“Did you bring your mom’s college books?”
Hector had walked back to the spot where Trino sat in the back of the classroom.
Trino glanced up, slightly confused by the question. All he could think about was lunch with Lisana. He thought about her yesterday while he worked with Mr. Epifaño and kept thinking about her all evening. This morning he wore jeans that were clean and made sure his T-shirt didn’t have holes.
“Hey, can I sit here?” Hector asked, motioning to the desk in front of Trino.
“I don’t care,” he answered. He scratched his fingers through his black hair trying to remember what else Hector had asked him.
“Hey, I like this desk. It’s bigger than the one I usually sit in. Okay, so what happened? Where are your mom’s books?”
“What books?”
“You said that your mom had some college books. Did you find out anything about this Navarro guy?”
Trino remembered yesterday’s lies and just added one more to the pile. “I looked in her books, but didn’t read anything about Navarro.”
“Too bad. So what do we do next?” Hector asked him.
Trino frowned. He thought Hector was a smart guy. “I guess we need to go to the library and look around. But I can’t go after school.” Mr. Epifaño had already promised Trino work the rest of the week. Even two bucks a day was better than nothing.
“I got practice after school and games on Saturday.”
Doing the history report was going to be a pain in the neck, Trino decided. School work was always a pain. Then teachers added on stupid work in the library. For what? To learn about some guy in history? “I got better things to do,” Trino said, finishing his thoughts out loud.
“Me, too. But I figure if we do good on the report, I might get a better shot at starting the next game.”
“If you need this report to suck up to Coach, then you have to find the books to do the report,” Trino told Hector. “If I do the report or not, my life’s the same. Why should I worry?”
“So you want me to do all the work?” Hector’s black eyebrows crinkled over his wide nose. “Well, you’re full of it. You probably don’t even have college books at home. Your mom probably can’t even read a kiddie book.”
Trino punched his hand into the side of Hector’s head as hard as he could. It jerked sideways before Hector spun around and aimed his big fist. Trino pushed it aside, using the force to push himself out of his desk. For a big kid, Hector moved very fast, and he was on his feet, too, reaching out to Trino’s upper body.
“Fight! Fight!” a circle of voices yelled.
Despite the size difference, Trino rammed his head into Hector’s chest. Hector fell back against their desks, scraping the wall of history maps that Coach had stuck on the side bulletin boards.
The students chanted and yelled. Trino ignored them. He had to get out from under Hector’s arm, wrapped tight around his neck. He couldn’t breathe. He punched hard at whatever he could. Hector grunted. Then Trino’s fist scraped the wall.
Hector got a solid hit into Trino’s ribs, before one voice rose above the others. The loud male voice shouted, “Break it up! Now! Trino! Stop punching! Stop it! Hector, let him go!”
Rough hands pulled Trino out and pushed Hector away. Trino felt the wall against his back and Coach Treviño’s hand firmly splayed across Trino’s chest, holding him there.
Panting in big, angry breaths, Hector stood behind Coach. Trino could see the anger burning in Hector’s black eyes from over Coach’s shoulder.
“What’s going on here?” Coach Treviño’s face was sweaty and red. “There’s no fighting in my classroom. Trino, what’s the matter with you? What’s the problem here?”
Trino’s lips clamped shut as he gave his teacher and his “partner” a mal ojo to curse them both. No matter what he said, Trino knew the blame would fall on him. He didn’t care.
No one, nobody, said bad stuff about Trino’s mom. Hector would know that now, no matter what else happened.
“Now, I’m going to let up, Trino. But stay against the wall, hear me?” Coach said, then slowly pulled his hand away from Trino’s body.
“I saw Trino punch Hector first,” a girl’s voice said.
“Me, too,” another girl added as two others repeated, “Me, too. Me, too.”
The teacher sighed, putting his hands on his hips. He frowned at Trino, then shifted so he could see Hector, too. “Did Trino start this fight, Hector? Did he hit you first?”
“Yes, Coach,” Hector answered in a quiet voice. He stared at the floor.
Trino looked behind Coach Treviño to the faces of the students behind him, staring, whispering to each other. Trino knew he’d probably get chewed out by everybody from Coach Treviño to the vice-principal. Trino was nobody, but Hector was one of Coach’s athletes.
“Trino hit Hector first—got it.” Coach Treviño turned his body so he could give Hector his full attention. “So what did you say that made Trino mad enough to hit you? Was it just a misunderstanding, or did you say something stupid?”
The whole classroom got quiet. Trino watched Hector swallow like a rock had slid down his throat. He looked at Coach, then at Trino, then back at Coach. “I—don’t know, Coach—what I said—it was both—I guess.”
