Almost There

- 42 -

In Senior English, Tess was working on yet another research paper, and that Thursday night was a typical tutoring session; she came with a printed second draft of the paper, and she and Miguel took turns reading the paragraphs aloud.

"So this should actually be a semicolon, because otherwise it's a—"

"—run-on," said Tess. She had gotten better at identifying her most common grammar mistakes, but some still slipped by her.

"Yes!" Miguel grinned. As Tess marked the correction on her draft, he continued, "And I really think you should have a citation here, because the date that polio was officially considered eliminated is probably not common knowledge."

"Good point. I really thought it would have been earlier than 1994." She made another note. "I think this came from the Jones article. Can you please hand it to me, Miguel?"

"Tess, sweetie?" Tess's mom came into the room. "Your father's just getting off work, and I said I'd meet him over at the theater. Are you going to be okay?"

Tess's parents had tickets to see a local folk musician perform—something that Tess had zero interest in experiencing. She'd assured them they could go without fearing that she'd feel left out. "We'll be okay. Have fun at the concert."

"Work hard, you two. We should be back by, oh, 10:00, but I'm hoping you'll be home in your dorm by then, Miguel. Tess, the pasta should just be another ten minutes or so; just take it out of the oven when the timer goes."

"Thanks, Mom. Love you." Tess closed her eyes and leaned into her mother's forehead kiss, and then Clarette headed down the hall toward the garage door.

Tess and Miguel continued to work. When the oven beeped, Tess served up supper for the both of them. They were so used to having supper as they studied that it was second nature now to trade off discussion with bites of food, occasionally talking around a mouthful like casual friends.

As he skimmed one of the articles Tess had used for a source in her paper, searching for a specific phrase she needed to cite, Miguel said, "Hey, on a random note, have you given any more thought to the essay contest?"

Tess's stomach dropped. She hadn't thought about it at all. It had only been a few days, after all, and she'd had a lot on her mind after everything with Isaac. "Not really."

"Okay." Miguel waved a hand, pushing the matter aside. "No problem. Just wanted to let you know that since the deadline is late March, we probably want to get started on revisions by mid-March if you'd like to enter. No pressure."

With a small smile, Tess said, "I'll keep that in mind." But she knew she wouldn't be entering the essay contest. Of course, she waited until they were wrapping up their lesson for the night to speak with Miguel about it. She was surprised at how sad she felt.

"There," said Miguel, making a few final notes on the last paragraph of her paper. "Spend a little time on this over the next couple days, and I think you'll have a very strong final draft, Tess." He looked up at her with an unsuspecting smile. "I'm really proud of you."

Touched by his comment, Tess found herself unable to meet his gaze. "Thanks."

"Is something wrong?"

She drew a breath, knowing that there would never be a good moment or a comfortable way to talk to him; best just to face it and get it over with. "I don't think I can keep meeting you, Miguel," she said.

There was a brief silence. She glanced up at his face, catching an expression of shock on his features, which he quickly smoothed away. "Really? Why?"