by Coco Simon
“They can’t be that bad,” Dad said. “Can you show me?”
I nodded and brought my backpack to the kitchen table, and Dad and I sat down.
“This is the worksheet she gave us for the weekend,” I said, handing him the paper. It was another sheet of verbs.
Dad looked it over for a few minutes, and then he frowned. “You’re right,” he said. “I speak Spanish too, but this looks hard. Have you told Mom about this yet?”
I shook my head. “No,” I admitted.
Dad sighed. “Well, I’ll have to talk to her about this. We should talk to your teacher and get you one of these tutors she’s suggesting.”
“You can talk to her at the parent-teacher conference on Wednesday,” I said, and Dad looked surprised.
“Wednesday? I don’t think Mom mentioned that,” he said.
I started to cry again. “Mom’s going to be so mad when she finds out.”
“Mija, we only get upset when you keep things from us. Having trouble in school is nothing to be ashamed of,” Dad said, hugging me. “No matter what, te quiero.”
Te quiero. Dad had said those words to me a million times, and I knew what they meant: I love you. Te quiero.
Suddenly it hit me. “Dad, how do you spell quiero?” I yelled, breaking away from him.
“Q-u-i-e-r-o,” Dad answered. “That’s one I know. Why?”
My stomach dropped down into my black velvet flats. I had made a terrible mistake.
“And how do you spell ‘cheese’ in Spanish?” I asked him.
“Queso. Q-u-e-s-o,” he replied.
“Oh no!” I wailed. “Oh no, no, no!”
I should have known that quiero meant “love,” not “cheesy.” Now Sydney thought Jackson had dissed her when actually he liked her. I felt awful! And now she was spreading all those awful rumors about him. So even if Jackson had liked Sydney to begin with, maybe I ruined it for her. I don’t like Sydney, but I’d never purposely mess up anybody’s budding romance.
“What’s wrong, mija?” Dad asked.
“I made a terrible mistake.” I groaned, and then I told him about Sydney and the note. Dad started to laugh and then stopped himself.
“Sorry. I know it’s not funny to you,” he said. “And I feel sorry for that boy. Sydney sounds like somebody you don’t want to mess with.”
“You don’t even know,” I said, shaking my head.
Dad put his hand over his mouth as he started to laugh again. “Oh, Mia. ‘Cheese’ instead of ‘love’?” Then he saw I wasn’t laughing. He put his arm around me again. “Come on, let’s watch that movie.”
Soon we were settled in the living room with some microwave popcorn, and for a little while I forgot about all my problems while we watched a comedy about talking animals in a zoo. Then I got ready for bed.
Before I fell asleep, I heard Dad call Mom. He was talking in Spanish, but I heard most of it. His voice drifted in and out as he paced across the floor.
“You need to tell me these things, Sara! Just because I’m in Manhattan doesn’t mean I don’t want to be involved! You’re the one who moved away, not me!”
For a second, it reminded me of a few years ago all over again, when Dad and Mom were fighting all the time. I put the pillow over my head, so I wouldn’t hear.
See what happens when I tell the truth? It always ends up badly. I told you nobody would be happy.
CHAPTER 13
Just Like Old Times . . . Or Is It?
Saturday was a much better day. Mrs. Monroe took me and Ava to see the Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ava and I took lots of pictures, and I spent about an hour sketching shoes from the 1920s. I liked the really cool buttons on them. Saturday night Dad and I went out for sushi, and everything felt like normal.
Then Sunday morning at eleven thirty, Dad said, “Mia, please pack your bag.”
“But it’s too early for the train,” I told him.
“We’re not going right to the train,” he said. “Mom’s meeting us for lunch at Johnny’s Pizza.”
At first I wasn’t sure I’d heard right. Meeting Mom for lunch? Dad and Mom and I hadn’t had lunch together since they got divorced.
I must be in big trouble, I thought. So I packed my bag and put on my coat, and then Dad and I headed out to Johnny’s.
