Room to Dream

Overwhelmed by Lupe’s news, Mia runs to her room. She is especially hurt by Lupe quitting: “I [want] to succeed and climb to the top too. But [do] you see me quitting the front desk?” (138). Lupe knocks and asks to talk, but Mia ignores her. When she hears Lupe leave, Mia starts to write about feeling betrayed.

In English class the next day, Mia realizes she forgot to do her homework for Ms. Swann. She tells Ms. Swann about writing for the China Kids Gazette, and Ms. Swann asks if she can read and share the columns with the class. Mia panics and pretends she left them all in China; Ms. Swann assigns her a pile of makeup homework instead.

At lunch, Jason tells Mia he has been accepted into Newport Beach Culinary Academy. He asks if she brought back the spices for him from China and hugs her when she says she did. She feels uncomfortable being touched after the kiss and awkwardly says she doesn’t want to be hugged. Jason shrugs it off and asks her to come to his competition next weekend.

Back at the motel, with the Magna around the block, things are still quiet. Hank tells Mia he found out that the Topaz and the Lagoon didn’t merge, but were bought by Magna. The corporation is lowering their nightly prices to drive small businesses out. Then, when they are the only motel left, they will hike up the price. Mia is determined not to let Magna get away with this.

Mr. Wang calls to tell Mia that he likes the more dramatic stories she’s been writing, like the one about Lupe betraying her. Mia is disheartened that her real problem with her friend is entertaining, but if it means she continues to get published, she will take it.

It’s Sunday, the day she and Mom will go to look at open houses like they do every week. They enjoy looking at places that they could possibly own one day. However, Mia finds Mom still in her pajamas. Mom is giving up on looking for a house to buy, saying it’s just wishful thinking.

On Monday, Mom is set to work for her first day. She asks Dad to drive her, but he says she should ask Fred instead. He doesn’t want to embarrass her: “You don’t want all your colleagues knowing your husband is a maid” (149). Mom insists that she doesn’t care, but as Dad stays put, she gives in and calls Fred for a ride.

Before they leave, Mia asks if she can make a long-distance phone call to Shen. She knows money is tight, but she wants to keep her promise. Mom says maybe this weekend, then heads out for her first big day as a substitute teacher.

In math class, Mia is shocked that Mom’s first substitute teaching job is for her own class. Both play it cool and don’t acknowledge that Mia’s Mom is now stepping in for their math teacher.

The class starts to go downhill when Mom gets the translation wrong for the lesson. She is teaching the class about the Pythagorean theorem, “[e]xcept every time she [says] Pythagorean, she [keeps] mispronouncing it as the pathetic theorem. All around [Mia], kids giggled” (151). Mia is too embarrassed to defend her mom, and she sinks into her desk chair as the class gets meaner. On the way out, Mia explains to Mom why they were laughing. Seeing how hurt Mom is, Mia vows to do a better job of helping next time.

Mia receives the sample class photo in English class, only to get angry about the photographer all over again. She, Lupe and Jason are all hidden by the front row of white kids. At home, she calls Lupe to talk about it. Lupe says she will keep the sample as a reminder “of how hard we have to work so they can never hide us again” (155). The conversation goes okay until Lupe asks what else is going on in Mia’s life. Mia, still feeling betrayed by Lupe’s decision to quit the front desk, tells her to come back to the Calivista if she wants to know so badly.

The next day, Lupe leaves a note in Mia’s locker, explaining how hard her classes are, which is why she can’t come back to her old job. Mia leaves a reply in Lupe’s locker. Mia’s note talks about how bad things have gotten at the motel and how tired her dad is now that Mrs. Davis had to quit. Mia feels that Lupe shouldn’t be so focused on high school and college now when the motel is in jeopardy.

At home, Mia gets lots of fan letters telling her to end her friendship with Lupe. Mia instantly feels guilty for how harsh she was in her last column, which has triggered such a strong response from her fans. She thinks, “We might be going through a tough patch, but we [are] still best friends” (159). As she looks through the rest of letters, she realizes she must let her readers know that.

Later, Hank and the Tangs discuss a strategy for keeping the Calivista afloat. They can’t compete with the Magna’s prices, so the best course of action is to have a meeting with the investors next week. Mia is excited because this means she’ll see Lupe again in person; Mia hopes to make things right in their friendship.

Lupe makes a flier to try to find a replacement for Mrs. Davis, decorating it with beautiful hand drawings. Mia is grateful and appreciates Lupe’s talent: “Leave it to Lupe to make my dad’s sweaty job look so cute” (162).

