BooksBarbecue
Back Admission
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Julie Buxbaum
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  52. EPILOGUE
  53. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  54. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  55. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  56. What’s next onyour reading list?

“That’s far.” My heart tugs. I’ve promised to read to him over FaceTime while I’m away—we still have the rest of the series to finish—but of course it won’t be the same. I’ve spent more hours after school here than I have anywhere else these last few years, and I’m going to miss our low-key afternoons together.

Still, I didn’t expect Cesar to feel sad already.

Surprisingly, my parents have taken the news well. No tears or panic attacks or any of the What are we going to tell people? I expected. They haven’t even called to yell at Dr. Wilson, which is what I assumed would be my dad’s MO, especially after the ridiculous amount of money they donated to his charity. My mom keeps telling me to chill—that’s the word she uses, chill—and claims SCC is my school. Says we put it on the vision board. Says she’s known from the moment we stepped on campus for a visit last summer that it’s where I belong. I’ve listened to this optimism for months, which is really just magical thinking because she doesn’t want me far away. After the Week of Rejection, I’m done. In fact, I’m practically looking forward to crossing this last school off my list today so we can all move on.

I can’t wait to burn that freaking vision board in our fire pit in the backyard. Make s’mores on its ashes. Maybe tonight I’ll order an AIU sweatshirt online, or two, one for me and one for Cesar, a size too big so he can grow into it.

“You’ll still be one of my backups, right? Even if you’re in Arizona?” he asks. Our conversation in the fall feels like forever ago. According to Rita, ICE has been ramping up its raids on immigrant communities all over the country. I haven’t heard of it directly impacting any of the kids at the Reading and Resource Club, though of course, it impacts them every single day in the form of a constant, low-level trauma.

I don’t let myself think too much about what it must be like for Cesar’s mom to move through the world so unprotected and powerless, to know that if she were to be swept up, she’d have no ability to fight back. No money for a lawyer. No way to stay with Cesar. My impression is that she’d likely be immediately deported.