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race in Italy I’m entered in for this month. I guess they’re too lazy for the long term commitment of a marathon."
    "That's it! I'm done," I said as I slammed the bar down and stood up.
    "The hell you are! You've only done three reps. Haven't you heard a word I've said?"
    "Yes, I have. That's why I'm leaving."
    "What is your problem?" Sam's tight thin lips curved into a grin. "Is this about that ghetto girl that thinks she's a doctor?"
    "There's nothing ghetto about her, Mom. She lives five minutes from here. She lives in Mt. Pleasant in a house that probably costs more than ours."
    "Then why does she look like she should be in a rap video? Listen, Scott, I know you two are close, but a relationship with a girl like that could ruin your image. Do you see Tom Brady or Brett Favre banging black girls in their spare time? No. But I'm sure Michael Vick did and where is he now? Huh? Jail."
    I stared at her stunned. Where did she get this stuff from? What century was she living in? "That doesn't even make any sense."
    "Whatever. Just...just do another rep." Sam added twenty pounds to the bar. “I know you think I’m crazy, Scott. I hear what people say about me. But I’ll tell you what’s really crazy, being point seven seconds away from the gold medal. Just point seven seconds away from everything you’ve ever wanted and not being able to grasp it because you didn’t push yourself enough. Crazy is living a lifetime of regret. I don’t want that for you, Scott. I’m trying to give you the tools now so that you can have everything you could ever want in the future.”
    I sighed and tried my best to understand my mother even though she would never understand me. She would never understand that the only thing I wanted…was Reyna.
     
     
     

Chapter 8
     
      The Saturday morning study session turned into an all day study session. At around one o'clock, most of the students went home, but Reyna singled out Shawan and asked her to stay. After taking her to lunch, they spent the rest of the day working Geometry proofs. Reyna did her best to make it fun and not seem like drudgery and after a few hours, they were actually laughing.  Together, they took the lyrics of the new Kanye West song and changed them to important theorems Shawan needed to know. Reyna could just imagine her bursting into song during a test.
      At around six, they both hopped into Reyna's yellow Volkswagen bug and headed home.
      "Thanks for all your help, Reyna," Shawan said as they pulled in front of her apartment. "I can't believe we just spent ten hours doing Geometry, but I think I get it now."
      "Sometimes that's what it takes. Sometimes more. It may take so much more work than you think it does to succeed at this school, but you can do it. And I'll help you. Even if we have to spend ten hours every Saturday doing math problems, we will. And if you want to meet tomorrow to do another subject, we can."
      "Thanks, Rey." Shawan reached across the seat and gave her a hug before jumping out of the car.
      Reyna wasn't in a rush to get home. In fact, she decided to park her car at the bottom of the Ravenel Bridge and watch the sun go down over the marsh. She started to think of someone else who loved the marsh back in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Milagros Acevedo had one of those glowing souls that, like her name implied, produced miracles.  Everyone and everything flocked to her charming home where her doors were always open. When people were out of work and starving, Milagros would invite them over for a friendly meal, and then send them home with enough rice to last them through the week. When someone lost a relative in death, she would invite them to her home and they would watch the birds land and take off from her back porch. That's what she said death was, taking off into another adventure. She was like a sanctuary. Because they said her smile reminded people of the sun rising over the marsh, Milagros was nicknamed La Cienega. Even when a genetic