Electric Tacos (Wattys 2023)

PART TWO: BROKEN HEARTS CLUB

"What's up with him?" Ricky asked as he saw Mateo in a vest top in shorts meandering around the track, emotionless. He'd done five laps in the past ten minutes and was sweating heavily, showing no signs of stopping. Jay shrugged. "He hasn't spoken to you?"

"Nah, he just came here and went onto the track. He's been getting more use out of this track than the actual team today. It was a good investment."

Ricky smirked. "So, should we just let him run out his frustrations then, and talk later?"

Jay nodded. "We should just watch him burn himself out."

Chuck walked over with his box of pupusas and enchiladas. Ricky had a chicken sandwich he'd made, and Jay was eating some chips, along with some birria.

They were on an extended lunch break, thanks to a free period.

The substitute teacher never made it that afternoon, so they decided to focus on sports before Coach Lopez led them to soccer practice an hour later:

"Where's Mateo?" he asked. "I was going to do an introduction with him."

"I'll go and look for him," Ricky said.

George nodded in agreement. "I'll go too."

Ricky and George spent the next ten minutes looking for Mateo in the art department, the drama stage, the library, the track, and finally outside the school entrance, where they found him sitting on the sidewalk, drinking a can of coke mixed with something strongly coconut.

He was listening to some new wave music through his walkman loudly and zoned out, but tapping his feet along to the beat.

Ricky sat beside him and touched his shoulder. Mateo turned around, startled.

He looked at them both and took off his headphones. "What?"

Ricky smiled. "Coach Lopez is looking to introduce you to the soccer team."

"We kinda need you to come, or my old man will be pissed off," George said, as he tried to help Mateo up. He refused to budge. "Come on, Mateo."

Mateo folded his arms. "I don't wanna go."

Ricky sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why the hell not? What's your problem?"

"I had my heart broken!" Mateo snapped back. "I need time to recover."

Ricky scoffed. "By who?"

"Someone." Mateo glared and looked around him. "I'll tell you if George goes and tells Coach Lopez that I'll be back shortly, that something came up, and to start practice without me."

George nodded. "Don't be too long."

"I won't be," Mateo replied as he watched George walk away. Ricky refused to budge. "... Are you gonna be long, too?"

"I'm not going until you tell me what's up," Ricky said. "You need to snap out of it, whatever the hell it is, and get your head back in the game."

Mateo sighed and flicked his hair away from his face. He wasn't wearing his boots, khaki pants, or his signature slicked-back hair that day. He was plain looking and fading into the background, like a wilted rose, drying out in the Southern Californian sun.

Ricky tried to get through to him by pausing the Walkman, but Mateo unpaused it. He started to get impatient and poke him. Mateo eventually paused his music and growled at him. Ricky smirked. "So are you gonna tell me?"

"Fine." He took off his headphones and smacked his Walkman onto the ground. "Do you really wanna know what's going on? Stupid Tito broke my heart!"

"What did he say to you?"