Victor, Victorious

Chapter Fifteen

Huntley Park. A little over a week later.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Birds chirped. Dogs led their owners on walks. No drug deals going down yet.

Victor, Sergio, and Bart made their way under some trees, over untrimmed grass. They were headed back to Sergio's place after stopping at the bakery where his mom worked. Each boy clutched a small paper bag containing a sweet treat.

Victor still roomed at Sergio's, and Bart had stayed over the night before. The three amigos had spent time watching movies, playing video games, and eating pizza. Since Colin had been on his best behavior, the boys had taken a break from all the drama.

Victor felt that Colin had to be planning something else after getting away with what he did to Mikaela. And Mikaela had yet to return to school. No one could blame her for avoiding the ridicule and stares.

In addition, Victor's father had made zero attempts to contact his son.

"Yo, who's that?" Bart asked, pointing.

Up ahead, some girl with long, black hair and a pink T-shirt sat on a bench. She sipped from a Styrofoam coffee cup. Her back was to the boys.

Victor's heart skipped a beat. "That's...That's Mikaela."

"Naw, that ain't her."

"You got Mikaela on the brain," said Sergio. "You been seeing her everywhere, ever since...Well, you know..."

Victor shot his friends a dirty look. "No, that's her. I know what she looks like."

Bart said, "You can't even see her face."

"Trust me. I know what she looks like from all angles. Plus, I've seen her hanging at this park before."

Sergio laughed. "Damn, Victor. Stalker status!"

Victor brushed off the shade. "Shut up. Stay here. I'm gonna go talk to her real quick, see what's up." He left his friends.

Bart called out after him. "We supposed to just stand here and wait?"

"Man," said Sergio. "Just eat your campechana and watch the magic happen."

When he got closer to the girl, Victor could see that she was listening to music on her phone. He gently nudged her shoulder. Mikaela spun to face him, wiping tears from her face.

"Oh..." Victor could have timed this better.

"What?" Mikaela spat, removing her ear buds. "What do you want?"

"I, uh, just—"

"You got something to say? Just like everyone else? Get away from me! Leave me alone!"

"Wait! No, no, it ain't like that. I swear. I just wanted to see how you're doing, that's all. And, now that I see you're over here giving La Llorona a run for her money, I wanna know if—"

"If you could make things worse? Good job, 'cause you're doing just that!"

"No, I wanna...I don't know. I wanna help."

"How're you gonna do that?"

Victor looked at the bag in his hand. "I just came from the panaderia. The one around the corner. It's where Sergio's mom works."

"Yeah? I've been there."

"We all stayed over at Sergio's last night and went over there for some grub."

Mikaela saw the other two boys. "So, you guys're just watching me sit here?"

"No, no, it's cool. I thought maybe I could share some pan dulce with you. It'll put a smile on your stomach. Maybe even put one on your face. Can I sit down?"