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“Mrs. Drexel?” Silvia said, putting on a mature tone that she had used plenty of times before. Despite that, her heart continued to tap dance. “This is Hugo’s mother, Elena. I’m sorry to call so late. I just got off work.”

“Oh, that’s no problem. What sort of work do you do?”

“Hospitality industry,” Silvia said. “Luckily my husband gets home much earlier than me. I only wish he would check the answering machine more often.” She eyed her dad and hoped he wasn’t following the conversation, because it felt beyond awkward to refer to Miguel as her husband. Or to weave what were essentially lies, but she worried that Mrs. Drexel would question if Hugo had enough supervision or whatever and send someone to check.

“I bet you’re eager to unwind, so I won’t keep you long,” Mrs. Drexel said. “I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to speak to Hugo yet, but he pushed another boy on the playground today.”

“That’s terrible!” Silvia said. “I’m so sorry!”

“Well it takes two to tango. Hugo says that the other boykeeps taking his toys, and I believe him. That’s why we encourage students to leave their personal belongings at home. Anything that isn’t essential to learning, that is.”

“I’ll talk to him about that,” Silvia said, already feeling relieved that the issue wasn’t more serious.

“I hope that will be the end of it,” Mrs. Drexel said with an edge of bad news in her voice. “Although I thought you should know that the other boy’s parents called the school and were very upset. I’m unclear on the details, but they’re demanding that we pay any medical bills.”

“But all he did was shove someone,” Silvia said.

“Yes, but apparently the other boy injured one of his hands. I’m not sure if he sprained a finger or needed stitches. Therewasa little blood, but it didn’t seem like much to me. I have two boys of my own, and I’ve certainly seen worse. It might turn out to be nothing. We all get emotional when our children are hurt, even in the slightest.”

“Absolutely,” Silvia said, turning her back on her parents so they couldn’t see her face. This was bad. What if the boy’s family sued? Her parents would be expected to show up in court. And present valid forms of identification!

“The school policy is that parents are responsible for any damages their children might incur, whether that be property or another person.”

“We would be happy to pay,” Silvia said, a little too hurriedly maybe. But she’d seen an out and wanted to take it.

“I’m relieved to hear that,” Mrs. Drexel said. “Again, this didn’t seem like a serious issue to me when it occurred, but knowing that at leastoneset of parents is willing to be reasonable… Pretend I didn’t say that. I’ve simply seen some very silly problems which ended up requiring arbitration.”

Silvia wasn’t sure what that word meant, but it sounded legal. “I’m sure we can get it all settled without the need for that,” she said.

“Wonderful! I won’t trouble you any longer. Oh! But I do want to say what a delight Hugo is. He always gives such thoughtful responses. I enjoy teaching him.”

“Thank you. Have a nice night, Mrs. Drexel. Please call if anything else comes up.”

“I certainly will!”

They said goodbye, Silvia needing a moment to return to being herself. But of course her parents wanted answers right away.

“Medical bills!”her mother exclaimed once she’d heard everything.

“Maybe,”Silvia stressed.“The teacher said lots of nice things about Hugo. But he can’t bring toys to school with him anymore.”

She fielded more of their questions before she was free to go to her room. Although her mother had one last surprise for her.“There was another message,”she said.“From Omar.”

What? How did he have her number?“On the machine?”Silvia asked, already moving toward it.

“No. Your brother answered.”

Hugo! The little brat! He knew he wasn’t supposed to. They let the machine vet every call. What if her dad had picked up when Mrs. Drexel called and she started talking about arbitration or whatever it was? She would have gotten suspicious, or even concerned, when he wasn’t able to respond to her adequately.

“Okay. Thanks. I’ll talk to Hugo about everything.”

“So will we,”Miguel assured her.

Silvia kissed her parents on the cheek and said goodnight. She stopped by the bathroom to wash her face and to stare into the mirror while forcing herself to breathe. Everything was fine. Unless this other boy’s parents were greedy and decided to sue. Silvia didn’t know what would happen then. And she didn’t want to find out.

These thoughts were on her mind when she finally went to her room and closed the door behind her.

“Am I in trouble?” Hugo asked from his bed, where he sat and kicked his heels against the frame.