“Even though her dad is a famous journalist?” I ask.

“She was so mean to you yesterday about your bag. I don’t like hanging out with people like that, even if their dads are famous.”

I am starting to think Fina and I are going to get along just fine.

“Actually,” she goes on, “I was looking for you in the cafeteria yesterday, but you weren’t there. And when I didn’t see you again today, I thought you might have come here.”

“How’d you know?” I ask, scooching my lunch over as she pulls out her own brown bag.

“Emm-A,” she says. “A for ‘always reading,’ right? I like reading, too. That’s why I wanted to sit with you. Plus, us new kids gotta stick together.”

“And you’re Fin-A,” I say. “A for ‘adaptable.’”

She smiles. “It’s short for Josefina,” she says. “Josefina Ramirez.”

“Emma Talbot,” I say. “I like your name.”

“Thanks! It’s my grandmother’s name, too.”

“Does she live back in California? Or did she move with you?”

“She’s in San Diego,” Fina says. “We lived outside of LA, but we used to go see her a lot. I really miss her. What about your grandmother? You said yesterday that your bag is hers, right?”

“My grandmother—Gram—she died,” I blurt out. The words still feel wrong—silly, almost—coming out of my mouth. I wonder if they’ll ever feel real. “Just a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, no!” Fina says, eyebrows furrowing behind her glasses. “I’m sorry, Emma. That majorly sucks. My grandfather—Abuelito—died a few years ago, and it was awful. I still miss him. Sorry, that probably doesn’t make you feel any better.”

“No, it’s okay,” I say. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop missing Gram.”

Fina nods. My eyes start to well, and I decide we need a change of subject. “It must be really different here from California.”

“It is,” Fina says. “It’s much greener. And the air is so, like, thick! The air in California isn’t like that at all.”

“I bet it’s really boring here compared to there.”

“I think the place where you grow up is always really boring,” she replies. “It’s not like I went to red-carpet premieres or fancy clubs or anything. Mostly I just went into LA for field trips and stuff.”

I giggle. “Edie would be really disappointed to hear that.”

“I bet she would,” Fina replies, grinning. “Anyway, what were you reading?” She peers down at my lap, where I’m still gripping the journal.

“Oh, that’s not, um, what I’m reading,” I say, stuffing the journal into Gram’s satchel and pulling out The World at the End of the Tunnel. “This is.”

Fina almost jumps out of her chair. “Oh, my gosh, I love that book!” she says. “It’s one of my favorites!”