Victor Hernandez slumped in the seat of his friend's station wagon. Steve, Rich, Johnny, and Nick were doing the same. Not because they were hiding but because they were dead tired.

“Where the hell is he?” Johnny asked. He was getting impatient.

Victor knew how Johnny felt. After the night they had, this was just icing on the cake of bad luck.

Walker was well over an hour late. Most of the guys were jealous that Walker —the scrawniest of them— was the first to lose get laid.

Victor wasn't exactly good when girls were around. Their smell alone distracted him enough that he could barely stand up straight. He blamed it on his hormones.

“Remind me not to try something that stupid again,” Victor said to anyone who would listen.

Nick turned in the seat next to Victor. “Don't do that again. For the like, fifth time.”

Victor was trying to splice a phone line but got the wrong wire. It was an enlightening mistake he'd never make again. His hand still hurt from the shock. He'd definitely bring a flashlight with working batteries and buy a bit of the wire to practice next time.

Steve threw his hands up and announced, “That's it, I'm going to sleep.” As if he hadn't passed out on the way there.

Walker was lucky that they'd gotten his message in the first place.

You better be appreciative of this. Victor thought. Victor wasn't expecting a parade or anything but Walker had better thank them.

Victor met Walker in third grade. Walker had saved Victor from a girl that was bullying him. Since then, Victor had been wary of girls. They were these mystical creatures that smelled amazing and made him feel strange. Victor didn’t like the way they made him feel so rather than face them he avoided them altogether.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Nick asked.

Walker had shown off his girlfriend's house to Victor while walking to school one day. “This is it,” said Victor.

“Well if he doesn’t show up soon we’re leaving,” Nick said.

None of them had slept yet. Except for Steve.

Rich wanted to stay home but the other guys forced him to come. They were a pretty tight-knit group and weren’t ones to abandon a friend unless they were as reckless as Walker was.

Victor didn’t want to argue with Nick but he and Walker were really close. “Fifteen more minutes okay?” said Victor. Walker must have been trapped and couldn’t leave.

Calling Walker's house was out. Even if he had left already and was home, they would never risk telling his parents. For some reason, Walker’s mom had gotten really strict. What was even more strange was that Walker refused to talk to Victor about it. They usually shared everything.

“Fifteen minutes then we go,” Nick said.

There was movement in the back seat. “Yeah, if this piece of crap will even start,” Johnny said.

“Hey, don’t talk about Ole Bessy like that!” Nick said and rubbed his hand on the dashboard.

Victor hated the name, Bessy. It reminded him of cows which reminded him of a farm. He was into technology and farming felt like a step backward for him.

His dad used to pick strawberries at a farm when they first moved there. At one point his dad lost his job and couldn’t find work so he joined the military. After something like six years, he ended up a citizen. Since then, his father wouldn’t let Victor talk down about America.

Victor was four years old when they arrived. He didn't remember much about Mexico other than their house being destroyed. His mom said it was a hurricane that took out their home. They had nothing left to lose so they moved to the US.

In a way, it was a good thing that Walker needed to be picked up early because Victor doubted any of the guys would still be awake at eight.

Victor's eyes were beginning to get heavy so he closed them for a moment.

“No, you don't!” Nick yelled.

Victor nearly jumped out of his skin.

“No sleeping till we get back to Rich's,” Nick said.

Victor's temper flared. “Don't yell at me, it's not my fault he's late!”

“He's your friend!”

“He's your friend too!”

“No, he's not!”

“Then I'm sure you wouldn't mind giving Walker all of his Playstation games back.”

“I'm still us—”

“Guys!” Johnny pointed at the windshield. His hand came dangerously close to hitting Victor. “Movement!”

Victor swung his head around. Sure enough, something was happening. Unfortunately, all he could see was bits of color passing by the gaps in the hedges.

Eventually, several girls emerged and stood next to a minivan. Victor recognized them as Joy and her little band of friends. There was one girl he didn't recognize though. She looked like one of the girls from the books he kept hidden under his bed. As far as Victor knew, Joy never hung out with anyone like that.

The mystery girl had her brown hair up in a ponytail and a few strands of it dancing in front of her face. A low top that showed off just enough cleavage to keep a guy interested. The skirt she was wearing would get her sent to the principal if she were at school. She was fuckin hot.

The girl broke away from the others and scanned the street. When her gaze hit the station wagon, Victor froze.

“Guys, that girl’s looking at us,” Nick said.

“Should we hide?” Johnny asked.

The girl’s and Victor's eyes met. Victor knew those eyes. He leaned forward. It took him all of ten seconds for his brain to catch up. “Walker?” he said under his breath.

The girl's mouth dropped, she turned around and joined the other girls. They looked like they were waiting for something. The hot girl kept glancing their way.

Suddenly, two adults walked from behind the hedge and opened the minivan doors. The adults got in and then the girls except for the one who had Walker's eyes. As she was getting in she quickly turned and gave the hand signal for Victor to retreat.

Victor gasped. Holy fuck, that’s Walker! Victor’s father had taught Walker and him several military hand signals. When you’re as socially unacceptable as they were, they needed all the help they could get.

“Whoa, dude are you okay?” Nick asked.

Someone from the back seat pushed his shoulder. Even as the minivan's doors closed and it drove away, Victor couldn't stop staring in the direction it went.

“I didn't know Mexicans could get that white,” Nick said, breaking Victor's concentration.

Victor turned to Nick and ignored the comment. “W-we gotta go.”

“What about Walker? He should b—”

“Walker's not coming,” Victor said.

“How do you kno—”

“I just know! Now let's get the hell out of here!” Victor yelled.

Nick put his hands on the steering wheel. “Alright man, it's your funeral.”

Victor watched his friends as they drove away from Joy's house. None of them seemed to have seen what he had.

Walker had a lot of explaining to do, Victor would make sure of it.

***