After math class, another flier is handed out, this one about the school dance. It will be the first dance Mia has ever attended. At the lockers, Jason points to a flier on the wall and asks Mia to go with him to the dance. She turns him down and finally brings up the kiss. Jason says he can’t stop thinking about it, and Mia says she can’t either because it was disgusting. She says, “I don’t like you like that. I’ve been trying to tell you. For years” (163). Jason is hurt, embarrassed, and angry. He storms off, saying she didn’t have to be so mean in turning him down.

Mia finally gets to call Shen. She tells him everything: about the Magna, about Lupe quitting her job, and about how much she misses China. Shen tells her to keep writing her column. All of his classmates love reading about her life in the United States, and they feel like they actually know her.

After the confrontation with Jason, Mia is compelled to write her next piece. She unpacks what happened, writing “I think it bothers me because he changed our friendship without asking. He just went for it” (167). She continues to write out everything she wishes she could say to Jason.

Meanwhile, Hank has been trying to get used car dealers to park some of their cars at the Calivista. He tells her that the empty parking lot is bad for business; if it’s fuller, they’ll get more customers. He asks Mia if she’s going to the dance and if she’ll be going with Jason, only to recall the first column she wrote about Jason kissing her without consent—Hank immediately drops the topic. Dad turns to Mom and asks if she remembers when he asked her out for their first dance. He likes to reminisce on how far they’ve come since then; now she is a great teacher in the United States. Mom doesn’t say anything and tries to hide her embarrassment.

At the investment dinner, Mia impatiently waits for Lupe to arrive. When Lupe and her dad finally show up, Mia is annoyed that Lupe has brought math to work on.

Mr. Cooper, one of their biggest investors, tells everyone about a company called Vacation Rentals that has offered to buy the Calivista for double the initial investment. The company wants to turn the Calivista into a boutique hotel. Mr. Cooper says now is a great time to capitalize on this sale. The rest of the investors want more time to consider it and to learn what a sale would truly entail.

While the adults discuss options, Mia approaches Lupe and her math textbook. She thanks Lupe for making the fliers. The pleasantries don’t last long. Soon, Mia and Lupe get into a fight about Lupe shirking on her duties to the Calivista and wanting to get ahead in school. Mia spends the rest of the night sitting between Auntie Ling and her mom.

Auntie Ling asks Mom how their trip to China was and if it’s nicer now. Mia waits for Mom’s answer, not sure how she will respond. Mia grasps the real question at hand here: “I [know] from listening to enough of my parents’ conversations that what they were really asking was Did we make the wrong decision moving here?” (173). Mom hesitates. Then, instead of telling Auntie Ling about all the changes in China, she tells her it hasn’t changed at all.

Mia is pleasantly surprised when Mrs. Davis returns to help Dad at the Calivista. She tells everyone that she quit the agency after she seeing the unhygienic practices at the Magna: “Sometimes, when things got real busy, they told us to skip the vacuuming. And just rinse the bathtubs, not scrub them” (175). Dad is flabbergasted since they would never cut corners like that at the Calivista.

Mom enters the front office and is pleased to see Mrs. Davis is back. Mia hands Mom her purse, and some cards fall out. Mom announces that she is teaching at the high school today. Everyone is excited for her, and Dad asks if she’s busy Saturday night. As Mom and Dad walk out together, Mia realizes that Mom left her notecards on the table. On them are math terms spelled out phonetically. Mia feels guilty about the other day and hopes that the kids at the high school will show Mom more kindness than her class did.

At school, Mia does well in math class, which gives her a confidence boost. Perhaps if Lupe won’t stop striving for higher classes, Mia can catch up and do them with her. She asks her math teacher if she can take the placement test for geometry. The teacher hesitates, but ultimately lets her take it. Mia returns to her desk to begin, hoping to be in class with Lupe again.

In English class, Ms. Swann announces the next assignment will be a group writing project. Jason is partnered with Bethany, and Mia, surprisingly, is partnered with Da-Shawn. Since Da-Shawn is one of the favorite students in Ms. Swann’s class, she is nervous about being his partner. She moves desks so she can sit next to him and reads an excerpt of Da-Shawn’s writing, which truly impresses her: “Wow. The imagery and details and flowery language—it was so beautiful. No wonder Ms. Swann made him Most Creative Writer” (180). Suddenly, Mia is not as nervous about being Da-Shawn’s partner. Instead, she is excited.

Da-Shawn says at his old school they had a school newspaper, so he had more opportunities to publish his writing. Mia shares her own dream of being a published writer. She says they should start a school paper at their school, so they can have that opportunity here. Da-Shawn isn’t so sure, but Mia reminds him of Lupe’s tried and true slogan: “You can’t win if you don’t play” (181). Across the room, Jason looks angry to see them together, and Mia tries not to think about the jealousy he might be feeling right now.