The Best Possible Answer(7)

Sammie is absolutely elated. She has extremely high hopes for the summer. “I’m telling you,” she says. “It will be awesome, the summer of our lives. Sun, water, hot guys, free days at the pool. What more could you want?”

“To go to the Illinois Design and Engineering Summer Academy.”

“I get that. But that’s not happening, obviously. And anyway, don’t you want to spend the summer with me?”

I think about it. It is a tempting option. At least a job will look better on college applications than saying I stayed home all summer doing nothing. And it will still give me time to study for my SATs, which I need to retake in the fall. “Yes, of course I do,” I say. “But my mom’s not going to like it. She wants to keep a close eye on me.”

“How is she going to keep an eye on you? She’s going to be in class.”

“She’s going to force me to stay home.”

“Let’s go talk to her.” Sammie convinces me to let her go back downstairs with me to tell my mom.

My mom’s annoyed—first, that Sammie’s involving herself in my recovery, and, even worse, that it’s thwarting her plan to force me to rest, which is to say her plan to force me to stay at home so she can keep a close eye on me. “I don’t want her wearing herself out again.”

“Mr. Bautista said we could share a lot of our shifts. We’ll mostly just be sitting around together. It’ll be great. And very relaxing for Vivi.”

“So, total inertia?” I ask.

“I don’t know what that means,” she says. Sammie’s good at many things—English, history, Drama Club, choir, and secret fashion blogging (1,428 IG followers, and if her mom knew, she’d kill her)—but one of her many things is not science. I’m not a science genius either, but I’ve absorbed enough to recite the basics.

“Like in physics,” I say. “One definition of inertia is the tendency to remain at rest. To resist movement.”

“Yes. Like that. I want Viviana to resist all movement. I want her to ‘remain at rest.’” My mom echoes me. “And to stop thinking so much.”

“We will absolutely resist all movement,” Sammie says. “And we’ll be right downstairs, only fifteen floors away. We will sit at the front desk and do nothing but check IDs and listen to music.”

“That is all? No lifeguarding? No swimming, running, all of that?”

“No, Ms. Rabinovich. None of that.”

“And you’ll be right downstairs?”

“Yes. Right downstairs.”

Mila whines from the couch. “No, please no! If Vivi goes to work, then that means I have to go to Camp Sportz.”

I ignore Mila and offer my counterargument: “Instead of costing money,” I say, “I’ll actually be making money.” I know she likes a good argument, and I hope it works.

“It will be summer job perfection, Ms. Rabinovich.”

“I think this is a good compromise, Mama. I really want to do this.”

My mom looks at me. “You think you’re okay to do this?”

I think about what I thought was going to be my summer first—dorm life, late-night pizza, field trips, 3-D printers, fabrication labs, group presentations. Yes, it sounded fun, but I was doing it because it was something amazing to put on my college applications. This new possibility of a summer—blue skies, chlorine, whole days with Sammie—I have to admit that I actually feel some of the tension release from my shoulders. “Yes,” I say. “I think this could be really good for me.”

My mom sighs and then finally relents. “Okay, I guess. Fine. I’ll have to talk to your father about this, but—”

“Thank you, Mama.” I kiss her on the cheek and grab Sammie’s hand so we can leave before she changes her mind. I hear Mila crying behind us, and I feel bad, but I don’t turn back.





AP U.S. History Exam: Sample Question

Between October and December of last year, Viviana Rabinovich-Lowe engaged in romantic activities that directly opposed her parents’ rules and expectations for how she was supposed to live her life. Analyze the reasons that these activities emerged in this period, and assess the degree to which Viviana succeeded in ruining both her social and her personal life.

Before Viviana started dating Dean early last October, her father warned her not to get involved with anyone. He said that “boys would be a distraction,” that they’d take her off course from everything she’d worked for her entire life.

She didn’t listen, of course.

She fell for Dean during a particularly bad day. Their physics teacher, Mr. Foster, had them in the computer lab, where they were working on an online roller-coaster simulator. Viviana had a C-in the class, so Mr. Foster thought that it would be a good idea to quiz her in front of everyone as a way to encourage her to raise her grade. He started riding her for not being able to explain the measurements of potential energy and kinetic energy as they related to her design. She thought she knew the answer, but everything that came out of her mouth was wrong. Rather than call on someone else, Mr. Foster kept picking on her. “Come on, Viviana. Think, Viviana. You know this, Viviana.”

He wouldn’t let up, and she wanted to cry so badly. Finally, rather than break down sobbing in front of the whole class, she put her head down and closed her eyes. Mr. Foster finally sighed and said, “Viviana, if you’d only apply yourself a bit more, you’d do well in this class.”