Johnny’s has the best pizza in our neighborhood, and maybe even in the whole city. They cook it in a brick oven with real wood, and the crust gets nice and crispy. Mom and Dad and I ate there a lot when we all lived together.
I shivered the whole walk there, but once we got inside it was warm and toasty. Mom was already sitting at a table, waiting for us. She had her hair pulled back, and she looked kind of tired.
Mom stood up when she saw us. “Hi, Mia,” she said, giving me a hug. But she didn’t hug Dad.
Dad draped his coat around the chair. “I’ll go place our order,” he said, and then he got in line.
Mom looked at me and shook her head. “Mia, your father told me about that note from your Spanish teacher. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know,” I said, looking down at the table. It was too hard to explain.
“You know can talk to me about these things, Mia,” Mom said. “I just don’t understand.”
Dad sat down. “It should be ready in a few minutes,” he said. “So, Mia, I guess you know why we’re all here.”
I nodded.
“It’s like I said the other night,” he said. “You can’t keep secrets from us. Especially when it’s about school and especially when you need help.”
“That’s right,” Mom said, and she sounded angry. “Mia, your only job right now in life is to do well in school. Baking cupcakes, going to fashion shows, that’s all good, but school is the most important.”
“I know!” I said. “I really do. I’m doing well in my other classes. But you guys put me in Advanced Spanish without asking me. It’s not my fault.”
Dad and Mom looked at each other.
“I’m sorry about that,” Dad said. “We didn’t realize we were pushing you into something too hard for you. Sara, can they put her in a different class?”
“I’m not sure,” Mom replied. “But I’ll ask. I don’t know if they can switch her schedule until the spring.”
“In the meantime, we can get you a tutor,” Dad said. He handed Mom the note. “Her teacher suggested a few.”
“We might not need one,” Mom said. “Eddie majored in Spanish in college. He’s a translator at the company he works for.”
I was surprised. “He is?” I asked.
“I thought you knew,” Mom said. “What did you think he did?”
I shrugged. I knew Eddie was a lawyer, but I didn’t know he also translated. “I don’t know. I thought he just went to an office and . . . did stuff.” Now I felt kind of silly not asking for help when I had an honest-to-goodness translator living right under the same roof as me.
“Then let’s see if Eddie can help,” Dad said. “But if not, we’ll get you that tutor, okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
“And no more secrets,” Mom said sternly. “In fact, you can live without screens this week while you think about that. No phone, TV, music, or computer. And if you keep any notes from teachers from us in the future, it will be two weeks.”
I saw her look at Dad, and Dad gave a little nod.
I didn’t even protest. With a sigh, I handed over my music player and earbuds, and my phone.
Luckily, Dad saw our order appear at the counter right then. “Food’s ready! I’ll be right back.”
The rest of the lunch was a lot easier. We ate salads with vinegary dressing and these light green peppers that were sweet and hot at the same time. Then we had our usual—pizza with mushrooms and olives. (I know it sounds weird, but it’s really good, trust me.)
For a minute, it almost seemed like old times, like nothing had changed. Except really, everything had. Before, Mom and Dad would have been talking
and laughing the whole time. Now they couldn’t even look at each other. Just like that other day, they both talked to me instead of each other.
And then, instead of all of us going back home, Mom and I got into a cab and headed to the train station. Back to Maple Grove. Back to our new life.
Things were never going to be the way they’d been before. I knew that. But knowing that didn’t make it any easier. Was everyone really happier?
CHAPTER 14
A Cheesy Problem
When we got home, Mom and I met Eddie in the kitchen, and she told him the whole story.
“I think I can help you,” Eddie said. “Let’s take a look at your homework together after dinner, okay?”
I nodded, grateful that Eddie didn’t give me a hard time about it all. After dinner that night, he and I sat at the kitchen table, and I showed him my worksheet.
“It’s verbs I have trouble with,” I told him. “There’s, like, a million different ways to say and spell each one, and I can’t keep them straight in my head.”
