Don't Call Me Hero

by Ray Villareal

  Rawly sighed. He couldn’t hang up on Nevin in front of his mother. That would require too much of an explanation.

  He walked behind the counter, went inside the office, and shut the door. He picked up the phone and waited for his mother to hang up on the other line.

  “What do you want, Steinberg?”

  Nevin replied, “Something must be wrong with your phone, dude, ’cause I just called a moment ago and we got cut off.”

  “We didn’t get cut off,” Rawly said. “I hung up. Which I’m getting ready to do right now.”

  “Wait! Hear me out. Don’t hang up.”

  Rawly paused.

  “Please?”

  “Say what you’ve got to say, Nevin, and hurry it up. I’ve got to get back to work.”

  In a halting voice, Nevin said, “I want to apologize for what I did to you in school.”

  Rawly sat in his mother’s chair and waited for Nevin to continue.

  “Dude, are you there?”

  Rawly took a deep breath. A muscle twitched in his neck. “Why’d you do it, man? Why’d you make me look like an idiot in front of the whole school?”

  Silence.

  “Get lost, Nevin.” Rawly started to hang up.

  “Wait, dude! Don’t hang up. I did it ’cause . . . I was scared.”

  Rawly put the phone back to his ear. “Scared? Of what?”

  “Of losing your friendship.”

  That didn’t make any sense. It was something Nevin was saying to get a reaction. It was part of his act, like pretending to be crying so his mother would put him on the phone.

  “Well, you sure have a funny way of showing your friendship,” Rawly said.

  Nevin gulped. “Okay, dude. This is it. Confession time. I know this may be hard for you to believe, but you’re the only friend I have.”

  Rawly knew it was true, but it sounded odd to hear Nevin admit it.

  “So at the fair when I saw you taking off with those guys, I guess I sort of panicked. I thought I was losing you forever. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Rawls, not really. I just wanted to get your attention. It was a dumb way of doing it, but . . . ”

  Rawly could hear Nevin breathing heavily. Then he heard him sniffle. It sounded as if Nevin really was crying. Nah. He was pretending again.

  “Dude, you have it so easy,” Nevin said. More sniffling. “You’ve got a ton of friends. Everybody likes you. They love hanging out with you, even old guys like Sid Lundy. But me? I’m nobody. I don’t have anyone, except you. I can’t even go out of the house by myself without my mom freaking out.”

  “But you always go out,” Rawly said, not quite buying Nevin’s story. “You go to my house, to the mall, to Heroes & Villains—”

  “With you, dude. With you!”

  There was no mistaking it. Nevin was crying. Rawly didn’t know how much more crying he could take in one day. First it was Jaime, now Nevin.

  “My mom doesn’t think I can do anything right,” Nevin said. “She treats me like I’m a baby. But she trusts you, dude. She lets me go out, only if she knows you’re going with me. She’s always throwing your name in my face. ‘Why can’t you be more like Rawly?’ she says. ‘He works. He’s resourceful. He knows how to get around the city. It’s always Rawly this and Rawly that. Now you’re a big-shot hero.” Nevin’s voice rose to a high, whiny, level. “You couldn’t even do something ordinary, like rescue a kitten stuck in a tree or help an old lady cross the street. No, you had to go and save a world-famous fashion model’s life! You’re on the news and everything. How am I supposed to compete with that?”

  Nevin was bawling now. It wasn’t an act, Rawly was certain of it.

  “You have a cool mom who owns her own restaurant,” Nevin went on, “but I’m stuck at home with the Paranoid Queen and Safari Bob.” Nevin blew his nose. It sounded like a clown horn.“I’ve even tried to learn Spanish so I can be more like you.” Nevin honked his nose again.

  Rawly was surprised by Nevin’s candid admission. He didn’t realize Nevin regarded him so highly. Still, he was confused. How did Nevin expect to win back his friendship by embarrassing him at school with the flyers and photographs? He decided not to ask. Only Nevin’s twisted logic could make sense of that.

  “What do you say, dude? Can we be friends again? Can we be Jumex?”

  Rawly knew the answer, but first he wanted to clear up some things. “I’ll tell what would help,” he said. “Try treating me like you really appreciate my friendship, all right? And stop acting like such a jerk.”

  “You’re right,” Nevin said. “I am a jerk. I’m a king-size, industrial-strength, restaurant-quality jerk.”

