“I’m trying,” he said, but he knew he sounded defeated. Pathetic.

“Well, I saw you running,” she continued. “And you weren’t trying not to.”

“But—”

“No, I don’t want to hear it.”

“They started it!”

He bellowed the words at her, much louder than he intended to.

“It doesn’t matter who started what,” she said, her voice soft. “What matters is what I see. And I saw you breaking the rules again.”

Héctor could sense his heart sinking down lower into his body. Héctor had been kind. He’d been himself. Wasn’t that what all those goofy after-school specials told you to do? Be yourself and tell adults when something bad happens to you?

These boys had targeted him. They made him feel like there was a part of him that was wrong. But here he was, doing what he was supposed to, and Ms. Heath wouldn’t listen to him. The only thing that mattered was her stupid rules, and even then, she obviously didn’t care when other people broke them.

Héctor burned with the unfairness of it all.

His heart flopped when he saw the entire Table of Misfits—Pat included—huddled behind Ms. Heath.

“I am afraid I’m going to have to put this incident on your permanent record,” said Ms. Heath.

Some of the kids gasped. Héctor merely frowned. Is that even a real thing? he wondered. But he didn’t feel like challenging Ms. Heath on the spot. There was nothing he could do to change her mind, was there? This would repeat, over and over.

So he gave up.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Heath,” he said, his head drooping. He had to sell the performance to get her to believe it. “I’m not doing my best. I promise . . . this is the last time.” He looked up at her. “You won’t have to tell me again.”

There was a moment there, so terribly brief, where Héctor saw pity on her face. Did she believe him? Maybe. She probably thought he was a troubled kid who didn’t know how to follow the rules. It was like she was making up a story about him in her head, and he couldn’t do anything to change it.

Ms. Heath didn’t say anything more. She nodded and walked away, and soon, she was chirping at another student for having their shoes untied.

The crowd departed, and Mike slammed his shoulder into Héctor’s as he passed, nearly knocking his backpack onto the ground. Héctor wondered if the Table of Misfits were going to say anything to him, but they were already gone.

Was his worst fear coming true? Was he going to be abandoned by everyone here at Orangevale Middle School?

Creak!