But Asa had spent so much—too much—to get to where he was now. He’d dragged himself from out of the mud and up to the top to earn the goddamn respect he knew he deserved, but here was someone he just met, throwing it all away like it was nothing.
Like Asa was nothing.
But Asa knew what it had been like to be nothing for so, so long. And he didn’t want to feel that way ever again.
He decided he was going to change her mind. It didn’t matter how he did it or how long it took, he was going to do it. Asa would get the girl, whose name he didn’t yet know, to see him in a different light.
And if there was anything Asa loved as much as books and swimming, it was the chase. The challenge.
Maybe his grandfather’s words about his rashness should have occurred to him then. It should’ve served as a warning. He’d always told Asa that he’d have to end up sleeping in the bed he made.
But Asa’s heart was already in the task he’d set out for himself and there was no taking it back now. Asa’s impulsiveness and his need to just be seen was his own catalyst.
And nothing was going to be the same again.
04.
The Hazel-Eyed Girl
When Asa stepped into the living room, his mother gasped when her eyes fell on him, the smile instantly dropping from her face.
“Qué pasó?!” She rushed to him with a horrified expression, her tender hands holding his face as she took in the bruises and the cuts on him.
“Es nada, Ma,” he mumbled, gently prying her hands away.
“It’s not nothing!” she exclaimed, her dark eyes shining with fury. “Was it that Hunter boy again? I must do something! This is becoming crazy—”
“Déjalo.” He sighed, cutting her off, as he dropped his bag on the couch and sat down with a sigh.
“You’re always asking us to let it be.” She frowned, looking about ready to storm out of the house with a baseball bat in search for Hunter.
Asa chuckled softly. “That’s because I can take care of myself, Ma.” He smiled. “It’s not like before. I can hit back now. In fact, you should’ve seen his face—” then he grinned devilishly “—it was worse than mine.”
“Not making me feel better,” she muttered grudgingly. Her eyes, however, softened as she came closer to him and inspected his face again. “Does it hurt?” she asked gently.
Not as much as seeing the terrified look in the eyes of the bullied girl, he wanted to say. But he didn’t. Instead, he shook his head. “Not the face, just the stomach. Goddamn puta, he head-butted—ow!” Asa rubbed his forearm that his mother had just slapped sharply.
“Language!” she snapped, eyes flashing. “What have I said about language? Not in this house, not around your parents!”
Asa’s cheeks flushed in humility, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry Ma,” he mumbled. “It just slipped. Hunter’s just a pain in the a—butt. In the back, neck. Just wherever, you know.”
His mother cracked a smile, shaking her head fondly, as she watched her son. “Get cleaned up then. Made some of your favourite pozole rojo.”
Asa’s eyes lit up, his stomach acting on reflex at the mention of his mother’s impeccable cooking as it growled. Both he and his mum dissolved into fits of laughter at the sound.
“I’ll be down in a few minutes,” he said as he got up from the couch. “Don’t finish it all yourself.” He smirked, knowing she had an appetite bigger than him and his father’s combined.
“Just go, Asa.” She sighed exasperatedly.
But he saw the affectionate smile on her face as she turned away.
•••
Asa found the hazel-eyed girl in his AP English Literature class the next day, during third period. But he didn’t approach her until the bell had rung and the class let out.
He should’ve turned around and just walked out, but he found his feet carrying him towards her desk, where she was packing away her things. He wondered if her eyes would hold that same smudge of disapproval when she sees him.
He hoped not.
“Look at what the cat dragged in.” He grinned as he stopped right in front of her desk.
She groaned at the recognition of his voice before lifting her head up to glare at him. “If I throw you a bone, will you go away?” she asked him scathingly, the corners of her mouth turned down.
Would he? He didn’t think so. But he wondered if his behaviour was indeed comparable to that of a dog. But here he was, wagging his tail in hopes that she’d get rid of that disapproval, that she’d see him as an obedient golden retriever than a rabid stray.
He felt pathetic for a moment there, maybe ashamed even. He was weak, wasn’t he? He didn’t want to be weak. He’d been that before, and it hadn’t done him any good. And yet, he still stood there in front of the hazel-eyed girl.
“Probably not,” he replied, making himself grin and play off the words casually.
“Right.” She snorted. “Because guys like you don’t know how to take no from a girl. What’s wrong? Blow to your ego?”
“Girls don’t really say no,” he muttered thoughtfully. Of course, Asa had made out. A lot. With many girls. He didn’t think they were weak because of it, though. He knew they’d just been looking for a good time, the same thing as he had. It didn’t put him above those girls; didn’t create the notion that his ego needed to be inflated each time he came in physical contact with one. And that was why the girls that came to
