“You take the 1-A bus to Davenport,” I say, “and then you transfer to the 7.”

“Let me see,” Mattie says, grabbing my phone. “No, you have to transfer to the 6.”

“Give it back!” I reach for my phone, but she holds it out of reach. “You’re getting chip dust all over it.”

“Oh, never mind,” Mattie says, tossing back my phone. “You’re right. We catch the 7.”

I harrumph and turn away. She’s so annoying.

“I don’t know, Mercedes,” she says after we’ve been silently studying our plans for a few minutes. “Should we really do this?”

“Don’t be a scaredy-cat!”

“But maybe—”

“Matilde,” I say sharply. “We’re either doing this or we’re not doing it. Are you doing it?”

Mattie doesn’t look at me. She stands and tears open her fourth package of fruit snacks.

“Look, if something goes wrong, we’ll call Cristina, take an Uber,” I say when she doesn’t answer.

“Well, as long as we have a backup plan,” Mattie mumbles at last. I don’t think she’s totally convinced, but at least she’s going along with my plan—and writing it all down in her notebook. She finishes it just before one o’clock in the morning. From a sleeping bag on the floor, she reads the Operation D.A.D. plan aloud.

“Next Friday, Mattie and Mercedes (hereafter known as M & M) will get permission to go to the library after school.”

Mattie insisted on having a very specific plan to sneak away.

“Instead of going to the library, M & M (the girls, not the candy)…”

Our fourth argument was about the initials. I thought it made us sound like candy, so Mattie added that last part.

“M & M will catch the 305 Santa Cruz Transit 1-A bus to Pacific Avenue. They will disembark and catch the transfer at 3:48. If they miss that one, there’s another one at 4:18.”

Mattie got worried that we might miss the bus, so we had to add that to the plan.

“They will ride the bus (after cleaning the seats with wipes) until they arrive at Northern Madrone Way. They will then walk the half mile to the college campus.”

Mattie freaked out when she realized we’ll have to walk. The girl must not get much exercise. I told her a half mile is nothing.

“M & M will consult the campus map (online and printed) to find the Humanities Building, where they will find the anthropology department and meet their dad, Francisco Gómez Flores.”

It sounds so easy.

She yawns. “Mercedes will pay for the bus fare,” she concludes. “Did I get everything?”

My eyes are already closed. “Yes, everything.”

Next week can’t get here soon enough.

CHAPTER 17 Mattie