Chapter 1: Meli Until several months ago, I could''ve counted on one hand the things I knew about Roxy Romero. One: She was captain of the flag football team. Two: She always got her way, like when she became our sixth-grade class president by a landslide, same as in fifth grade, and fourth. Three: Our little brothers have the same name. Hers goes by Ben, mine goes by Benji, but everyone in third grade called them the Bens. Four: Last year, Roxy stole my favorite purple pen. She "borrowed" it to sign everyone''s yearbook, misspelled my name with two S ''s, then never gave it back. And five? I used to not have any other fun facts about Roxy Romero until one day, I learned a big one.
Five: Roxy''s dad and my mom were dating. So not fun. So , unfortunately, fact. "Reservation under Carlos Romero, please. Party of six." It was the last week of school and our parents had taken us to Bacio del Capo ( chef''s kiss in Italian), a fancy but casual restaurant where people ate like they were at home sharing the same main dish. That''s what the website said, anyway. I''d read up on it on the way over because I wanted to know what to expect.
"Something''s weird about this place," Roxy said as we followed the hostess to a large, round table in the corner of the room. "They call it family style ," I whispered. "It means we get our own dishes, silverware, and condiments from over there." I pointed to a counter with stacks of freshly washed plates against the wall. "And we ''make ourselves at home.''?" I made air quotes with my fingers because those were the website''s words, not mine. "Oh. That''s pretty cool, actually!" This was easy for Roxy to say, since she actually had a home.
Mine was all packed up in boxes. After my parents split last year, Mami decided we should sell the house. Papi had moved out long before the divorce was official, and he was always in another country, shooting travel documentaries for work. I''d known since I was little that my parents were happier people apart than as a couple, but still, sometimes my mind liked to play pretend. I''d imagine being part of a whole family again. In our house. Roxy and her dad and Ben? They weren''t exactly part of the fantasy. I sighed.
It''s not like I hated Roxy. I just wasn''t her number one fan like everyone else in our school. Even before our parents started dating, she and I didn''t mix. Once, at Field Day, we got paired for the three-legged race, and we couldn''t get in step to save our lives. I was yelling "Wait up!" and she was yelling "You got this!" when we tripped over each other into a big old pile of mud. Our parents came rushing to help, and that''s how they met--their origin story was our literal downfall. Mami went all heart-eyes for Carlos after he helped me wobble off the field, and now they were constantly making us hang out. There was that time they signed us up for a volleyball tournament, but I got a random nosebleed before my feet even touched sand.
Then they tried to make us bond over a pottery-making class, but Roxy''s lump of clay catapulted off the wheel and landed right on top of the flower-shaped mug I was making for Mami. We didn''t even have each other''s phone numbers because Roxy had never bothered asking me. We were polar opposites with nothing in common, but our parents wanted us to become BFFs. I already had those. James, Janette, and I had our own group chat because we''d been best friends and neighbors ever since we were in kindergarten. Now that our house had finally sold, all that was about to change. "There''s always room for more friends," Mami loved to say. But I didn''t want new friends, or a new house, or a replacement for Papi.
I just wanted my old life back. "You okay, Meli? You were so quiet on the way over," Mami said. "I thought you''d be excited to celebrate the new house." That was Mami''s favorite word lately: excited . She was all about looking on the bright side of things, acting like the big changes in our lives were happy ones. I knew she was just trying to keep me and Benji from being sad about missing Papi, so I tried to play along and not be a party pooper. Besides, real artists used art to express their complicated emotions. And I had a lot of those.
"I am excited. I was just. brainstorming ideas for my presentation. You know how distracted I get when inspiration strikes." The Summer Kickoff Talent Show was the biggest event of the school year, and I''d been working on my sculpture for months. This week I''d finally share it with everyone. We took a seat. Mami sat annoyingly close to Carlos, Roxy and I sat next to each of our parents, and the Bens closed our circle by sitting side by side.
