“I wanted to apologize for earlier,” I say. “For the way I behaved in your class.”

She seems surprised to see me lingering in the hallway, but she smiles. “I appreciate your apology, Lari.”

“I wanted to ask... Is there... I don’t know... Is there any way you could reconsider giving extra credit?” I feel my cheeks already burning with awkwardness, but I add in quickly, before Pimentel thinks I’m being selfish, “Not for myself, for my classmates. Could they still get credit?”

She tilts her head. “Why couldn’t you work with Pedro when I asked you? It was just an equation.”

I glance at the principal’s door behind her.

“Because he’s my enemy.”

Pimentel raises her eyebrows, disappointment written all over her face. It’s not a look I normally get from a teacher. And I hate it. It feels like I just got a bad grade.

“Enemy is a strong word,” she says.

I think of Mom screaming at Seu Romário last Friday. I think of Dona Eulalia yelling at us. I think of all the rumors, lies, and accusations.

This isn’t just a rivalry. Pimentel doesn’t get it.

I shrug. “That’s what he is.”

She thinks for a while, her glasses catching the light of the fixture directly above her. She glances from her books to me and a curious expression crosses her face. “What if I told you there’s a way you could help your classmates earn extra credit?”

It feels like a balloon is inflating in my chest.

“Really?” I cough to smother my excitement. “I mean, really?”

“I got a request from Principal Oliveira to encourage more third-year students to join our clubs. Would you be interested in joining one in exchange for extra credit? You used to be so involved in extracurricular activities these past few years.”

That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I was the president of the mathematics club up until last year. I mostly gathered members to prep for all the math competitions we entered throughout our first two years of high school. But I’m retired now. If you are a third-year student, in your last year before college, you never stay for extracurriculars, unless they’re review sessions for the vestibular—the college entrance exam.

“I know this is your vestibular year,” she adds, as if reading my mind, “but Principal Oliveira and I think it would be a great benefit to show our students, especially you third-years, that there’s more to your final school year than studying.”

Mom would so disagree with that...

“You’ll give everyone extra credit if I join a club?”