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about your dad, Mia. I know he misses you a lot, but he’s still your dad, no matter where we live. And we’re all a lot happier this way.”
    Happier? I had to think about that one.
    As the train sped toward Maple Grove, I stared out the window into the dark sky. Mom and Dad fought a lot before they got divorced. They tried to do it at night in their room, when they thought I was asleep, but I always heard them. So I guess they weren’t too happy then.
    But when they got divorced, things still weren’t good. Mom moved out and I stayed withDad, but it felt weird and I missed her. And Mom and Dad still argued every time they saw each other. Then I moved into Mom’s new apartment, but that was extra weird because it was a whole new place.
    So was it still weird? I had to think about that. Living in Maple Grove was starting to feel like home. I had good friends. And Eddie and Dan were nice, and Eddie sure tried to make us feel like a “normal” family as much as possible. But happi- er ? As in, more happy than before, when we were all together?
    Like I said, I’d have to think about that.

CHAPTER 8
    Can I Start the Week Over Again?
    W hile I was still on the train, I called Katie. I wanted to reach her before it got too late.
    â€œHey,” I said.
    â€œHey,” Katie replied. “Are you home?”
    â€œI’m on the train,” I told her. “Is everything okay? You seemed a little quiet at the meeting today.”
    â€œEverything’s fine,” Katie said, but I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was lying.
    â€œGood,” I said. I wasn’t going to press her about it. “So anyway, we’re still going to see The Emerald Forest next weekend, right?”
    â€œOf course!” Katie answered, and her voice sounded like the old Katie again. The Emerald Forest is a fantasy book series that we both love,and they finally made a movie out of it!
    â€œAwesome,” I said. “I can’t wait to see what kind of costumes they’re going to do for the emerald fairies. In the books, the description is totally beautiful.”
    â€œI can’t wait either,” Katie agreed. “We’re going on Saturday, right?”
    â€œMom said she’ll take us,” I promised.
    We said good night, and I hung up the phone. When I got home, I was totally exhausted. I fell asleep dreaming of the Emerald Forest. . . .
    If only the rest of the week was as peaceful as that forest. But it was anything but. The next day was Monday, my least favorite day of the week.
    I was so tired in the morning that I left my gym uniform home by mistake, and I had to sit out of gym. And Señora Delgado gave us pages and pages of notes for our Spanish test the next day—on verbs.
    You have to believe me when I tell you that I studied like crazy. I went straight home after school and studied. I ate dinner and then went right back upstairs and studied. I didn’t even sketch! (Okay, I did doodle a pair of boots in the margin of my notes, but I didn’t open up mysketchbook, I swear.) When I went to sleep that night, I dreamed of verbs instead of emerald fairies.
    I even studied at lunch on Tuesday before the test. I was feeling pretty good—until Señora handed me my test paper. The questions looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics to me.
    So I took the test, and I did my best. But as I handed it in, I knew I hadn’t done well.
    That night Mom asked me about it as we were cleaning up from dinner.
    â€œSo how did you do on your Spanish test?” she asked. “You really studied hard for that one.”
    â€œI think I did okay,” I lied. I thought about spilling everything out, right then and there. Mom, I think I’m failing Spanish. I know I should have told you sooner. The advanced class is so difficult. I’m still having trouble no matter how hard I try. I opened my mouth to tell her, but I just couldn’t bring myself to