We go for a family bike ride on the creek path.

We curl up reading together in the family room.

We eat Zoey’s deep-dish apple pie.

And we take an afternoon nap.

A long afternoon nap.

My mother isn’t the only one

who is

just—

so—

tired.

My father and I are

just—

so—

tired,

too.

But after the bike ride,

and the reading,

and eating up every single crumb of the entire apple pie,

and the nap,

we are a lot less tired

than we were before.

There Is a New Topic of Conversation at the Lunch Table on Wednesday

Veronica has a crush on Trevor,

who is one of the playing cards in Alice.

She thinks he has a crush on her, too,

because he stopped horsing around

with the other playing cards

when Mr. Delgado called the flowers

up on the stage to practice their song yesterday

(at the rehearsal I missed

because of spending the day

with my parents),

and he stared at the flowers

for the whole time instead.

If Lizard was here,

she would say,

“What makes you think he’s looking at you

and not at Rose, Larkspur, Daisy, or Violet?”

But Lizard isn’t here.

Veronica Talks about Trevor for Ten Whole Minutes

Then Zari changes the subject.

“I heard Mr. Delgado telling one of the moms

that he’s transferring to the high school next year.”

“That can’t be true!”

Veronica says.

“Why on earth would he want to teach

high school kids when he could be

teaching us?”

Zoey and I just shrug.

Zari shrugs, too.

If Lizard was here,

she would say

(at least under her breath to me),

“Hmm…

I wonder why…

Could it be that stuck-up flowers

get annoying after a while?”

But Lizard isn’t here.

What Veronica Says Next

“Did you see that Lizard has started

sitting with the Mexican kids?”

“With the Mexican kids?”

Zari asks.

“Yes,” Veronica says.

She inclines her head

in the direction of that table.

“Over there.

With the Mexican kids.”

“You mean,

with the American kids?”

Zari asks.

“With the kids

who are just as American

as anyone else,

but who happen to prefer

speaking to each other

in Spanish?”

“Of course!”

Veronica said.

“You know that’s

who I meant.”

This is exactly the same thing

Lizard would have said,

if she was here.

But Lizard isn’t here.

I Steal a Glance at Lizard across the Room

I wonder if she feels lonely there,

with everyone else speaking in Spanish,

a language she didn’t want to learn

because hundreds of millions of people

already speak it, so Spanish didn’t

need to be rescued by Lizard.

I wonder if Lizard misses me.

I wonder if I’m starting to miss Lizard.

But then, from across the room,

I hear her laugh at something funny

one of the other kids said.

Maybe Lizard does know Spanish now,

the way she always knows everything,