“Sounds like one of you said something stupid and the other did something stupid. Makes you both at fault as far as I’m concerned. Hector, you and I are going to talk about extra laps at practice today.” He turned back to Trino and pointed at him. “Trino, I’ll see you in the gym after school today. And—I don’t plan to change anything. You two are still partners in this class.”
Hector walked back to the front of the classroom where he usually sat. Trino ignored the two desks the fight had shoved into the wall, and sat down in the last desk in the row. He had never been in a fight in this school, but he had seen enough of them to expect his teacher to drag him to the vice-principal’s office and face suspension from school.
So Trino was shocked when Coach handled everything the way he did. Probably Coach didn’t want Hector in trouble with the office. But Trino? He could only wonder what Coach would tell him after school.
Trino looked over the cafeteria tables. He didn’t see Lisana anywhere. He decided to get his food tray and find his own place near the windows. He didn’t wait long before Lisana appeared on the other side of the table with a metal tray in her hands, too.
“It’s been a terrible day! I lost my homework, got ink on my pants, and forgot my lunch at home.” She put down her tray and sat down. “How’s your day been going?”
Trino decided to be honest. “Not so good.” He paused a moment, then said, “I had a fight with Hector during history class. I have to see Coach Treviño after school today.” He tried to sound casual, and left out the part about the punching.
“A fight, huh? What did you two fight about?” Lisana opened up her milk carton.
“Hector said—something stupid—that’s all.”
“Hector often says something stupid,” she said. “Whenever he’s at our house, he always tries to annoy me. Just ignore him. That’s what I do.”
Trino nodded, and hungrily began to eat his lunch. He noticed Lisana ate the bread roll first. He liked to save his bread roll for last. The cafeteria ladies baked them soft and delicious. He saw Lisana take a bite out of the meat, macaroni, mixed vegetables, and pudding. She made a face each time.
“I guess you don’t like the food much,” he said.
“Do you want any of this? Really, it’s terrible to toss it in the trash since you seem to like the food.”
“I just eat it because it’s free. My mom’s out of a job right now.”
“I’m sorry.” Lisana looked down at her tray, as if she was embarrassed.
“Nothing to feel sorry about,” Trino said in a normal voice. “It’s just the way it is. This guy she knows—Nick—said there was a job he knew about at some college, but she doesn’t want to take it.”
“At a college? Is your mom a teacher?”
Trino was glad that they had shared important secrets with each other. She knew about Rosca, and he knew about Lisana’s mom dying on her birthday. He trusted her not to make fun of him. “My mom works in motels and hotels—she cleans rooms and sometimes serves food at a hotel party.”
“I bet she meets some interesting people,” Lisana replied. She smiled. “Someday, I want to work in a place where a lot of different people come and go all the time.”
Trino never thought his mom’s job would be interesting in any way. Lisana was weird to think so, but he didn’t tell her that. Instead, he said, “I want to learn how to fix things that are broken. Machines—maybe cars, too.”
“You should meet Earl. He’s my sister’s husband. He can fix anything.”
Lisana reached over to Trino’s empty tray and swapped it with her own.
Her actions didn’t surprise him. The only thing he could do for her was to hold out his bread roll. “Here, you can have my bread.”
“You’re nice. Thanks.” She tore off pieces of the roll and put them into her mouth as she talked. “Earl built Jimmy a skateboard. He carved the board and everything.”
Trino decided to eat the rest of Lisana’s lunch since he was still hungry.
“Can Earl fix a broken TV?”
Lisana swallowed before she said, “I bet he could. He’s got more tools than a Super K-Mart. You should see our garage.”
Trino took another swallow of macaroni before he said, “I’d like to come to your house again. Uh—to meet Earl—see the garage—whatever you want to do.”
Lisana’s eyes sparkled as she grinned at him. He figured she might have offered him a better invitation if three girls had not approached the table to talk to her.
Trino knew them all. He recognized Amanda and Stephanie from yesterday. Lisana’s runt friend, Janie, was also with them. He had met Janie at the bookstore when he had met Lisana. But Janie always got on Trino’s nerves.
Today Janie was dressed completely in black, complete with painted black fingernails. Trino thought that all she needed was a bag for Trick-or-Treat and a broom.
“Wow, Lisana. You ate all that food? Gah, it was so gross,” Janie said, then looked at Trino, who was trying hard not to show the girls how annoyed he felt since they showed up. “Hello, Trino. I hadn’t seen you in a while. I figured you got hauled off to juvenile hall with your homeboys.”
Janie always said dumb things. Trino wondered why Lisana called her a friend. He decided to follow Lisana’s suggestion and just ignore people who said “stupid things.” Instead, he looked at Amanda and Stephanie and tried to smile at them. They turned sideways, looking as if they only wanted to speak to Lisana.
“I thought we were going to meet in the library at lunch period, Lisana. I told you that I couldn’t stay after school today,” Amanda said.
