“Mom, no one put me in danger. We took the same bus at school and the flood happened,” Pedro tries to explain. But his mother is so quick to jump to the worst conclusions. I now understand how Pedro must have felt when I didn’t tell him about the Deals Deals lawyer’s business card. Despite all the evidence in his favor, just for having Molina as his last name. Now his mother thinks I could have hurt him, all because my last name is Ramires. “Mom, please, let’s go home.” He tentatively walks toward the exit, urging his mother to follow him, but Dona Eulalia doesn’t budge.

“Took the bus at school? Together?” Dona Eulalia snaps, her face going red. “Do you think I was born yesterday? I’m not going anywhere until I find out exactly why this girl is trying to hurt you!”

“She’s not—”

“She already tripped you before! Did she trip you again?!”

Pedro shoots me a pained look, like he doesn’t know what else to do to keep his mother from barraging me with these horrible accusations. And I can’t even stand up for myself. I just hide behind Mom, trying to make myself small, even though I’m a head taller than her.

“Can we go home? Please!” Pedro begs on the verge of tears. “I’ll explain everything on the way back.”

“No!” his mother shouts, her angry eyes zoning in on his jacket, which I’m still wearing. “Are you—are you friends with this girl?” She says the word like it’s an even more horrifying concept and starts wailing.

“Shut up!” Mom barks at her.

And chaos erupts.

Mom and Dona Eulalia shower each other with accusations past and present, while the hospital’s staff struggle to keep them from jumping at each other’s throats. Everything twists and turns, and it somehow all comes back to Deals Deals and our mothers vowing to sell the bakeries before the other by the end of the week.

I catch Seu Romário’s eyes and he winks at me. Before I can decipher his meaning, he lets out a pained cry, clutching at his chest. A cry that seems a little too rehearsed, but it works, because all the attention shifts to him. Nurses rush in, and Dona Eulalia abandons the fight with Mom to help him.

Mom wraps an arm around my shoulders and begins to steer me out of the room. I glance at Pedro on my way out, and he gives me a desperate glance back, but there’s nothing we can do now.

When we reach the parking lot, Mom turns around to face me. Her face is pale like she’s just seen a ghost. “I don’t know what you were doing with that boy, but promise me you aren’t going to see him again.”