Victor, Victorious

Chapter Twelve

Soon after, the paramedics arrived and took Mr. Koontz to the hospital. The man was alive. Maybe not "well," but he seemed to be regaining more and more strength every minute. He'd be out of school for several weeks, if not the rest of the year.

Not one person thanked Victor for what he had done. Instead, he was punished for accidentally pushing and injuring the Dean. They'd said "accidentally" like it wasn't an accident at all. Although, Mr. Koontz had apparently told the principal, Ms. Harrington, that Victor didn't intentionally shove him.

Still, Victor got two days' suspension from school. Ain't that some b.s.?

And Colin? He, of course, got away scot-free. Nobody believed Victor's version of events. That Colin was mostly responsible for what had happened. Not that Victor had ever really expected anyone to side with him.

He was a known troublemaker. Colin, on the other hand, was a kiss-ass.

It was beyond unfair. After school, Victor stormed out of the principal's office, knee be damned. His father was supposed to be picking him up, but he didn't care.

Ms. Harrington yelled after him not to leave. She was clueless, though. She had no idea that Arturo probably wouldn't even show.

And, if he did, he'd just dump Victor onto the street somewhere around the corner from the school. After all, Victor wasn't welcome at home. The last time he was kicked out of the house, Victor had lived in the park for a day.

This time, however, the boy suspected his time away from home would be much, much longer.

That was why, after a couple hours of hesitation, he had finally contacted his friends from the payphone in front of the bodega just down the block from school. He needed to see a couple of allies, to know that someone had his back.

Because he'd been afraid of wrecking the phone like he had wrecked his laptop, Victor had to pay some other kid he'd never seen before a couple of bucks to speak to his friends for him.

The kid relayed info to Victor as he spoke to Sergio, who had said he didn't want to meet up at the park. Too many drug deals went down there at night. Too many unpredictable and desperate addicts, too many paranoid dealers packing heat. Victor had insisted that he'd been pretty much left alone when he slept at the playground the night before. Sergio didn't want to hear all that.

Bart hadn't answered when he was called, but Sergio said he'd make sure to bring him along, no problema. The meet-up spot was where they'd all last been together.

Now, it was a little after nine, and Victor sat against a cinderblock wall, under some illegible graffiti. He shuddered beneath his blanket, looking up and down the lifeless alley for his amigos. Would the homeys actually come by and say wassup?

Yes, they had to.

They just had to, 'cause if they didn't, Victor didn't know what he'd do.

'Cause, damn, it was lonely as hell and freezing-ass cold out there.

Missing two days of school was bad enough. Not that he liked school—the "learning" part was pretty much torture. But school was the place where he got to see his friends, people who made him feel like he was actually somebody.

And Ms. Todd. Out of all his teachers, Victor hated her the least. Not just 'cause she was easy on the eyes, either. She asked him questions every day, which was annoying, yeah, but it showed something else: that she actually kind of cared about him as a person. He could live with that.

Victor, lost in his thoughts, didn't even see his friends enter the alley and make their way toward him. He nearly jumped when they stepped out of the shadows.