Right away they opened the crayon boxes on the table and started playing tic-tac-toe on the paper place mats. "The talent show? Trust me, don''t stress it," Roxy said. "It''s the last thing people will care about on the last day of school." " I care about it. And who said anything about being stressed?" I''d been feeling pretty good about it, actually, until Roxy decided to diss it. Roxy''s jaw dropped, and she took in a quick breath. "Oh. I didn''t mean it like that.
" "Then how did you mean it?" "Just that you''ll be. never mind." That was one of the new facts I''d learned about Roxy since our parents started dating. Six: She didn''t really think before she spoke. "Okay then!" Roxy''s dad clapped his hands together and set a giant iPad on the table. "Who wants to see pictures of the new house?" Mami placed her hand over his. "Shouldn''t we wait until after we eat? We never have screens during dinner." It was true.
Mami''s rules were ironclad. For once, I was glad, because I''d seen the new house on Mami''s phone and it was really old. And ugly. But Mami also had a rule about not being rude and always being nice if you can help it. So I''d flipped through the pictures and said the house looked vintage. Carlos grinned, not even a little bit discouraged. "But Evy, I think the kids will be excited to see the surprise on the last slide." Roxy leaned forward while I tried not to roll my eyes.
It was probably something cheesy like a confetti meme or a video of Carlos moonwalking across our new kitchen. Roxy''s dad had a way of treating any piece of good news like an excuse for a touchdown dance. "Bueno, just this once," Mami said. I stiffened. Mami never made exceptions: not for me, or Benji, or my dad. Never, ever. What made Roxy''s dad so special? "Excellent," Carlos said, and pressed play. A slideshow with a cheery piano tune blasted from the speaker as image after image popped up.
The house was boxy, with blue and white awnings and windows made of glass blocks that looked like ice cubes. It had orange ceramic roof tiles that were green from mold, and the backyard was full of overgrown banana trees. Who needed that much fruit? "It''s awesome," Ben said in a low, awestruck voice. "Like a wild jungle out of a story." "Well, yes, the landscape is a little. overgrown," Mami said, just as the pictures switched to the inside, which wasn''t in much better shape. "It''s a fixer-upper, but it has good bones." "Like a dinosaur!" Benji practically roared.
"Yes, hijito, like a dinosaur," Mami said. "Except you can actually bring this one back to life," Roxy added. Everyone laughed except for me. All I could think about was my old room. Two years ago, for my tenth birthday, Papi had taken me to the home improvement store and told me I could redecorate however I wanted. He filmed the before and after on his phone and made a mini documentary, our very own home makeover show. But now he was halfway across the world in Spain, shooting a documentary about history. My bedroom would soon be a memory I couldn''t go back to.
"It''s a cute house," Roxy said. "It has loads of potential." "You sound like your dad," I said. "Is that a bad thing?" Maybe it was. This was Carlos''s fault, after all. The Miami Weekly had voted him "Everyone''s favorite family real estate agent," according to the ads I''d seen on bus benches. He''s the one who helped my mom sell our old house and buy this new one. "I just think it''s easy to sell someone on a new house if you''re not the one that has to live in it," I finally blurted.
"Meli! That''s not nice," Mami said. "Are you calling my dad a sellout?" Roxy scoffed. Mami and Carlos looked so hurt that I felt like the world''s biggest meanie. I tried to backtrack. "What? No! What I meant was, Carlos is really good at what he does. He makes every house look amazing." "Wow. That''s so kind of you, Meli, thank you," Carlos said.
Way to overcorrect, Melisa . Carlos was a nice-enough guy, but what did I know about his job performance? I guess I''d just felt bad about being rude. Mami glowed, grinning ear to ear. For months now, she''d been asking me question after question about Carlos: How do you like him? Isn''t he great? How are you and Roxy getting along? My answers were always more or less the same: He seems cool. He''s really something. Fine, same as always. Technically all of those things were true. Even though they weren''t the rave reviews Mami clearly hoped for, they seemed to make her happy.
After she and Papi divorced,.