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Elena Rodriguez was not happy. She was used to getting calls from school about Kel – she loved the boy, but she had to admit that her youngest could be wild and over-enthusiastic. But Hero? She had never expected a call like this about Hero. Surely there had to be some mistake, she told herself. There was no way this was right.
She swung open the door to the middle school principal’s office. There he was, her first born golden boy, sulking on a chair in the corner.
“Mrs Rodriguez” the principal said “thank you for joining us.”
“What exactly is going on?” she asked “You said something about a fight?”
“Yes” the principal nodded “Henry got involved in a… physical altercation with an older student.”
“Someone attacked my boy?!” Elena shrieked.
The principal raised her hand. “Actually, Mrs Rodriguez… Henry was the one to throw the first punch. And now Tucker is sitting in the nurse’s office with a black eye.”
“What?!” Elena whirled around to her son. “Henry, is this true?”
Hero nodded slowly.
“Dios mio, I am so, so sorry about this! I assure you, we’ll talk about this as soon as his father gets home!”
The principal sighed. “Look, Mrs Rodriguez. We can’t let an incident like this go with no repercussions. It’s the first offense, and Henry has otherwise shown himself to be a model student, so it won’t be too bad. One week out of school suspension and a letter of apology to Tucker.”
“I’m not sorry” Hero mumbled.
“What was that?!” Elena snapped.
“Nothing.”
“We will be having a long conversation about this very, very soon, Enrique Aguilar Rodriguez.”
Hero stayed stone faced. Elena didn’t know what to make of that – the few times he had misbehaved before, she had always been able to cow him with his full name. Now though, there was defiance. Was this that teenage rebellion she’d read about?
Hero was still sulking in his room. The only things he’d said to his mother since the principal’s office were that the incident wasn’t his fault and that he wasn’t going to apologize. After that, Elena had left him alone. Maybe he just needed some space? She just didn’t know what to do, she had never expected anything like this to happen. Had she done something wrong raising her sons? She’d sent Kel out to play with Sunny so that she could focus on Hero, but no ideas were coming to mind.
There was a knock on the door, a familiar rhythm. She opened it and looked down on the round face of Hero’s best friend.
“Oh. Hello, Mari.”
“H-hi Mrs Rodriguez…” Mari’s smile was feeble, and her red eyes told Elena that the preteen had been crying recently. Mari shifted one of her crutches – seeing the energetic young girl reduced to hobbling about by that knee injury was still disconcerting.
“Hola, Mari. I’m afraid that Hero can’t see any friends today. Probably not for a while, to be honest.”
“O-Oh, that’s alright. I’m… I’m here to talk to you. About Hero, actually.”
Elena raised an eyebrow and ushered her neighbor’s daughter into her home.
“So, what did you want to tell me?” she asked as they sat on the sofa.
“It wasn’t Hero’s fault!” Mari shouted. “He was just protecting me!”
Elena stared at the girl. “What do you mean, protecting you?”
“Tucker, he… he grabbed my crutches today… said he didn’t think I needed them…”
Elena’s eyes went wide.
“Then when I fell down and asked for them back, he… he just laughed…” Mari was tearing up. “And then Hero, he… he screamed and punched Tucker… but then Tucker ran to the teachers and told them Hero p-punched him, and now Hero’s life is ruined and it’s all my fault!”
The poor girl was sobbing now. “It’s okay” Elena hugged Mari “his life isn’t ruined.”
“But… but he hit someone… he’s gonna get expelled! He’s never gonna get into college now!”
“Hero’s not expelled” Elena reassured the girl. “He won’t be in school for a week, but you haven’t ruined his life. And if what you told me is true, I think I need to have a talk with him.”
“Hero? Honey? I’m coming in, alright? And I brought someone who wants to see you.”
Elena was met with silence from the door to her sons’ room. She sighed and opened the door gently. Hero was sitting on his bed scowling.
“Hi Hero…” Mari waved nervously. Hero turned. When he saw Mari, his scowl disappeared and his face went flush.
“Mari!” Hero ran and embraced his friend.
“Hero!” Mari began to cry “I’m so sorry you got in trouble because of me!”
“It’s not your fault” Hero assured her “Tucker was just being a dick-“
“HENRY! Watch your language!” Elena reprimanded.
“…Tucker was just being a jerk.”
“But you could have been expelled! And then you’d have to live under a bridge and sell trash to people!” Mari protested.
“I just… I got so angry that I wasn’t thinking. I… I couldn’t stand by and watch you cry like that!”
“But… but…”
“Mari” Elena interjected “I already told you, Hero just has to apologize to Tucker-“
“No, I’m not gonna do it!” Hero shook his head.
“But you have to!” Mari pleaded “even if you don’t mean it!”
“But…”
“If you have to stay out of school too long, I’ll miss you, and that would make me sad, and you wouldn’t want to make me sad, would you?” Mari looked at Hero with puppy eyes.
“…no…”
“Good! I can even help you write it!” Mari cheered up almost immediately.
“Well” Elena smiled “I’ll leave you two to it.”
“Hmm…” Elena scanned over the letter.
“Well? What do you think, Mrs Rodriguez?” Mari asked nervously.
“It should be good enough for a mandatory school punishment” she sighed “I still can’t believe you did that, Henry”
“I’m sorry” Hero muttered.
“Sorry you did it, or sorry you got in trouble?”
Hero was silent. Elena sighed again. “Look, hijo, I know you meant well, but you can’t do things like this, okay?”
“Well, what should I have done?” Hero asked.
“You should have gotten a teacher. You can’t resort to punching.”
“But-“
“No buts! It doesn’t matter what they do, you shouldn’t get angry at people like that. Understand?”
“…Si, mama.”
“Good. Despite everything, I’m still proud of you for doing the right thing.”
“R-really?”
“Of course!” Elena hugged her son “But you did punch another student, even if he did deserve it, so you’re grounded for the week.”
“…Okay…” Hero relented.
“And Mari” Elena turned to the girl “thank you for coming by and explaining everything.”
“Oh, no problem! So… I guess I won’t see you for a week then, huh?” Mari turned to Hero.
“I guess not” Hero shrugged.
“Well, I’ll miss you every day” Mari turned away from Hero to hide her blush.
“It’s getting late. You should head home. Do you need help getting there?” Elena asked.
“No” Mari shook her head “I can manage.” She headed for the door. “Oh, and by the way” she called out as she swung the door open “Thank you for being my hero!”
Hero felt his face flush once more.
“Ooh, ‘her hero’, huh?” Elena laughed.
“Mom!” Hero grumbled.
“What? It’s cute.”
“Ugh… please just send me to my room now…”
“No way! This is a much more fun punishment!”