She nodded. “Yeah. Because when I opened his office, I was here.”

Héctor gasped. “No!” he said. “No way!”

“Yep,” she said. “I’m pretty sure the Room protected me.”

Héctor sat back down on the couch. “Because what Sal just said was super messed up. Which would mean that you felt unsafe.”

“Exactly!”

“I get it,” he said. “But also . . . who says something like that?”

“Right?” Juliana sat next to him. “People always assume the worst because I’m Black. I even get it from other Asian people, too. It’s not fair!”

“I remember the first time I heard someone say that word like that,” said Héctor. He told her about an older white man on the Muni train who was mad that Tim, Sophia, and Héctor were being “too loud” in the afternoon. He had looked directly at Sophia when he said it, too.

Juliana scoffed at him. “Isn’t it super bougie there?”

Héctor sighed. “Yeah. It’s changed a lot lately.” He allowed a silence to grow between them. “I still miss living there, Juliana. Every day.”

“I can tell,” she said. “I guess I don’t really know what that’s like. I’ve always been in Charleston.”

“I don’t think it would be so bad if we had moved somewhere cool,” he said. “Orangevale feels like I’m living on another planet. I guess it’s not that bad, but I don’t understand anything here.” He sighed. “And my old friends . . . I don’t know. I think they aren’t that interested in me anymore.”

“Why do you say that?” Juliana asked, and then she smiled. “You’re a very interesting person, Héctor.”

“It just seems like I can’t really talk to them anymore. Not about the important stuff.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Well, at least you have this place.” A pause. “And us.”

But his thoughts from the past weekend crept back in his head. He had the Room, sure, but only when he was at school. Only when he was in the hallways. Only when it decided that he needed it. He couldn’t spend his whole life inside a magical janitor’s closet.

Juliana finally stood up and sighed. “Well, I have to go deal with the principal,” she said. “So, by the next time you see me, I’ll have come out to my mom.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

“I wish we could help you,” said Héctor.

“I know,” she said. “And I wish I had gotten the courage to tell you sooner.”

“No, don’t feel bad!” he said, and he quickly stood. “I’m just glad you trusted us enough.”

Juliana closed the space between them and gripped Héctor in a tight hug. “Thank you,” she said. “Really.”