Ming mouths to me You ready? from her seat as first-chair violin. I nod. She’s from China and here on a music scholarship, and she’s also my coworker, cleaning houses with me after school.

“All right, let’s take it from the top,” Mr. Rufus says, looking to Ming. The trumpets get their sheet music back out. The French horns put down their phones. As Ming lifts her violin, the entire string section takes their cue from her. I smile. It’s nice to see her leading the other kids, even if we secretly scrub their toilets.

After practice, Ming catches up to me. She’s carrying her black violin case, balancing it delicately on her slim shoulders. She hand-carried it from China, and even though the edges are frayed, she refuses to get a new one, kind of like me with my debate shoes. She told me once that when she was ten, she had a chance to be on China’s Got Talent but her parents couldn’t afford to fly her to Shanghai. So when Mrs. Mandalay, our headmistress, discovered her during one of her recruiting trips to China and offered her a full scholarship, Ming jumped at the chance to attend American Prep to pursue music.

“We walking over to Rosa’s after school together?” she asks. Rosa’s our boss at Budget Maids. I talked her into letting Ming work there, even though it’s not exactly legal—Ming’s on a student visa. But her scholarship covers only tuition and a tiny stipend for housing, so she needs the money.

“Can’t. I have debate training today,” I tell her. “I’ll come after!”

Ming sticks out her lower lip. “When are they going to announce who they’re sending to compete in the Snider Cup?” she asks.

At the mention of Snider, I suck in a breath. Mr. Connelly, my debate coach, has been training us for the tournament all year. My entire college admissions strategy next year is riding on Snider. All the top coaches are going to be there, including the coach of Yale, my dream school. Their team is undefeated this year.

“Soon, I think,” I tell her.

“You’ll definitely get picked,” she assures me as she starts heading out. “Mr. Connelly loves you.”

I smile, grateful for the words. My coach has been encouraging, though right now my most immediate problem is coming up with the money to pay for Snider. Flights and hotels aren’t cheap, and my mom doesn’t exactly have air miles like all the other kids’ parents. She works for Budget Maids too, scrubbing toilets to try to put food on the table. That’s what my grandmother did and her mother before her. I am going to be the first girl in my family to break the cycle. But first I gotta get into college.