He left the bathroom several minutes after the bell had ceased its raucous announcement that classes were starting. He had Chemistry at that hour, and the teacher always took attendance at the beginning, so there was no point in rushing to the classroom: there would be a capital 'L' scribbled next to his name on the attendance sheet, one way or another.

He rubbed his temple again, grimacing in pain. The area no longer throbbed with the same intensity, but it still demanded attention with occasional stabs too sharp to ignore. He knew from experience that the pain would get worse before it subsided.

"Are you all right?" a sweet voice asked.

Leonel turned his head to meet María's beautiful eyes. They were large and framed by false eyelashes that made them striking, a feature that was enhanced by the contrast with the rest of her small features: a heart-shaped mouth painted red, cheeks covered with false blush and a cute, upturned nose. Together with her artificially styled curls and the blue dress she wore, the girl looked like one of those porcelain dolls that Leonel's mother had cherished since she was a child.

He opened his mouth to respond, but could only make lip movements without forming words. He must have looked like a fool in front of the most spectacular girl in the school. Hell, maybe the most spectacular in the city. And for the past two months, Esteban's ex.

That was dangerous territory.

"What happened to you?" María asked, her brow furrowed in concern.

She was carrying three large, thick folders, which she clutched to her chest as she approached to examine Leonel's forehead.

"It looks painful."

"Oh, um..." He cleared his throat. "You know how I am. I like to keep my relationships stable."

María gave him a puzzled look, though she smiled politely. He didn't blame her; Leonel felt the urge to backtrack and change his comment. In his head it made sense, seemed like a good joke: keeping all your relationships stable meant not losing the school rivalries. Get it? Ha-ha?

No one could blame him for being nervous. María had that effect on people; her opinion was the stronghold of the entire school, even influencing the older students.

She took a deep breath and exhaled with a kind of amused but incredulous sigh.

"As usual, I don't understand a word you're saying, Leo."

"But you're smiling, that's what counts," he remarked with a shrug.

"True..." María's smile widened.

Leonel sensed a final pause approaching, the kind of silence that effectively ends a conversation, so he hurried to ask:

"Why aren't you in class?"

"Oh! I'm on my way. The administration asked me to pick up these folders for Professor Moyer." She lifted them slightly to show them as if Leonel couldn't see them in her hands.

"Let me take them for you."

"Thank you."

The expression María gave him was peculiar, albeit in a tantalizing way. It was a discreet gesture in which she lowered her head slightly, seeming to look at him through those long black lashes. Leonel swallowed hard, certain he was misreading the signals, but the girl's expression was... interested? Flirtatious? How was Leonel supposed to interpret that?

He must have imagined it; there was no way that the prettiest and friendliest girl in the school could look at him with interest, right? It had to be an illusion concocted by his ego; it was impossible for the girl to go from dating a guy like Esteban — tall, strong, attractive — to being interested in a scrawny guy like Leonel.

Right?

María gave him a gentle nudge with her shoulder, almost a brush, before commenting, "You've changed. I like it."

He glanced at her sideways, wondering if she had noticed his inner struggle and decided to take pity on him by being more direct. It was the most likely scenario, given his belief that women were more adept at interpreting body language. At least, María had always seemed perceptive in such matters.

Leonel moved his mouth again, not knowing what to say. Should he acknowledge the compliment, or would that make him look awkward? There was no time to think, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind: a silly joke.

"Oh, well, I started going to the gym. I'm glad it shows."

He held the folders in one hand and flexed his arm to show off a muscle that, while noticeable, was nothing like Esteban's or Bautista's. Still, it elicited a laugh from his companion, and the girl's cheerful expression alone was enough to ease the embarrassment his own comment had caused him.

"I didn't mean it that way, but since you mentioned it..." María's gaze lowered to admire him with an exaggerated interest that still managed to make Leonel choke on his own saliva. Her lingered on the splint, forgetting the game. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, they'll take it off soon," Leonel replied.

María made a sympathetic grimace that made him uncomfortable. He hated it when people looked at him like that.

"I'm really sorry about what happened," she said as they stopped in front of the lab door, as if it was somehow all her fault.

"Don't worry about it," he dismissed quickly.

He opened the door and held it open for her to enter first. As she walked past him, María put a hand on his chest and caressed it.

"I hope you get better for the next game."

Leonel stammered, not just because of the contact, but because everyone in the classroom had seen it: heads had turned as the door opened, and those present were watching the newcomers with curiosity. He kept his eyes forward, ignoring the hushed comments of his classmates as a new rumor emerged.

"I apologize for being late, Professor," María proceeded to explain her tardiness to the man, adding a white lie, "Leonel was helping me, that's why he was late too."

The man raised an eyebrow in obvious skepticism but accepted the excuse. He instructed them to take their seats, and as he walked down the central aisle of the lab, Leonel's gaze met Bautista's smile, who admired the damage his fist had done to Leonel's olive skin.

"Do you ever brush your teeth?" Leonel asked curiously.

Bautista stood up abruptly.

"You want another one, dipshit?" He was no longer smiling, Leonel noticed with satisfaction.

"Hey!" the teacher called, although he made no attempt to get up from his desk. "Lescano, sit down and stop interrupting the class."

Leonel complied, ignoring Bautista's angry glare. He sensed that something was off with that guy. He had always been the most aggressive and the one who treated him the worst, but now there was something different beneath the hostility, something he found hard to identify.

He made his way to one of the empty desks at the front, noticing that María had followed when he saw her take a seat next to him.

"You've just got back to school and you're already getting into trouble," María murmured, running her hand gently over the wound.

The contact was unexpected but pleasant, so Leonel allowed it. His skin felt throbbing and sensitive; undoubtedly, a bruise must have already formed, which by the end of the day would be a large hematoma.

"What can I say? Some people don't get my sense of humor."

María flashed that charming smile that enhanced her beauty and ran her hand through his hair, the same hand that inspected his wound. She had the ability to be tender and comforting despite her youth, but Leonel was more focused on the person sitting behind them to appreciate it. He glanced nervously at the table behind them, confirming that Esteban was watching them closely. His green eyes were so intense that even though he didn't make any particular gesture, they managed to unsettle Leonel. He quickly turned his gaze forward again.

"You have a very peculiar sense of humor," María continued.

"Heavens, you sound just like my mom."

Indeed, when he returned home that evening and Romina, his mother, greeted him in the living room, the first thing she did was to go over and inspect the terrible bruise on her son's face. Her expression showed an immense concern that only a mother could show, and after the recent events, the woman's distress was even greater. He felt a deep contempt for Bautista, whose violence had rekindled Romina's pain.

It took several lies and words of comfort to calm his mother down.

"You've just started school and you're already getting into trouble," she said, reaching out with a motherly hand to the injured part of Leonel's face.

The action was an exact replica of the caress María had given him hours earlier. It sent an unpleasant shiver down his spine, so he jerked his head away with a click of his tongue.

"It's nothing, I bumped into a pillar while walking," he explained, moving toward his room. "You know how distracted I can be."

"Leonel, are those boys still bothering you?" his mother asked worriedly.

He shut the door without answering.