WHEN HECTOR PARKS his bike at school and takes off his helmet, he looks around and spots Rachel's blue car at the back.

His chest hurts a little. What kind of face should he wear if they meet? Or worse, will she just ignore him? Hector thinks.

The whole day Hector looks around for her. During the breaks, on the way to his next class, at lunch in the cafeteria. But he doesn't see her.

It dawns on him how separated Rachel and him are. They don't share a class or a club, or have any mutual friends. It was only during the tutoring sessions he got to see her.

Now she's unreachable.

Hector anxiously rubs his neck where the collar of his jacket would've rested against if he wore one today. He had decided to stop wearing jackets.

But it feels odd. In spite of the circumstances he started wearing them in, he has grown to love leather jackets. However, now it has suddenly become a morbid reminder of the violent past that still lingers.

After the school is over, Hector walks to his bike with heavy steps. The whole day has not been good. He's anxious.

When he's near, he sees a large brown paper bag hanging down from one of the handles on his bike. Hector takes it off and looks inside.

There's the black leather jacket he left over the kittens that night, along with a steel tiffin box and a folded paper.

Hector immediately takes the paper out, unfolds it and starts reading the handwritten letter.

I thought you'll get mad at me for returning it this late, so I'm leaving the jacket on your bike.

I'm sorry for taking it. I saw it was getting wet so I picked it up without thinking.

I dried it properly and kept it rolled, so it should be in a good condition.

About the day I got sick, thanks a lot for taking me to the hospital and later to your house.

As for your mom, I'm not keeping anything to heart so don't worry about it.

That day I was still shaken a bit so I kept quiet when you drove me home. But I wasn't mad at you or anything.

I'm really sorry for bothering you that day. But I'm also very grateful. So I made you some chocolate cookies as a thank you.

And about what you asked at the parking lot, when it was raining heavily, although I'm not sure if I heard you right...

I don't hate you. I just get flustered sometimes because of the way you talk.

I think you're nice and kind.

At least to kittens.

PS: Please burn this paper after reading it and discard its ashes.

Hector laughs at the last few sentences. He neatly folds the letter and safely tucks it away inside his pant pocket. He takes out the box, opens it and takes a bite of one of the cookies.

He then pulls out his jacket from the bag, gives it a shake and wears it. He takes a deep breath. It feels good to have the weight of it on his shoulders. It also feels soothing, but Hector doesn't think that's because of the jacket itself.

She doesn't hate him, Hector thinks, before getting up on his bike and riding away.

NEXT DAY AT school, Rachel skews her lips deep in thought in front of the computer. She types out a couple of sentences, then deletes them all.

Back to the blank page.

She's unable to come up with a topic for the Rattler competition she and Ricky Marvin had signed up for.

Soon Ricky arrives at the computer lab and sits next to Rachel. Today, they are supposed to finalize the topic and write an outline for the project.

"Got any idea?" Ricky says.

"No. Nothing good is coming to my mind."

"Can I suggest one?" Ricky says.

Rachel looks at him and smiles, as he tries to keep up with his promise of not bossing her around.

"You can," Rachel says.

"How about we do it on nickel titanium?"

Rachel's eyebrows raise. "Nitinol? That sounds good. What angle?"

"Shape memory."

Rachel is impressed. There are many applications for this metal they can cover and come up with. She starts typing.

Ten minutes later, they are done perfecting their outline. They'll still need to finalize the suggested applications and the current examples, but the outline is mostly done.

"Good work. I can go through the proposed applications and use cases number one and five. You work on the intro and the rest of the cases," Rachel says, "Sounds good?"

Ricky looks at her a little confused.

"Not good?" Rachel says.

"I thought we were doing it together," he says.

"Yeah, we are sharing the work between us," she says.

"Why don't we just work on each section together? I think that'll be quicker. Like today."

Rachel does admit that they indeed were able to get started quicker than she would've on her own by working together, but she wonders if doing every section together as well would be a good idea.

