Priti looks at us all skeptically for a moment before sitting down right beside me on the bed. She gives me a questioning look as Ammu begins to brush her hair back.

“Can I play a song?” I pull out my phone and start scrolling through Spotify.

“Rabindranath Sangeet.” We all groan at Abbu’s suggestion—even Ammu.

“Play something Bollywood,” Ammu says. “Something upbeat that your Abbu can’t sing along to.”

“Play ‘Tum Hi Ho.’” Priti bounces a little as she says it, but Ammu pulls her down by her hair and she settles again immediately, mumbling, “ouch,” under her breath.

“‘Tum Hi Ho’ is old, and it’s super depressing.”

“Play ‘Amar Shonar Bangla,’ we can all sing along.”

“Abbu!” Both Priti and I groan. Singing our patriotic national anthem is definitely not what I had in mind.

Finally, after scrolling through my Spotify for too long and battling away awful suggestions from my whole family, I put on a Bollywood song that everyone—including Priti—complains about. I roll my eyes and sigh, leaning against Ammu’s shoulder as she puts oil in Priti’s hair. But really, inside I am bubbling over with happiness.

32

TWO WEEKS OF APPLYING HENNA, OF HARD WORK, OF accounting and of business plans pass. Despite my trashed stall, I manage to pull things together. It helps that Jess and Chaewon make me a brand-new poster with the colors of the lesbian flag. They even laminate it for good measure, so that nobody can rip it up.

But at the end of the two weeks our final presentations are due.

Ms. Montgomery told us about it the week before, calling us into her classroom at the end of the day on Friday. We all took seats as she stood at the top. She gave me a secret smile, like I’m her favorite to win; maybe that means something? That I have a chance? I seriously doubt it though.

“Next Friday is the last day of the competition,” she said in a booming voice that immediately shut everyone up. I caught sight of Flávia in one corner of the room. She was sitting beside Chyna, but she didn’t look happy about it. She shot me a weak smile.

“We’ll have your stalls set up all day, but because the judges will be coming around, you’ll also need to have your portfolios to present to them when the time comes,” Ms. Montgomery continued. “You’ll have to show them your accounts, your business plans, everything you’ve been keeping a record of. It’s not just the business with the most profit that’ll win, they’ll also be looking for the most innovative, the most eye-catching ideas. There are a lot of different criteria that go into the judging, so make sure your portfolios are up-to-date and ready.”