Ana Maria Reyes Does Not Live in a Castle

GRACIE SAID MAMI WAS RIGHT TO slap me. She thought I deserved it for what I said. But there were things my sister didn’t know about. Like the conversation I had just had with our parents.
“Look what Mr. Briller gave me!” I told them when I got home from school that day in June. I should have known something fishy was going on because Papi wasn’t at work. But I didn’t ask, because I was glad he was home. He would appreciate the good news I’d gotten from my sixth-grade counselor. “The Eleanor School is offering merit scholarships for the first time in forever, and Mr. Briller thinks I can get one! I just have to take a test in October and fill out this application.” I showed them the packet.
Education means everything to my parents. So the chance to have their daughter go to a top-notch private school for not too much money would be thrilling to them, right? Wrong. They glanced at each other with worried faces.
Mami twisted her fingers around like a shy kid about to give an oral report. Papi cleared his throat.
“Ana María,” he said, “that’s a very expensive school. And in eighth grade, you can take the test for Bronx Science.” That was the fancy public high school where a lot of super smart kids in New York City went. Since my neighborhood-Washington Heights-is close to the Bronx, Science was my parents’ dream school for their kids.
“But it’s a scholarship,” I said. “So Eleanor won’t be that expensive. And there’s no guarantee that I’ll get into Science. Gracie didn’t.”
My parents looked at each other again. I knew what they were thinking: Gracie never had a shot at Science because she wasn’t a great student. Unlike me. But they would never say that out loud, because they liked to pretend their four daughters were identical in every way; equally smart, talented, beautiful, sweet, and so on.
“Well…” Papi said. “That doesn’t mean anything. I think you definitely have a good chance.”
“But I have a chance at the Eleanor School right now. Don’t you want me to get a good education?”
“Of course we do, mija,” Mami said. “And you’ll get one, just like your sister, even though she didn’t get into Science.”
My face started to grow warm. “Little Bethlehem High School is nowhere near as good as Eleanor. Not a single member of their graduating class last year went on to an Ivy League school. And look at all that Eleanor has to offer.”