I pull out the map of the campus that Mercedes printed for Operation D.A.D. “Do you know your way around the college?”

Ted grabs the map. “Sure. Here’s the building where we saw the boring concert. Mrs. Leeds started snoring—do you remember?” Ted laughs and then snorts. I hear a soft chirp beside me—the sound of Sunny laughing the quietest laugh. “Look, Mattie,” he says. “This is where we’re going. Science and Engineering Building.”

“What’s this oval?” Sunny squeaks.

“That’s the swimming pool.”

“I wish we were going swimming!” November shouts.

“How about this?” I point to a square of green.

“That’s the Quad,” Ted says. I’m impressed he knows all this stuff.

“His mom is a professor at UC Santa Cruz,” November informs us.

That must explain why he has Wikipedia in his head instead of a brain like the rest of us.

“Go, Banana Slugs,” Ted says, and snorts again. I have no idea what he’s talking about.

“That’s the mascot for UC Santa Cruz,” November explains.

“What’s the Quad for?” I ask, trying to get his attention back to the map of Northern Madrone College. I need to figure out where we’re going. We won’t have very much time once we arrive.

“The Quad is where the students hang out when they’re not in class. Look, here’s the library.”

“Have you been to other buildings?” I ask as casually as I can. We figured out that Francisco Gómez’s office is in the anthropology department, which is in the Humanities Building.

But instead of answering, Ted says, “And this is the track. November, remember when we did that soccer clinic? I think it was there.”

I sigh; it’s hopeless. It’s impossible to keep those two on topic.

When the boys start bopping me and Sunny with long whips of licorice from Ted’s lunch, I snatch the map out of his hands and shove it in my backpack. Ms. Garcia catches them, and she sits in their seat with them. Now I can’t ask any more questions. Beside me, Sunny is silent. And I’m glad. I lean my head against the window and watch the cars and trees whiz past. I can hear Ms. Garcia telling November about the moon program we’re going to see. He’s telling her about a meteor shower he saw with his dad. The bus barrels north along the ocean. I don’t care about moons or planetariums, meteors, or licorice. I’m going to meet my father today.

CHAPTER 22 Mercedes

Every time the bus takes a curve, Gaby and Rebecca lean into me, giggling, throwing me off balance, squishing me into the window.

“Whoa!” they shriek. “Watch out, Mercedes!”

I laugh the first couple times, but now I just want some quiet. I need time to think before we arrive at Northern Madrone College.