Summary

Pen struggles to get through her shift at the restaurant while her brother Angel works frantically in the kitchen. Every sound – the popping grease and loud music – reminds Pen of her childhood. A man from the neighborhood, Mr. Cantu, comes by the restaurant to paint the sidewalk, an odd job promised to him by Pen’s father. He is desperate for the fifty dollars he was promised, and Pen realizes that he might be in trouble and chooses to help him. When their father comes to drive Pen and Angel home from their restaurant, Pen is struck by how much she loves her family.

In Chapter 2, Pen’s little brother and sister, Hugo and Lola, watch her make pancakes. Pen thinks about how long she has been lying to her parents about attending her community college classes while she is actually babysitting. She...