Each Tiny Spark

Abuela flattens Emilia’s auburn hair with an iron: She doesn’t want her granddaughter going to school with unruly hair. Abuela’s hair is straight and well-maintained, but Emilia’s mom’s hair is wavy. Mom and Abuela argue over Emilia’s multiracial identity, with Abuela stressing her European traits and Mom emphasizing her Yoruba (a group from West Africa) characteristics. Abuela and Mom quarrel about religion, and Mom points out that Abuela gave Emilia a Catholic baptism. Emilia asks how Mom tolerates Abuela, and her mom indicates that it takes patience.

For breakfast, Emilia eats carefully selected foods—a peanut butter and spinach smoothie and a fish oil pill—because the doctor said they should help her concentrate. The family makes café con leche, and Emilia loves the smell of coffee with milk. Abuela brings her a waffle with syrup, but Mom takes it away.

Emilia recently saw The Princess Bride (1987), and in the fantastical movie, the princess screams as a huge rat bites the shoulder of the man she loves. Emilia thinks that if she were the princess, she would have helped him.

Mom and Emilia review Emilia’s school schedule for the week, and Emilia asks if she can go to Clarissa’s party on Friday. Mom wants Emilia to focus on school. Mom is going to San Francisco to present a translation app she developed, but her dad is coming home tonight. As Emilia gets on the noisy bus, she thinks about how her life is about to change.

On the bus, Emilia sits with Clarissa, her friend since kindergarten. Clarissa asks about Emilia’s dad, who’s been deployed for the past eight months. Clarissa’s dad was also in the army, but he died. When Clarissa talks about Emilia’s dad, she becomes emotional. Emilia doesn’t know much about her dad’s deployment, and she doesn’t feel close to Clarissa. Emilia feels Clarissa only wants to talk about what she likes, like Emilia’s dad, being a backup mellophone player in the pep band, and throwing parties with kids Emilia doesn’t like.

Emilia and Clarissa are in the sixth grade, but Clarissa invited seventh graders to her party. She plans to wear a rose dress. Clarissa shares the same middle name as Emilia—Rose. Emilia’s official middle name is Rosa, but Clarissa calls Emilia “Emi Rose.”

Emilia and Clarissa live in Merryville—a small, quaint Georgia town surrounded by woods, about 40 minutes away from Atlanta. Clarissa’s mom calls Merryville one of the few remaining towns that hasn’t collided with the world. The school board is discussing moving students from the crowded schools in Park View, a neighborhood in the town, to the less-crowded Merryville schools next year, but Clarissa’s mom thinks it’s a bad idea. Emilia and Clarissa go to Merryville Middle School, home of the Screaming Eagles.

Emilia stares into space, which Clarissa finds weird. People call Emilia names—she’s neurodivergent, and her doctor diagnosed her with ADHD. Her thoughts sometimes roam, making focusing difficult.

As they arrive at school, Emilia thanks the bus driver, Mrs. Loretta, and she declines Clarissa’s invitation to walk together to class. Emilia wants to say hi to Gustavo, or Gus, but Clarissa thinks Gus is a liar. He doesn’t sound like he’s from Alabama, and Clarissa thinks his English is bad. Emilia assures Clarissa that Gus is from Alabama, and she tells Clarissa that he speaks English and Spanish fine. Clarissa doesn’t like Gus’s friend Barry, either. He gets poor grades, but Emilia thinks Barry might be neurodivergent. Clarissa thinks well of Chinh, but she doesn’t understand why Chinh hangs out with Barry and Gus.

Gus and Barry are going to the movies on Friday, and he invites Emilia, but Emilia wants Gus to attend Clarissa’s party. Clarissa didn’t invite Gus, but Emilia says she can persuade her. Gus looks uneasy. Gus and Emilia have a playful relationship, and he makes silly faces at her during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Seeing her dad makes Emilia excited and nervous, and it reminds her of a science experiment where the teacher mixed baking soda and lemon juice inside a Coke bottle, making it explode. Last year, Emilia had science with Gus. After testing, Emilia was placed in different science and math classes.

Mr. Richt teaches social studies and coaches junior-varsity track, football, and basketball. Richie and Jay play basketball, and Richie lives near Park View, near Gus and Barry, while Jay’s family owns the Renters’ Lumber Supply stores in Northwest Georgia. Mr. Richt emphasizes that the students must turn in their projects on time. The projects are tourism guides for Merryville, and they can’t use the internet. They’ll present their proposals on Friday and turn in their projects in three weeks.

Mr. Richt then discusses the proposal to move Park View students to Merryville schools. He talks about redistricting, where the government divides the city into areas that determine where kids attend school. Emilia takes notes and tries to follow along, but she’s confused. After class, Mr. Richt asks Emilia if she needs help with the project. Emilia doesn’t want to draw attention to herself and worry her mom, so she says she’s fine.

There’s a pep rally after school, and Emilia’s mind feels overstimulated. Emilia’s doctor says she processes sensory details differently, so when she’s in loud spaces, her brain feels stuffed full. Clarissa, however, is excited. A student is sick, so she gets to play her mellophone. She tells Emilia to sit in the front row and maintain eye contact with her—she’ll be fine. Emilia remembers a first-grade fire drill and Clarissa holding her hand to comfort her.

Gus offers Emilia headphones, and she invites him to sit up front, but Clarissa says there is no room. Gus wants to stay on the side and film the rally, and he promises to get close-up shots of Clarissa. He refers to the mellophone as a tuba, and Clarissa calls Gus “Gustavo.” Clarissa warms up the mellophone. It makes a funny sound, and Lacey, Clarissa’s best friend, laughs. When Chinh sits beside Lacey, she blushes.

After the pep rally, Emilia tells Gus the headphones didn’t provide much solace. Gus says he almost called Emilia because he thought his camera broke: Emilia excels at fixing things. When Abuela bought her an Easy-Bake Oven for her ninth birthday, she took it apart to inspect its insides.

Gus and Emilia walk down Main Street, where there are old brick buildings and several shops and restaurants. The Italian restaurant Delucci’s has a sign asking for bilingual staff, and Emilia thinks they should specify which bilingual language they seek.

Gus wants to do a tour guide on the myths of Merryville, wondering about the monsters the town hides. Teachers describe Gus as imaginative. His dad, Señor Orestes, works in Toni’s Auto Repair—Abuela’s auto body shop. Agustín, a cool high-school senior, works in the shop too.

Clarissa’s mom, Mary, arrives. She thinks her car is about to break down and insists that Orestes, not Agustín, look at it. Mary is having trouble finding a job because she can’t speak Spanish. Abuela offers to tutor her, but Mary doesn’t have the time. Mary wants Emilia’s mom to help her with her computer, and she asks Abuela to thank Toni for his service.

Orestes changes the oil in Mary’s car, and she leaves. Abuela walks Emilia to their home, which is behind the shop, and they prepare food for Toni’s arrival. Emilia wonders what she’ll say to her dad.