During our senior year of high school, the boy I liked — Sergio — asked me to prom. Lupe had already left with her date, and I stayed back to wait for Sergio, who never showed up to get me.
Instead, he texted me after I’d already been standing there for forty minutes. Just a simple:“Next time don’t make me wait when I ask you for a formula during a test.”
I don’t even remember which test he meant, but I remember exactly how my heart clenched in that moment, because it was painfully obvious that one of the most popular guys in school was never going to look twice at the ultimate nerd. That storyline doesn’t even play out in my telenovelas anymore.
TíoFelipe drove me to prom, and even though he didn’t come inside with me, he held me and told me over and over thatnothing bothers people like that more than seeing their words don’t touch you.
Oh, they touched me. I just made sure nobody knew it.
Not even my twin, who still doesn’t know to this day why I didn’t show up to prom on Sergio’s arm. We used to be inseparable, but now we each have our own secrets, and even though it stung at first, I’ve come to understand that’s just part of growing up. It’s okay not to know everything about each other, as long as I know we’ve got each other’s backs when something goes wrong.
“Amalia, a mind like yours will always have a hard time fitting into mediocrity, but it’s precisely your intelligence that makes you stand out,mi niña.”
Maybe I don’t want to stand out. Maybe I just want to fit in. Just for once.
But I don’t tell him that. Instead I nod and kiss him on the cheek as I pass by on my way to get ready.
“Lupe, coffee’s ready.” I watch her eyes slowly blink open.
“Feliz cumpleaños, hermanita,” she says in a drowsy voice, finishing with a yawn.
“¡Feliz cumpleaños a ti también!” I whisper back.
I head to the closet and pull out a yellow dress with green stripes and ruffled sleeves. I slip on a pair of comfortable pink boots, and when I look in the mirror, I hold my own gaze.
Te extraño, papi. No tears today, Amalia.
He’d be heartbroken to know I’m crying for them on a day like this.
My parents died the same day my older sister went missing. Apparently, Dad had borrowed money from the wrong people. When he couldn’t pay them back, they took matters into their own hands by shooting my parents and blowing our home to pieces. We would be dead if Julia hadn’t gotten us out in time. She brought us to a neighbor’s house and went back to help ourparents. We never saw her again. That’s how Lupe and I ended up intíoFelipe’s care.
No thinking about that today, Amalia!
Lupe’s classes start later than mine, so I rush out the door to avoid being late.
My first class is math — a required course even though I’m here for Computer Science.SeñorGustav, my old high school computer science teacher, is the one who taught me everything I know about computers, and the one who helped me earn a little extra money with my particular set of skills.
Between what I’d managed to save and what my uncle had set aside, we scraped together enough to cover my share of the tuition for one year in this program.
My academic record only got me halfway there. The other half? That had to come out of our own pockets. We’re talking thousands of dollars here. Money that neither my uncle nor I could have magically conjured up if I hadn’t been working the way I had forSeñorGustav.
My uncle, naturally, thinks I received a more generous scholarship than I actually did. If he ever found out I’d gotten the rest through small...let’s call them mildly illegal side projects...he’d yell loudly enough to separate my head from my shoulders.
Because I’m Amalia. The good twin. The obedient one. The twin who’s never caused a single problem in her entire perfect little life.
Plot twist: Amalia has a dark side that wakes up the second she crosses a line. Imagine the disappointment if anyone found out. Because no one wants that Amalia. They all want the sweet, sanitized version.
But sometimes I wonder which oneIwant.
This campus is enormous.
Where on earth is the lecture hall?
Late on my first day. Totally on-brand for me. And for what? A hot chocolate I could have left half-finished like a normal person. But no — not me.
I’m staring down at the campus map, trying to hold my backpack with one hand, when I hear a group of girls giggling near a bench.
“Can you believe Silas Vaughn agreed to teach here?”