“Yes, I know. I’m finished eating now.” Lisana gave Trino a look that matched her words. “I’m sorry, Trino, but I have to go.” She started to stand up, but then sat down and grinned at him. “But—oh! I just wanted to tell you something important.”
Trino straightened up in his chair, despite the trio of girls staring at him like he was a roach on the cafeteria floor. “Something important?”
“Yes!” Lisana looked very excited. He wanted to be excited, too.
“Trino, didn’t you tell me that the person for your history project was José Antonio Navarro?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Navarro.” Trino tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
“When Amanda and I were doing our research yesterday, we found out that José Antonio Navarro and Francisco Ruiz were the only tejanos who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Isn’t that cool?”
“Cool,” Trino said, but saw nothing “cool” about dead men in Texas history.
She reached over and pressed her hand on his arm. His skin tingled. He raised his arm so he could feel her skin even better.
“If I find out anything about Navarro that you can use in your report, I’ll let you know, okay?” She stood up from the table, taking her hand away from his arm.
Trino wanted to grab it and yell out, Don’t leave. Stay here and talk to me.
He sat there and gave Lisana a limp wave as she left with the other girls.
Trino was glad he had P.E. in the gym seventh period. It would be easy to find Coach Treviño right after school. He hoped Coach would yell at him quickly, so he wouldn’t be too late for work with Mr. Epifaño.
He made eye contact with his teacher in the boys’ locker room. Coach motioned him over and led the way into the Coaches’ office. It was a small room with three glass walls. The other wall was painted bright green and had a big bulletin board attached to it. Team schedules, school memos, and a variety of other papers spread across the board and down the wall. The desk where Coach sat was stacked with papers, too. He pointed at a black metal chair for Trino to sit in.
“Trino, do you have a problem with Hector Mendoza?” Coach Treviño asked. His voice was calm and his brown face looked teacher-serious.
Trino wasn’t sure what to say. It was easier when people yelled at him for doing something stupid and he just told them he wouldn’t do it again.
Coach leaned forward behind the desk, his long arms resting on the stacks of papers. “Trino, do you remember what I told you when Zipper died? I asked you if you wanted to talk to a counselor and you said you didn’t want to. What about now? Do you need to talk to one?”
Trino realized what Coach meant. Now he understood why Coach didn’t send him to the office. He had usually been pretty cool with Zipper and Trino. Coach liked to have a little fun with them by teasing Zipper about his clothes or asking Trino if he combed his hair with a hedge trimmer. One time Coach had shared a handful of jelly beans with the two of them that one of the other teachers had given him as a joke.
Trino felt bad he had started the fight in Coach’s class. He was a cool teacher. And since Trino wanted at least one teacher to like him, he decided to tell the truth. “Hector just said something about my mom. That’s why I hit him. It didn’t have anything to do with Zipper. I’m okay, Coach. I don’t need a counselor.”
“He said something about your mom, huh? I could have put money on that.” He shook his head, but then something behind Trino caught his gaze. “There’s the other one, now.” He sat up and gestured with his hand. “Come in, Hector. We were just talking about you.”
Trino looked up as Hector came in. The boy was already dressed in a basketball jersey and loose shorts for practice.
“Tomorrow I’m taking the class to the library,” Coach Treviño said. “You two start a fight in there, and I’ll fry your butts good. Understand?”
Both Trino and Hector nodded.
“Tomorrow I want each of you to come into class with a list of ten questions about José Antonio Navarro. It’s been two days, and I bet neither of you knows anything about him.”
Trino raised his head up and said, “I know who he is. He’s one of the tejanos who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.”
Coach Treviño raised one black eyebrow. “Hmmm. I guess it’s a start. Hector, seems to me you’ve got a clever partner here. Don’t mess it up, okay?”
“Sure, Coach,” Hector said, his voice sounding deeper than usual.
Coach Treviño stood up and clapped his hands. “And just so you two don’t think you got off easy, you’re both going to clean out the concession stand tomorrow after school. I have a faculty meeting and have to reschedule practice anyway. I’ll tell Mr. Flores, the janitor, he’s going to have two strong helpers tomorrow. Any questions?”
Both boys shook their heads.
“Hector, start the boys with their laps around the court. Trino, I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t be late for my class, okay?”
Trino nodded, and then followed Hector out of the coaches’ office. They had just reached the metal door to the locker room when Hector stopped and turned to Trino.
“Hey, I was wrong about you, Trino.”
Trino raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”
“I just figured you were a good liar. Now I can tell you’re smart. See you tomorrow, Trino.”
“Later,” Trino replied as Hector went into the locker room.
Trino stood there in the hallway a moment, soaking in Hector’s words. A school-type had called him “smart.” A flicker of pride made him stand up straight and press his shoulders back. Here was a different reputation for Trino Olivares, but so far, Trino liked the way it fit him.