Summary

Julia spends the summer break cleaning houses with Amá. Although Mr. Ingman is no longer her teacher, he helps her with her college applications, including the procedure to have fees waived for low-income applicants. Mr. Ingman pushes Julia to talk openly about her family’s undocumented status in her admission essays, but she fears deportation. Julia wonders why Mr. Ingman cares about her future and he tells her that if she can “get the hell out of this neighborhood,” she has great potential as a writer (168).

Julia goes to a used bookstore and is settling down to read when a young white man approaches and strikes up a conversation. At first Julia is awkward, but she relaxes as they compare favorite books. They laugh together at people who throw Great Gatsby parties, ignorant of the novel’s criticism of excess and...