“How’s it going?” Ma comes out of the dining room, looking too casual. An ambush, yay

“G

irls? I have something for you.” Ma pokes her head into Mimi’s room, holds out two large ice coffees with whipped cream. “How’s the studying going? You’ve been up here for a while, I figured you could do with an energy boost.”

Kayla puts her hand up like a stop sign. “Thank you for your efforts, Ma, but I won’t drink it. Caffeine in the evening can significantly disturb sleep.”

“I’ll have both,” Mimi says, giving a shadow of a smile. Ma’s too bright and cheery about this studying, even though they’ve been doing it for a while. It’s become a pattern now: Kayla makes the schedule, Mimi shows up. They cover homework first, then studying. They work together for two hours most evenings, more before a test, skip Wednesdays and Sundays. Tests are still a struggle, but at least homework is okay.

Still, she can’t bring herself to match Ma’s enthusiastic tone. This is not fun, not easy, not what she wants to be doing at all.

When their session is up, and Kayla departs for her room saying something about having scheduled time to review the new science journal that arrived in the mail, Mimi wanders downstairs. Maybe she’ll go over to Tzippy’s. She could do with some time to relax, clear her head.

“How’s it going?” Ma comes out of the dining room, looking too casual. An ambush, yay. “You looked like you were getting a lot done.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine,” Mimi mumbles. This is not about studying, she knows with certainty. It’s about mid-winter vacation. Coming up in just two days’ time.