  Rawly wasn’t finished. “You’ve also ruined my reputation at school. The kids think I’m a self-centered egomaniac. Plus, Mr. Hair suspended me for something I didn’t do. What do you plan to do about that?”

  “Hey, no problemo, dude,” Nevin said, now sounding composed. “I’ll turn myself in to Mr. No-Hair on Monday morning and confess my sins.”

  “What about the rest of the school?” Rawly asked. “How are you going to let everyone know that I didn’t have anything to do with those photos?”

  “Leave that to me,” Nevin said. “I have my ways. I’ll make sure your name is cleared.”

  Rawly was relieved. Sure, Nevin was a pain, but Rawly would much rather have him on his side than against it. “Hey, Nevin?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Glad you called.”

  “Me, too.”

  “See you at school tomorrow.”

  Nevin hung up. He flopped on his bed and propped up his head with a pillow. He folded his hands on his chest and gazed up at the ceiling.

  “It’s all about the sell,” he said to himself and smiled.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  On Monday morning, Nevin met Rawly when the bus pulled up in front of the school. Together they found Mr. Hair, who was monitoring the students on the blacktop. Nevin told the principal the truth about the photographs.

  Mr. Hair apologized to Rawly for the misunderstanding. “To be honest with you, I didn’t think you’d done it. I spoke with some of your teachers, and they seemed to agree with me.” He shook Rawly’s hand. “By the way, I received an email from the mayor’s office, letting me know that the city wants to honor you for your heroism.”

  “He is a hero, sir,” Nevin agreed. “Me? I’m a king-size, industrial-strength, restaurant-quality jerk.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you there, son,” Mr. Hair said, winking at Rawly. “I’d like the mayor to present you with your award here at school, if that’s all right.”

  Nevin grinned. “See there, dude. I told you I’d take care of things for you.”

  “Not so fast, Nevin,” Mr. Hair said. “Starting tomorrow, you’ll be spending the next three days in in-house suspension.”

  Nevin groaned. “But Mr. Hair, I told you what really happened, and I said I was sorry for what I did.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not enough.” Mr. Hair’s face turned stony. “Do you realize how much trouble you caused for Rawly? For me? For the school? Playing practical jokes on people may be just a game for you, but sometimes there are consequences to pay. I’ll make sure your teachers provide you with plenty of work to keep you busy.”

  Throughout the day, Nevin worked at convincing everyone that he, and not Rawly, was responsible for the photographs. Some kids, like Arlie, Santiago and Jennifer, accepted Nevin’s explanation. Others, like Travis McHenry and Daniel Vásquez, told him to get lost.

  Later that afternoon, Nevin found Rawly talking with Iris near the library. He bowed before her with one arm on his waist and other on his back. “Hola, señorita. Perdón, pero tengo que hablo con Rawly.”

  Iris sneered at him. “It’s hablar, Nevin, not hablo. And I don’t know why Rawly would want to speak to you. I can’t believe what you did to him. You’re supposed to be his friend.”

  Nevin reeled back. “But I am his friend.”

  “
Not in my book,” Iris said. “Why don’t you grow up? Stop acting like such a clown. You don’t impress anyone with your phony act.”

  Nevin’s mouth fell open.

  “If you’re so starved for attention, why don’t you try spending some time helping others?” Iris asked. “Earn the attention, Nevin. Don’t beg for it.”

  Rawly tried to stifle a giggle, but it escaped anyway. Get him, Iris.

  Iris squeezed Rawly’s hand and said, “Call me, okay?”

  Before heading out the door, she gave Nevin a parting shot: “Oh, and for your information, you’re not nearly as funny or clever as you think you are.”

  Nevin stood rigid, as if he had been shot and was waiting to fall. Finally he said, “Man, she’s starting to sound just like her bimbo cousin.”

  “Who? Miyoko?” Rawly asked.

  “Yeah. I tried to explain to her about the photos and . . . Dude, she doesn’t like you very much, does she?”

  Rawly smiled. “No, I guess not.”

  “That’s all right,” Nevin said. “Consider yourself fortunate. That girl’s about as bright as a flashlight with dead batteries—and just as useless. You know what, dude? If I ever do become Amnesia Man, Miyoko would be the perfect sidekick, Airhead. ’Cause if ever there was an airhead, it’s her.”

