I take a break from my painting, walk to the kitchen, and throw on an apron. My moms have been resisting peddling food on the sidewalk for long enough. I’m going to make a giant vat of Beyond Meat meatballs. Some to eat for dinner and some we can try to sell at Vasona Park tomorrow. Hopefully, Vegan Again can begin again without any of us contracting a deadly virus in the process. I do my best to stop thinking about art school and college degrees and abuelas who’ve eluded me and what the world will look like when all this is over. Instead, I try to turn my brain off and sing along to Tori. This is not really happening.… You bet your life it is.

Gabriela

You busy?

Parisa

Always. Haha. Just working on my college apps.

Gabriela

NERD!

Parisa

Harvard’s extended their deadline for a few weeks, but my essay is shit-ay so I have a lot of work to do.

Gabriela

Lies. Everything you write is brilliant.

Why can’t you just stay here with me forever and ever? Stanford is a great school. Why do you have to be such a liberal elite and go all the way to Boston.

Parisa

I’m only going all the way to Boston if I get in.

Gabriela

You’ll get in and I will die here alone.

Parisa

You could always go to Emerson or BU…

Gabriela

I can’t do out-of-state tuition. It’s a state school or nothing.

Parisa

Or Mexico City.

Gabriela

Pipe dream. Julia and Elena would never go for that.

Anyway, truth be told, I’m actually kind of into distance learning. I only half listen in class and no one can tell I’m sketching and not taking notes.

Parisa

Agreed!

Not to mention that I’ve taken like a million screengrabs of Mr. Dennery’s beautiful face and he’s none the wiser!

Gabriela

LOLLL

Parisa

Don’t be annoyed, but he actually told me I have a good shot of being valedictorian. Andrew is my biggest competition, no surprise.

Gabriela

Why would I be annoyed? That’s amazing!

Parisa

Is it? I feel like I could stand up there on graduation day to give my speech and everyone will be like “That girl goes to our school?”

Gabriela

No one will think that! People know who you are. And I hope you do get to be valedictorian. It would serve Andrew right for abandoning our friendship.

Parisa

And leaving us for like the worst person ever. WTF with Lizzy’s TikTok.

Gabriela

It’s insane. Read the room, Lizzy! So tone-deaf.

Parisa

PEOPLE ARE DYING. No one needs to see you doing a choreographed dance to a Cardi B song in a bathing suit right now.

Gabriela

Those weren’t her real abs, right? It must be an ab filter or something.

Parisa

I want that filter.

Gabriela