SHOUT - Adopted by Lin Manuel Miranda

HOME-WORK

Ah, school. We slave the day away, and when we are set free in the afternoon, we get to slave some more. Homework, homework, and more homework. This is injustice. 

Part of Gracie's deal was that she'd only do my math homework, english homework, and history homework. I have to do my science homework and my health homework, because she said the teachers will know my report card is bullshit if I don't flunk at least one class. She may be a Precious Baby, but the girl ain't stupid.

Saturday evening while Vanessa cooks dinner, I plop down at the dinner table and start my science homework. We're learning about genes. Mr. Gowda says we get one half of our genes from our mother and the other half from our father. I am parentless, so I got my genes from Macy's. Ha-ha, science joke.

Sebastian hops into the seat across from me when I jot down my second answer. He's holding a magic wand from the kit he got for Christmas. "What are you doing?"

"Homework," I tell him without looking up. 

Lin appears from behind the hallway. "I don't believe my eyes." He sits in the chair next to Sebastian. "Homework on a Saturday. Who are you and what have you done to my Vidya?"

Vanessa sticks her head out from the kitchen. "What are you working on?" 

"Science." I erase the words beneath the third question. "I don't get it, though."

"Watch Sid the Science Kid." Sebastian makes his fingers walk on the table like a tiny person. "He knows all the answers."

Lin stands from his chair and walks around the table. "Maybe I can help." He sits next to me. "I got a seventy-five on the regents, but I've probably learned a thing or two from V."

"Give it your best shot," I tell him.

Lin reads from the paper. "Pedigree charts... Xx... Yy..."

Sebastian makes his fingers do a cartwheel. "X-Y-Z."

"I can't read it," I blurt. 

Lin turns to look me in the face. "What?"

"Uh—" I gulp. "Everything is mixed up. The capital letters are small and the lowercase letters are big, and sometimes it's the other way around." I lean my forehead against my hand. "My head isn't screwed on straight."

"Oh." Lin lowers his head. The skin around his eyes crinkles when he speaks. "Have you seen a doctor about that?"

No. No he can not know and no I can not see a doctor. Something happens to my breathing, I don't know what, but it stops, and the world stops because NO! No doctor, no medicine, no one running sharp metal tests on me, tearing me apart rip by rip—

Sebastian slaps his hand down onto the table in front of me. "Viddie?"

I stare straight ahead past Sebastian. "Yes I saw the doctor, in September. Bad eyesight is a side effect of migraines, got it?" 

"O-kay," Lin says, unconvinced."So. Pedigree charts."

Lin explains the question to me but the pounding in my head creates a barrier between his voice and my brain. I look more like My Father than My Mother. So did Nayim. If I stare in the mirror long enough, I can see him in the reflection. Radhika looked more like my mother. I've never been able to picture her as clearly. Foster kids should be excused from the genetics unit. Our genetic codes come from strangers but have been reformed by fist fights and crossbones and scar tissue. We are made from everything and nothing. 

"Understand?" He asks.

"Yeah," I say. Lying has become a sport. Wilmington can't ban me from playing that one.

Lin stands and walks away, but does a double take when he turns to look out the window behind him. "Ah! Cool shirt, Viddie!"

Of course he thinks it's cool. The shirt is from Macys, the type of shirt old ladies would call a "blouse." It's hideous, but Vanessa liked it, so I have to sacrifice my dignity while she still remembers she bought it.

I clear my homework off the table when Vanessa sets the place mats. All that science made me hungry. I devour my beef stew before Lin and Vanessa and Sebastian say grace, just like the first day I came here, and just like each other day. While they thank God for the slaughtered cows in the beef, I space out and think about the F I'm going to receive on my science homework. Then one thought leads to another, and I think about Rishanki, and I think about Gracie, and I think about the newspaper club hangout I have to tell the Mirandas about.

I interrupt Lin mid-sentence. "So."

Silence. Then Lin: "So."

"So you know how I have no friends?" I ask.

Vanessa smiles her sympathy smile. "I'm sure that's not--"

"Well I still have no friends. But there's a girl in my class who wants me to go over to her place, next week."

Lin gasps. "Vidya, that's great! That's more than great, that's awesome."

"So you do have a friend!" Says Vanessa.

"No, I don't."

Lin drinks from his glass. "So you're just going to some random girl's house?" 

"It's complicated. Don't ask, because I'm not going to tell you about it." I spoon the stew into my mouth. "The only reason I brought this up is because at the moment I am under your guardianship and you have to know what I do and when and why and how I do it."

"Correct," says Lin.

"We actually have some plans to share with you," says Vanessa.

"Oh, yeah." Lin twirls a noodle on his fork. "We're going to my parents' house for dinner tomorrow."

I slump in my seat and drag my fork across the plate so it screeches against the surface. Why am I not surprised? All the Mirandas had to do was wait until the Thanksgiving fiasco blew over. Two months later, the fiasco has blown. It was going to happen eventually. I don't know why The Mirandas bother making me spend time with their family if I'm not going to be living here much longer. It's only a matter of time before they give up.

"Cool-cool," I tell him. "But don't slow dance, this time. This isn't the prom, grandpa."

I bring my plate to the kitchen and chuck it into the sink. Luckily, it's plastic, so it doesn't break. Sebastian sings the A-B-Cs from the table. He gets up to R before losing track of the letters and starting over with A. Maybe there will be glass plates at Lin's parents' place. Behold: Distraction, the classic escape route. I can break their fine china on the floor and sneak out the window while they clean up the mess.