Almost There

- 40 -

The next evening, Tess was seated at the kitchen table with Miguel, working on the final few paragraphs of her essay on J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. It was, surprisingly, a book she liked even less than The Scarlet Letter. Disliking books that had topped high school curriculum lists for years made her feel like she was missing something important, some grand inside joke. Or maybe she was just dense.

She didn't dislike reading, but English classes sure made it tough to want to turn pages; why couldn't they read books from the Y.A. best seller lists instead? It was hard enough to focus on schoolwork as a teen with everything else going on in life. If the books were interesting, maybe it would make everything a tiny bit easier.

Then again, after yesterday's terrible fight with Isaac, Tess wasn't sure she'd have been able to focus on any book, no matter how interesting. Worry over what had happened had been making Tess's stomach ache all day. Still, she was doing her best to convince her parents that the fight had just been a small disagreement. If either of them understood how Tess had really felt the previous day, she had no doubt they'd make her break up with Isaac.

She didn't know if she wanted that yet. He was jealous, and he'd been angry, yes—but didn't that mean that he really loved her, like he'd said? They had texted earlier in the day, and it had seemed like things were completely normal again.

"Here you go," Tess's mom said, setting a glass of iced tea in front of Miguel. "I should have asked—it's cold outside, do you want something else instead?"

"There's never a bad time for sweet tea. Thank you so much, Mrs. Morrison." Miguel took an appreciative swig. "Mm."

"Not too sweet?" Clarette put her hand on her hip and studied his expression.

"Not at all. It's perfect sweet tea."

Tess wrinkled her nose. "Gross. You weird people and your sweet tea." Why her mom had taken an interest in perfecting her recipe for sweet tea was beyond Tess; Clarette had been born and raised in Minnesota, too, so it wasn't like it was a cultural thing. Then again, she seemed to like offering Miguel food and beverages. Tess supposed he was just a convenient victim for her culinary experiments.

Would Clarette be upset if Tess stopped seeing Miguel? She'd have to figure all of that out soon, but she couldn't afford not to focus. She tried to turn her attention to her essay, trying not to think about it.

A moment after Tess's mom had left the room, Miguel spoke, his voice just a step above a whisper. "You okay, Tess?"

She looked up, startled. "Yeah, of course. Why?"

"You look...I don't know. Sad."

Tess met Miguel's steady gaze, uncomfortable with his perception. "I've just got a lot going on," she whispered. She didn't want her mom to overhear.

"You want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "I just want to do this stupid assignment."

"You got it." Miguel leaned over, resting his chin on his hand. "Tell me when you get to the part where he catches the rye."

Despite her foul mood, Tess smiled. "He doesn't catch any rye. He catches kids trying to jump off cliffs, or wants to...or something. I don't really understand it."

"Just testing you to make sure you read it." He winked, which made Tess blush and think guiltily of Isaac. Before she could fully recover, Miguel said, "Hey, since I've already interrupted you, I wanted to ask you about something."

"What?"

"You're not gonna hurt my feelings if you say no, but it's been on my mind for a week and I just won't get any sleep until I ask you."