  They made their way outside. Rawly froze when he saw who was at the bottom of the steps. “Let’s go the other way,” he told Nevin.

  As he turned to go back inside the building, he heard a voice say, “Hey, Pancho! C’mere. I wanna talk to you.”

  Rawly stopped.

  “Just so you’ll know,” Cruz Vega said, puffing himself up with self-importance. “Channel 32 covered our game Friday night, and their sports guy, Austin Spivey, interviewed me on TV ’cause I scored four touchdowns in the game against the Bobcats.”

  “And I made six tackles,” Big Feo added. “Not that I care if you know about it.”

  “So I don’t need to waste my time with a punk like you,” Cruz said. “We’re gonna have scouts from UT, Texas A&M and SMU at our next game.”

  “Big deal,” Nevin said. “That doesn’t mean they’re going to offer you anything.”

  Cruz scowled at him. “Who’s talking to you, nimrod?”

  Nevin got in his face and said, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, my friend.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Cruz asked.

  “You’ll find out,” Nevin said, smiling. “You’ll find out.”

  Cruz and Big Feo walked off, with Cruz mumbling something about geeks and gifts.

  As they watched them leave, Rawly said, “You know what, Nevin? Like it or not, Cruz is going to be a star football player someday.”

  “Why do you say that?” Nevin asked.

  “Because he’s a great quarterback. You heard him. He scored four touchdowns in their last game.”

  “Big whoop,” Nevin said. “Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in a game, too, and he grew up to be a shoe salesman.”

  It took Rawly a moment to figure out that Nevin was talking about the character from the TV show, Married With Children.

  “Come on,” Nevin said. “Let’s go buy some comic books.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  A special assembly was held in the school auditorium to honor Rawly. The mayor and two city council members, as well as the school superintendent and three board members, joined Rawly and his mother onstage. Mr. Randall was also in attendance to speak on behalf of the Demetrius family. TV news cameras filmed the event.

  The band was seated on the floor in front of the stage. They played the theme song from Superman. Iris looked up at Rawly and gave him a “thumbs up.”

  Mr. Hair addressed the crowded auditorium. He called Rawly’s actions selfless and courageous. He said that he had never been more proud of anyone than he was of Rawly.

  Both the mayor and the superintendent presented Rawly with plaques. In addition, the mayor awarded him the Key to the City, after declaring the day as “Rawly Sánchez Day.”

  Andrea Marino sang Hero while Nicole Chadima accompanied her on the piano. Rawly fought back tears as he listened to the lyrics.

  Then a hero comes along with the strength to carry on, and you cast your fears aside and know you can survive. So when you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong, and you finally see the truth that a hero lies in you.

  When the assembly was over, members of the local and national news media interviewed Rawly, his mother, Mr. Hair and the invited dignitaries. They also asked students to comment on how they felt about Rawly. The reporters refused to talk to Nevin because he insisted on conducting the interviews wearing the gorilla mask, which he had taken to school for Halloween.

  Rawly’s mother had to rush back to work. The restaurant would be packed, and not just because it was Wednesday, and they were offering the enchilada dinner special. Business had boomed in the past couple of weeks. New customers were coming in every day. She gave Rawly the night off. He deserved it. She had asked Teresita’s nephew, Arturo, who had been looking for a job, to come in and clean tables.

  Since he was free for the evening, Rawly thought he might invite Nevin to go trick-or-treating with him. He decided against it. For one thing, Rawly didn’t have a costume. For another, going door to door, wearing a mask, asking strangers for candy, now seemed like such a childish thing to do.

  Perhaps it was time to put his trick-or-treating days behind him. He thought he might stop by the grocery store after school and pick up some bags of candy to hand out to the little kids who showed up at their door.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  When Rawly arrived home, he checked the mailbox. It was stuffed with letters, bills and advertisements. One of the letters was from Zane Archer, Nikki Demetrius’s publicist. Even though it was addressed to him, Rawly didn’t open it. He would let his mother deal with it.

  There was also a large manila envelope. He threw the mail on the coffee table and opened the envelope. Inside was a comic book, drawn on coarse, off-white paper. On the cover was a boy lying on his stomach on a bridge floor. He was dangling a blue shirt above a swollen creek. A woman, half-submerged in the water, was reaching up to grab the shirt.

  The title of the comic book? THE HERO OF WINNETKA CREEK.