“Let me see,” Eddie said, taking the sheet. He looked it over and then smiled. “I used to have trouble with this too. But let me show you a trick I figured out.”
So, I won’t bore you with a whole Spanish lesson, but you need to know that by the time Eddie was done helping me, I actually understood what was on the sheet. I answered every question, and Eddie didn’t even have to help me with the last two. It was the first time I’d ever felt good about handing in my Spanish homework.
“Thanks, Eddie,” I said when we were done.
Even though the tutoring went well, I was still feeling pretty down that night. That’s because I knew that tomorrow I’d have to tell Sydney about the quiero/queso mistake.
I could keep the Spanish secret for so long because I was only hurting myself. But the queso secret was hurting Jackson, and it would be wrong if I didn’t say anything.
But I was dreading it. I saw what Sydney did to Jackson when she was mad at him. She was going to destroy me, I just knew it.
So the next day, Monday, I knew what I had to do. As soon as I got off the bus, I walked up to Sydney. She and Maggie were hanging out by the tree in the front school yard, texting.
“Sydney, can I talk to you?” I asked.
“Busy,” she said, not even looking up from her phone. “Later, okay?”
I tried again in the hallway, when I ran up to Sydney at her locker. She was talking to Eddie Rossi, but I interrupted her.
“Can I please talk to you?” I asked.
Sydney rolled her eyes. “Excuse me? Talking!”
My face turned red, and I walked away. For a second, I thought I might give up and let her keep torturing Jackson. But I just couldn’t do that.
So at lunchtime, I marched up to the PGC table.
“Sydney, I need to tell you something really important,” I said.
Sydney turned to Maggie and rolled her eyes. Then she looked at me.
“What’s the emergency?” she asked.
“It’s about that text message Jackson sent you,” I said. “I made a mistake. He didn’t say you’re cheesy. He said he loves you.”
Sydney looked absolutely shocked. “He what?” she shrieked.
“ Te quiero means ‘I love you,’” I explained. “I got it mixed up with the word queso, which means ‘cheese.’ I’m sorry.”
Sydney stood up. “Are you kidding me?” she asked, her voice rising. “Are you trying to ruin my life or something? Are you jealous? I bet you did that on purpose.”
I shook my head. “No. I wouldn’t do that. I’m just bad at Spanish.”
Sydney sat down and looked at her friends. She looked kind of embarrassed.
“Can you believe I ever asked Mia to join this club?” she asked in a loud voice. “I must have been crazy!”
“I’m really sorry, and I wanted you to know,” I said. Then I turned and walked away. I had one more person to tell.
Jackson Montano sat at a table in a corner with a bunch of other football players. I usually never went near that table, because you always get pelted with spitballs when you walk past. But today I had to go there.
Sydney ran up behind me. “Mia, no!” she hissed. But I ignored her and walked up to him.
“Jackson, a few days ago Sydney asked me to translate that text you sent her,” I said, talking fast so I wouldn’t chicken out. “I thought quiero was queso, so I told her that you said she was cheesy. That’s why Sydney’s been spreading those rumors about you.”
Jackson put down his sandwich. “Is she making you say this?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s true,” I said. “I should have known that queso was cheese.”
“Yeah, you really stink at Spanish,” Jackson said.
“I know,” I admitted.
Jackson stared at me for a minute and glanced over at Sydney. He didn’t look mad. In fact, he had a little smile on his face, as if he thought the whole thing was sort of funny. At least that’s what I hoped. “I’m really, truly sorry,” I said again.
Then I quickly walked away, leaving Sydney and Jackson to work things out—or not. I’m not sure what I would do if I were in Jackson’s place.
When I finally made it to my regular lunch table, all my friends were staring at me.
“What was that all about?” Alexis asked.
I sank into my chair. “You are not going to believe this,” I said, and then I told them the story.
For a moment, everybody was quiet. Then we all started laughing at the same time. Katie put her arm around Emma.
“I cheese you, Emma!” she said.
“I cheese you, too, Katie!” Emma said back.
