Hector (7 page)

“I dunno,” Walter said, glancing back in Hector’s direction and
chuckled. “You might find this hard to believe, but the guy’s always been
pretty popular with the ladies.”

Drew rolled her eyes again this time, smiling and exchanging
glances with Charlee, who was now feeling completely uncomfortable about the
subject. “Oh, yeah, that’s real hard to believe.”

Her best friend turned her still-lifted eyebrow over in Hector’s
direction. All three of them watched now as he took his seat at one of the
tables set up for the tournament. He smiled at his opponent as he shook his
hand. God, there had to be
something
wrong him; even that smile was incredible. Charlee actually hoped Walter would
tell them he was a criminal of sorts or maybe he was a big conceited jerk. He
certainly had every right to be conceited.

They all continued to watch the players set up silently, but
Charlee made note of the fact that Drew watched only Hector. Although Charlee
was shy to a fault and the thought of holding even a conversation with this guy
scared the daylights out of her, it secretly excited her that for once when
both she and Drew found a guy attractive, she might actually have more in
common with him than her much more outgoing best friend. Maybe for once she
would have the always unspoken dibs Drew automatically had on any attractive
guys.

It wasn’t that Drew would selfishly stake her claim on all guys
they met. She wasn’t like that. But it was common knowledge that Charlee was
about as socially inept as Walter seemed to be. Drew was a good friend. She
often tried to encourage Charlee to be more flirtatious, and Charlee knew that
not only would Drew step aside and give her dibs if she asked for it but she’d
be utterly excited about it. Aside from
Charlee’s
mother, Drew was the only other person who knew why it was so hard for Charlee
to ever consider something like that. That’s why Drew encouraged but never
pushed. So while Charlee did her best to go as unnoticed as possible, Drew with
her unreserved personality was just the opposite. It was inevitable that if
either of the two would grab the attention of any guy it was always Drew.

As the tournament began, Charlee found it impossible to keep her
eyes off him. Something nervously strange, but at the same time exciting, stirred
in her the entire time. Even after he’d won twice and was moved to the next
table as the players were narrowed down to just eight, the chances of him
actually winning the whole thing seemed slim. She’d heard at least a little of
each of today’s contestants, yet she’d never once heard of Hector.

Turning her phone away from Drew’s view, she
Googled
his name. There had to be something about some of the tournaments he might’ve
been in or won. Even she got a few hits when she typed it in her own name.

Almost everything that came up was about his boxing. Her heart
sped up a little when she clicked on one of the hits and a few images of him in
the boxing ring shirtless came up. His half-naked body was everything she’d
imagined and more. He even had a tattoo on his very muscular upper chest.

After staring at the photos, she clicked on a few of the other
hits. There was one from this past summer of a ribbon cutting for the grand
reopening of 5
^th
Street, the gym Walter had mentioned Hector boxed
at. Tapping on one of the photos so her phone would zoom in on it, she
swallowed hard at the sight of him and a few other handsome guys in suits,
smiling big. Her eyes were glued to his image.

“He’s part owner.”

Charlee flinched at the sound of Walter’s voice so near her. She
knew he’d been sitting next to her, but he’d been so into observing the competition
she didn’t expect him to be watching what she was doing. She instinctively
moved the phone out of Walter’s curious eyes. “I uh,” she looked back down at
the phone and closed out the browser. “I was just trying to get some stats on
his game.” She stared ahead, refusing to look Walter in the eye. “I know a
little about all the other contestants, but I’ve never heard anything about
him.”

“Did you find anything?”

She frowned, still staring straight ahead but made sure she
didn’t look in Hector’s direction. She pretended to be overly interested in the
only female still in the competition. “No nothing. Aside from his boxing, there
were a few hits about the online tournaments he’s played and won but nothing near
this level of competition.” In an attempt to sound almost snobby about her
doubts in Hector’s abilities as a chess player because it was less embarrassing
than Walter picking up on her real reasons for her interest in Hector, she
continued without looking at him. “Is he supposed to be good or something? Because
I’m a little surprised he’s still in it.”

Walter shrugged. “If he was invited, I’m sure he’s pretty good.”
Charlee finally turned to look at him. He froze for a split second, and in the
next he was doing that thing with his head again, moving it up and down. “Probably
not as good as me, but you know,” he bit his bottom lip again and even closed
his eyes without saying more.

“Are you okay?”

His eyes flew up and his head stopped moving.
“Yeah,
why?”

“I dunno. It’s just that you were . . .” She waved the thought
away with her hand. “So what’s his forte? I’m thinking it’s gotta be speed play,
or he wouldn’t be in this still.”

Walter nodded. “I actually don’t know too much about Hector’s
game, but I agree.
Speed’s
gotta be his thing. My
money is on
Kowalewski
taking the whole thing today.” He pointed at a blond guy with
glasses playing in the next table over to Hector’s left.
“That
guy right there.
If both he and Hector win this round, they’re up
against each other next. If Hector wins, then he’ll likely take the whole thing
because I don’t think anyone else here is a stronger player than
Kowalewski
.”

Charlee stared at
Kowalewski
,
though she’d rather have been staring at Hector. But she’d already been caught Google-stalking
him on her phone, so she needed to be even more discreet now or at least
continue to reaffirm that her curiosity in him was merely in the best interest
of her chess team. They needed the best player here to replace a player she
thought was one of if not
the
strongest
on the team.

To her surprise and somewhat annoyance, not
only did Drew stick around for the entire tournament but she seemed just as
interested in seeing if Hector would win. They all watched in anticipation as
Hector took the seat in front of
Kowalewski
and shook
his hand over the chess board. If Walter’s prediction was right, this could be
it. It seemed Walter wasn’t the only one thinking what he was thinking, because
this time around, things got really quiet. All eyes were on the mysterious dark
horse who had ridden in and taken down each of his opponents with ease. It
seemed everyone knew this would be the real challenge.

