Usually it wasn’t, though. Other people who had heard this story, like her former friends back in Chicago, would pile on the questions: Really? Never? That’s so awful. That’s so weird. Did she have a nervous breakdown? Did your father hit her when he got mad? Was there, you know, somebody else? These questions always made Nadia want to scream. She had no answers, none, and Nadia didn’t see why she was responsible for explaining why her mother was such a loser.

Ms. Walsh didn’t ask any more questions. She only nodded. “You don’t have a lot of extracurriculars in your record.”

Nadia had more extracurricular interests than nearly anyone, but witchcraft wasn’t something you could put down in your college application. Honing her skills in magic, reading the ancient books her mother had given to her—it didn’t leave much time for show choir or the debate team. “Guess I’m not a joiner.”

“We should try to get you into something this year, though. To show colleges that you’re well rounded.”

“I’m not even sure I’m going to college. I’d rather look at culinary schools.”

“A chef, huh? You should have told me. If I’d known baked goods were involved here, it would’ve changed everything.”

That was almost funny. Nadia didn’t let herself smile. “Anyway, culinary schools don’t care about extracurriculars. They care about your flaky pie crusts and your béarnaise sauce.”

“You could always go to college and then culinary school.”

“Oh, yeah, more years of school. Fabulous.”

Ms. Walsh cocked her head, studying Nadia closely. “I realize how that sounds. But you strike me as a young woman with a great deal of potential. If you go to culinary school without getting any other education, you’re eliminating a lot of possibilities for your future. Never limit yourself like that.”

“Is this the part where you tell me there are no limits besides my dreams?” Gag.

But Ms. Walsh started to laugh. “Oh, no, Nadia. There are plenty of limits, and trust me, the world will smack you down and teach you where they are. But make the world do that. Don’t do it to yourself.” She snapped the folder shut. “Enough for today. Check in with me soon, okay? And let me know what I have to do to taste this pie crust for myself.”

Bribing school officials with pie: well, there were worse ways to get out of show choir.

The rest of the day passed more or less without incident. Mateo turned out to be in her chemistry class right before lunch. He sat all the way across the room and never even glanced at Nadia—if anything, she thought he was ignoring her—so she only learned two things about him that whole time.

One, his last name was Perez. Two, he apparently had a girlfriend.

Which was disappointing, even if she hadn’t intended on going after him. But not surprising, she told herself. Mateo’s a gorgeous guy, apparently an athlete—plus he goes around saving people from disasters in his spare time. He could be with anybody he wanted. Of course he’s already with someone.