Then Katie picked up her sandwich. “Look! My mom packed me a love sandwich for lunch.”
Alexis held up the wrap on her lunch tray. “Mine’s turkey and love with a little mayo.”
“Really? Yum, I really cheese turkey,” Katie said.
“Okay, okay!” I cried. I was laughing so hard, it was starting to hurt. “It was a colossal mistake, I know.”
“So I hope you finally got a Spanish tutor,” Alexis said. “You can’t afford to make this kind of mistake again.”
“Eddie’s tutoring me, and he’s actually pretty good,” I said.
“Yeah, I hear he really cheeses tutoring Spanish,” Katie said, and we collapsed into giggles.
I was embarrassed. I had no idea what kind of revenge Sydney was going to take on me. But for the first time in a long time, I felt . . . free. And pretty happy.
I grinned at my friends. “I cheese you guys so much!”
CHAPTER 15
I Figure Out Some Things
The next night Eddie helped me with my homework again, and it went really well. Eddie seemed happy.
“I knew you could do it, Mia,” he said. “Keep this up and maybe you can stay in that advanced class.”
“You’re really good at explaining things, that’s why,” I said. “You should have been a teacher.”
Eddie looked really pleased. “I always thought about being a teacher. Who knows? Maybe I’ll give it a try someday.”
As I was closing my book I heard a little ringing sound from my cell phone, letting me know a text came in. I flipped open the phone and saw a message from Katie.
We’re having macaroni and love for dinner tonight. I really cheese that stuff!
I laughed out loud.
“What’s so funny?” Eddie asked.
“You’re not going to believe this,” I said, and then I told him the whole story.
When I was done, Eddie started to laugh, and he didn’t hold it in. Soon tears were running down his cheeks from laughing so hard.
“Oh, that poor, poor boy,” he said. “I hope you told him what happened.”
I nodded. “I did. He seems okay with it. But I’m still worried about what Sydney will do to me.”
Eddie nodded. “No wonder, after what she did to Jackson.”
Then I found myself tal
king to Eddie about Sydney—stuff I hadn’t even told Mom about. Like how Sydney wanted me to be in the PGC, but I didn’t like how she bossed everyone around. And how she’s nice to me sometimes and says insulting things at other times.
“I agree that you shouldn’t have joined her club, but you might have hurt her feelings when you did that,” Eddie said. “Sometimes when people are hurt, they act sad, but other people get angry and lash out.”
I might have hurt Sydney’s feelings? Now there was a new thought. I realized that Eddie was probably right. I had never really thought about Sydney’s feelings before. I guess I figured she didn’t have any.
“By the way, don’t forget to ask Señora if she wants you to double-space that report that’s due Friday,” Eddie said as I packed up my homework.
“I don’t have Spanish tomorrow because it’s a half day,” I said. “But you can ask her tomorrow night when you meet her.”
Eddie paused. “We can ask your mom to do that,” he said. “Your dad’s going to go with her.”
“Um, okay,” I said, and I was remembering what Mom had said before about Eddie and how he should meet my teachers because he helped me with my homework. I realized now that she was right.
“And Mia?” Eddie said.
“Yeah?”
“Turn off your cell phone before your mom sees you. Remember, no screens for a week.”
“Oh!” I said. I had forgotten. I turned off my phone. Then I smiled at Eddie. “Thanks,” I whispered, and ran up to my room. Eddie has a lot of rules, but he can also be pretty cool, I guess.
After I went up to my room, Mom came in carrying a garment bag.
“I’ve got another sample for you, Mia,” she said. “This one’s leftover from Nathan Kermit’s fall line, but I think it’s pretty timeless. And cute, too.”
She opened the bag to reveal a really awesome blue boyfriend-style jacket with rolled-up sleeves, a plaid lining, and what looked like vintage silver buttons.
“I love it!” I exclaimed, trying it on. “I have just the shirt to go with it.”
“I knew you would,” Mom said, and she turned to leave.