Squirming in her seat as the game commenced,
Charlee’s
eyes were fixed on their play. She didn’t even
care that she was now showing complete and blatant interest in Hector, because
everyone else was too.

Thirty minutes later when
Kowalewski
reached over to shake Hector’s hand, admitting defeat, Charlee nearly jumped
out of her seat. She managed to remain seated, though her hand
did
fly to her mouth. Drew turned to her
with a curious twinkle in her eye. Charlee withdrew the huge grin she knew was
plastered on her face now and quickly pretended to be wiping something off her
lips. She sat back in her chair, glancing away from Drew’s inquiring stare.

Her best friend was too damn perceptive for
her own good. Charlee wouldn’t give her anything further to scrutinize. Doing
so proved harder than expected. After Hector took down
Kowalewski
,
Charlee could barely sit still. Visions of him sitting in the school’s small chess
lab flooded her mind. She knew that if he did make the team, she’d likely not
only get to know him but she’d for sure get to play him eventually—sit for
hours across from him close enough to touch him if she ever dared.

They announced the last two players standing:
Hector Ayala and Morgan Bisbee. Walter seemed to think Hector had this, and for
some reason, that appeared to bother him. “I would’ve rather had
Kowalewski
on the team,” he whispered as the time on the
last match began. “Obviously speed play is not his thing, but he’s a force to
be reckoned with in regular tournaments. He would’ve been a tremendous asset to
the team.”

Charlee shifted her weight from one leg to
the other, chewing her pinky nail. Her heart hadn’t stopped pounding since
Hector had started his match with
Kowalewski
. They’d
gotten up with everyone else and went and stood closer to the last table where
Hector and Morgan sat battling it out.

From where she stood now, as much as she wanted
to pay close attention to the moves being made on the chess board, she could
barely keep her eyes from wandering to his face. He was one of those players
that checked out once he started playing. As many people that surrounded the
table, it was obvious he was deep in his own world. The intensity in his eyes,
as he watched his opponents move and then made his quickly, was unrelenting.

Charlee swallowed hard, her eyes traveling
from the crease between his eyes, as he studied the pieces on the board, to his
heavily lashed eyes. This close she could see a small scar that ran across his left
brow, splitting the brow just so. It was the perfect imperfection to an
otherwise flawless face. She also noticed how tight his jaw would clench just
before he made a move. As big as his hands were, his fingers moved about the
board gracefully from one side to the other without dropping any of the pieces.

As the game came down to the last few minutes
and they began to move at a much faster speed, the crowd’s whispers became
louder with excitement. Speed chess had never been
Charlee’s
thing. She could barely keep up with their moves, so it was difficult to anticipate
what Hector’s next move might be. Yet as they moved at what seemed like a
ridiculous speed now, her heart began to pound against her chest. Any minute
now, they’d have a winner.
Then
she saw it. Hector could bring his knight to f6 and his queen could swing over
to the H file. He was going to win.
He
was going to win!

In the next couple of moves, it was over. The crowd clapped,
seemingly as impressed as Charlee was. Hector stood surrounded by the officials
and team trainers. Cameras, including phone cameras, went off left and right.
Many congratulated Hector, while others from the team walked up to shake his
hand and introduce
themselves
.

Charlee wished she had it in her to at least take advantage of
the flurry and take a few pictures of her own: photos she could keep on her
phone and stare at forever, maybe even while she . . . At the moment, she stood
frozen in place barely able to believe that he—the guy she’d been secretly
obsessing about all week—was now on her chess team and very likely would soon
be attending ESU.

For someone who wasn’t too keen on Hector
being the newest member of the team, Walter changed his tune real fast. Hector
went from being the unknown last minute contender to the newest member of the
team—a team that would soon be going to the Junior National Olympiad. Everyone
wanted to know him now. As soon as things finally began to die down and Hector
was done with all the unrehearsed interviews for the school paper and meeting
with all the trainers, Walter grabbed him.

He stood a few feet away from Charlee and
Drew, congratulating Hector, and then he glanced up in
Charlee’s
direction. Suddenly terrified at the thought of Walter possibly bringing Hector
over to introduce him to her, Charlee grabbed Drew’s arm. It was one thing to
fantasize about this guy and worship him from afar; it was quite another to
actually speak with him. She wasn’t ready for that. She hadn’t given it much
thought, but she’d come up with something soon enough—work up the nerve to even
talk to him slowly in the coming weeks a little at a time, not all in one night.

“Let’s go,” she said. “You’ve been a good
sport all this time. Let’s go check out those boots you wanted to buy. We can
grab some Taco Bell on the way.
My treat.”

Drew stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh, no, you
don’t.”

Charlee turned to face her smirking friend.
“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know when you were planning on
telling me, and I don’t know who you think you’re fooling, but you got a thing
for this guy—a
major
thing.”

Charlee glanced back at Walter and Hector who
were already walking toward them then turned back to Drew wide-eyed. “What?”
She tried pulling Drew along with her again, feeling instantly mortified.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she whispered loudly. “I don’t know him. I’ve never even
spoken to him.”

“Well, now’s your chance.”
This time Drew held
Charlee’s
arm and
turned her around just in time to see that breathtaking smile once again as
Walter and Hector approached them.

Chapter 4

Annoyingly, Hector was still feeling an incredible
amount of guilt every time he even looked at Walter’s bloated face. The least
he could do was agree to walk over and talk to the girl he was trying so hard
to impress.