"I don't know," Rachel says, "We can work at home on our assigned sections. That'll speed things up."

"But why take more time on it at home? Let's just stay back at school for just twenty to thirty minutes and work on it together and be just done for the day with it," Ricky says.

Rachel would appreciate the free time at home, but... she's slightly hesitant to spend more time with Ricky. She doesn't want him to misunderstand about anything. Or maybe she's overthinking about it, she thinks.

"You don't have to decide right away," Ricky says, "How about we try it today evening and decide afterward?"

"Sure," Rachel says, standing up and picking up her stuff from the desk, "Let's do that. We'll meet here?"

"Yeah," Ricky says, smiling, "here."

As Rachel leaves the lab to her classroom she is thinking how unbelievably better Ricky had become at working as a team. In sixth grade, working with him on that bio project was a nightmare, she thinks.

But things are going a lot smoother now. If they keep up with this progress their project will surely stand out at the competition.

Rachel smiles, feeling excited about it. She loves participating in such events. It's like a hobby. And she gets to see the works of the brilliant students from other schools. It's always fun.

Lost in her thoughts, Rachel bumps into someone.

"Sorry," Rachel quickly says and looks up, and sees that it's Hector.

"You've a habit of bumping into everyone or just me?" Hector says.

Rachel smiles wider at him. At the jacket specifically. He's wearing the one she had saved from the rain that night.

"See? It's good as new!" Rachel says.

"Never said it wasn't," Hector says.

Rachel wants to ask Hector if he wasn't going to thank her for keeping it safe. But decides against it.

She's just happy he's wearing it. The jacket belongs with him, Rachel thinks.

"Are you thinking I'm looking good in it?" Hector says, trying to tease her.

Rachel glares at him to hide her embarrassment because that's exactly what she was thinking. The jacket looked out of place in her closet, but on him, it looks magnificent.

"Anyway," Rachel says, "I'm just relieved it's off my hands."

When she starts to leave Hector grabs her arm.

"What?" Rachel says.

"What you said in the letter, about being grateful for me taking you to the hospital, is that true?"

"It's true," she says.

"Then I need a favor," Hector says.

"But I returned your jacket to you," Rachel says, "two times. Aren't we even?"

"How is returning a piece of clothing is same as carrying an unconscious person to a car and driving them to a hospital?"

Rachel sighs. "What do you want?"

"Maths," Hector says, "Can you tutor me on maths?"

"But you can just hire a private tutor," Rachel says, reminding him of what he said when the coach announced she'll be tutoring the sophomores.

Hector smirks. "What? You were upset about that?" He says.

Rachel was, and still is, upset about a million things he had said to her so far. However, it's also logical that he hires a private tutor when he can afford one.

"No. I'm just saying that would be more efficient," she says.

"You heard the coach. We can't use private tutors in school premises. And I'd rather have my tuitions here than at home," Hector says.

Rachel goes quiet briefly at the mention of his home. She can understand why he wouldn't want to have tutoring classes in that house.

Hector is watching Rachel. He mentioned his home on purpose. Testing the water out for her reaction.

Rachel says, "Fine. But I have something else right after school for half an hour. You must be having your practice, too, right? We can meet after that in the library."

"That's perfect," Hector says.

After school, Rachel finishes up the intro section of the project with Ricky at the computer lab and leaves for the library.

On her way, she hears thunders and looks outside. The sky has darkened. She'd better not stay late, Rachel thinks.

She enters the library thinking she'll tell Hector they can do this tomorrow. But when she sees him waiting for her at the table they used to sit together at, Rachel suddenly remembers his mother.

If Rachel says no to the tutoring today, will he have to go back to his home right away? Or will he just sit here alone? She looks at the window. He won't be able to ride his bike out in this weather, she thinks.

Rachel walks over to the table and sits down across Hector. She pulls out the math book and places it on the table. "Which chapter you need help with?" She says.

End of chapter