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to see black smoke coming out of the oven. The cupcakes were burning! My life really was in shambles. Now I couldn’t even bake cupcakes anymore. Dad quickly turned off the oven and turned to look at me.
    â€œ Mija , is something wrong? You’ve never burned a batch of cupcakes before—especially when you were sitting two feet away from the oven. Is there anything you want to tell me or talk about?” I couldn’t put it off any longer. Taking a deep breath, I took the note from Señora Delgado and handed it to him without saying anything.
    Dad read it and raised his eyebrows. “Mia, what is this? You’re failing Spanish? How is that possible?”
    Tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t help it.
    â€œYou guys put me in Advanced Spanish,” I said. “It’s really hard. I know I can speak it, but reading and writing it is different. My essays and homework are just too hard for me.”
    â€œThey can’t be that bad,” Dad said. “Can you show me?”
    I nodded and brought my backpack to the kitchen table, and Dad and I sat down.
    â€œThis is the worksheet she gave us for the weekend,” I said, handing him the paper. It was another sheet of verbs.
    Dad looked it over for a few minutes, and then he frowned. “You’re right,” he said. “I speak Spanish too, but this looks hard. Have you told Mom about this yet?”
    I shook my head. “No,” I admitted.
    Dad sighed. “Well, I’ll have to talk to her about this. We should talk to your teacher and get you one of these tutors she’s suggesting.”
    â€œYou can talk to her at the parent-teacher conference on Wednesday,” I said, and Dad looked surprised.
    â€œWednesday? I don’t think Mom mentioned that,” he said.
    I started to cry again. “Mom’s going to be so mad when she finds out.”
    â€œ Mija , we only get upset when you keep things from us. Having trouble in school is nothing to be ashamed of,” Dad said, hugging me. “No matter what, te quiero .”
    Te quiero . Dad had said those words to me a million times, and I knew what they meant: I love you. Te quiero.
    Suddenly it hit me. “Dad, how do you spell quiero ?” I yelled, breaking away from him.
    â€œ Q-u-i-e-r-o ,” Dad answered. “That’s one I know. Why?”
    My stomach dropped down into my black velvet flats. I had made a terrible mistake.
    â€œAnd how do you spell ‘cheese’ in Spanish?” I asked him.
    â€œ Queso. Q-u-e-s-o ,” he replied.
    â€œOh no!” I wailed. “Oh no, no, no!”
    I should have known that quiero meant “love,” not “cheesy.” Now Sydney thought Jackson had dissed her when actually he liked her. I felt awful! And now she was spreading all those awful rumors about him. So even if Jackson had liked Sydney to begin with, maybe I ruined it for her. I don’t like Sydney, but I’d never purposely mess up anybody’s budding romance.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, mija ?” Dad asked.
    â€œI made a terrible mistake.” I groaned, and then I told him about Sydney and the note. Dad started to laugh and then stopped himself.
    â€œSorry. I know it’s not funny to you,” he said. “And I feel sorry for that boy. Sydney sounds like somebody you don’t want to mess with.”
    â€œYou don’t even know,” I said, shaking my head.
    Dad put his hand over his mouth as he started to laugh again. “Oh, Mia. ‘Cheese’ instead of ‘love’?” Then he saw I wasn’t laughing. He put his arm around me again. “Come on, let’s watch that movie.”
    Soon we were settled in the living room with some microwave popcorn, and for a little while I forgot about all my problems while we watched a comedy about talking animals in a zoo. Then I got ready for bed.
    Before I fell asleep, I heard Dad call Mom. He was talking in Spanish, but I