to Héctor. Then back up.

“Were these boys chasing you?” Ms. Heath pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, waiting for him to answer.

Héctor had been taught long ago to find an adult he trusted if something was wrong. But did Héctor trust her?

Not really. His only interactions with Ms. Heath had shown him that she wasn’t willing to listen. Yet she had noticed that Mike and his Minions were chasing him. Was this his only chance?

He gave it a shot.

“Yes,” he said. “They always do.”

Ms. Heath frowned. “Is that why you were running last week?”

Relief poured out of Héctor along with his words. “Yes! They won’t leave me alone, Ms. Heath. They’re always bugging me and calling me names and making fun of me for being gay. Especially Mike.”

There. He’d done it. Pride swelled in his chest. This was the mature thing to do. He was basically an adult now, wasn’t he?

“You’re saying Mike here is responsible for all of this?”

He nodded his head, maybe a bit too eagerly.

“What do you have to say to that, Mr. Kimball?”

For the briefest moment, Mike’s eyes were wide in panic. Then his mouth drooped down. He tried his best to imitate innocence. Héctor could see right through the act.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about, Ms. Heath,” he said. “Me and my friends—we were just trying to get to the library before homeroom.”

“So you were running in the hall as well?” Ms. Heath crossed her arms over her chest. “You know the rules, Mr. Kimball.”

“Of course I do,” he said. “I’m sorry; we were just excited about getting the books we asked to check out yesterday.”

Ms. Heath narrowed her eyes. “So why does Mr. Muñoz here seem to believe that you and your friends were chasing him?”

Mike ran a hand through his blond hair. “I don’t really know,” he said. “He’s always saying weird stuff that I don’t understand. Maybe they do things different where he’s from.”

Héctor’s heart dropped. What? Why would he say that?

“Mr. Muñoz, where did you transfer from?”

He gulped. “Uh . . . Alta Vista Academy.”

“And where is that? I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s in San Francisco,” he said.