Episode: Schooled

(I now warn you, I don't know jack about court law that involves children in divorces, so if anything sounds wrong or doesn't make any sense, you now know why.)

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Sitting in the courtroom made Andrea feel like an ant, small and intimated. He held her father's hand tightly, even he looked like he wanted to get out as quick as possible. 

Hearing the door open, Becca came in, with her lawyer right by her side. As soon as the woman met eye contact with her daughter, she waved a 'hello' to her, seemingly to look innocent and kind to her kid.

As everyone was set, the judge then comes and makes the case.
Andrea automatically sat up straight, gulping out of pure nervousness.

"Okay, the case of Wilkins v. Cassidy, over custody of Andrea Lolli Hinojosa, have both parties have discussed a settle or must proceed?"

"Your Honor, both parties have not wanted or made any settlement," Her father's lawyer stated.

"Very well. What is Mrs. Cassidy's case?"

"Your Honor, my client, Mrs. Becca Cassidy wants to keep her child with her. Obviously, since Mr. Wilkins isn't interested in any shared child custody, she would like full custody of Andrea Hinojosa."

The girl's heart stopped.
It was as if time were to slow down a little, stop completely.
She didn't want that, she wanted to be with her dad.

"My client is finically stable to raise a child, has her own apartment and job, even lives near toward the environment Andrea Hinojosa knows. She is still the adopted mother of this child, she is her legal guardian."

The young latina didn't think about this. She couldn't tell if Becca wanted this because she truly loved her or it would hurt Don. Either way, she still wanted nothing to do with her.

"Your Honor." Don's lawyer rises. "You cannot deny what Mrs. Cassidy has done to Don Wilkins and Andrea Hinojosa. She left them for many months, with no contact of any kind and no visits. Now, because of the divorce, she wants to keep the one thing my client holds dear."

The judge hits the gavel to silent the lawyer. "Thank you. Both parents are equally ready to take care of Andrea Hinojosa, but I would like to hear it from their mouth, including Andrea's."

Quickly, her hand latched on to her father's. He tightly squeezed the girl's hand in reassurance.
It troubled her to know she would have to speak up, that one mistake can possibly ruin her.

"Don Wilkins, please give your statement on the matter at hand."

The father looked at his little girl and slowly let go. He straightened his back, doing his best to look as confident but kind. The man says, "Andrea and I have been doing just fine on our own. After Becca left... we put ourselves back together, we put in the work to help us. I've had a closer relationship with Andrea, I adore my daughter, and I understand why a daughter would need a mother, but I believe what is best for Andrea is to not have custody to the woman that left."

"And what 'work' have you put in, Mr. Wilkins?"

Don turns to his lawyers and nodded. The man in the suit searched out for papers. The lawyer explains, "Don Wilkins has been going to counseling for the past few months. Even his counselor has proven that he has been doing better as a father after Ms. Cassidy left."

The girl looks to her father and the man stares back. She couldn't help but give him a helpful smile, a sign of encouragement. She never knew her father went the extra mile, just for her.

"Becca Cassidy, what is your statement?" The judge turns to the woman.

Becca says, "Your Honor, I know I haven't been the best mother. I know that I've hurt the people closest to me. But I am Andrea's mother. I raised her, I love her. I don't care if she can't live with me full time, I would be grateful to have even had visitation with her. I just want a relationship with my daughter again."

The Hinojosa could hear the clock ticking for her time to speak. Her heartfelt as if it could burst, the room around her seemed to shrink. All she could do is just fiddle with her little gold ring on her middle finger.

"Andrea Hinojosa, will you answer some questions?"

The girl looked up at the judge and then at her adopted parents. Becca looked as if she was begging the girl for just a single nice word, Don looked to her to let her speak, to let her go.

The girl nodded her head.

¡

Alex was playing his cello to his abuelita. Lydia sigh, "Oh, papito. If Yo-Yo Ma heard you play, he would quit."

"Yeah, he would," Elena comments sarcastically, as she holds posters in her hands.

Finally, Penelope opens the door with a wide smile. "All right! Test done. And tonight, I'm shaving my left leg." She sees her daughter ripping up her posters. "What's happening here? Did the school shut down your GSA protest?"

The girl rants, "Worse. They said yes. They think it would be a 'positive influence on the educational community.' And then they gave me a meeting room and a snack budget!"

"Okay, I'm sleep-deprived, but I think she said happy words in a mad voice?"

"What? Like I'm supposed to believe my Catholic school is suddenly all pro-gay? Yeah, nice try."

"You know, I think being a lesbian has made you very angry," Lydia says.

"That is such a stereotype!"

"Is it?" Alex snickers.

"Well, I have a lot to be angry about. Climate change, sexism, racism, there's a lot of bad things happening!"

"Elena, what is going on?" asked the mother, "Usually, when you win, you're insufferable. You even have that dance you do. I don't know what it is, but I miss it."

"Whatever. There's still plenty of people out there who hate that I'm gay."

Penelope sweetens her voice. "Honey, I know that. But society's changing. People are more accepting than ever."

"Yeah, not everybody."

"Maybe not one person in particular?"

Elena scoffs, "You mean my father, who's not even as progressive as the Catholic church?"

"So that's what this is about."

The teen sits down on her couch, with her mom following. "I just thought it'd get easier... but it still sucks."

"I know, mija." Penelope puts a supportive hand on her daughter.

"I just... I haven't gotten a call, or an e-mail... I-It's been three months. I just thought he'd be sorry by now, but maybe he never will be."

"I had no idea you were feeling this way. I am sorry," The mom tells.

"It's okay... It's just hard because I want to hate him... but he's still my dad."

"Oh, baby. You know, not to brag... but I have some experience being angry with your papi. You have to trust me. It doesn't hurt him, it only hurts you. So you need to celebrate all the good things happening in your life, yeah? So why don't we try this again?" She pushes hair away from Elena's face. You got... the GSA."

With a few party moves for motivation, Elena was in her old spirits, a little, as she celebrated on getting the GSA she deserved. Despite this only being a bandaid to the situation, it still helped her make it one more day.

Abruptly, Schneider enters in the home, with his legs spread apart and in pain. "Hey, do you guys have an ice pack? I may have overspun."

The family was quick to help the man as the grandmother was getting the ice packet as Penelope helped lower him down carefully.

"Hey, did your test scores come in yet?" He asked her.

"Oh, yeah. It's after 5!" She shrieks, pushing him down which made him have the silent pain reaction.

"Schneider, why don't you lay down, huh?" Lydia suggests.

As he begins to, the woman didn't know whether to place the ice softly or to just throw it. She gives it to him. "You do it." He takes it and places right in the groan region.

"Come on!" Penelope mutters angrily, slapping her computer down.

"What is it? Don't tell me that you did so much better than the rest of the class that they are now cyberbullying you?"

"No, mami. I did bad. I did really bad."

"You don't do bad. You're always killing it," Elena reminds.

Alex adds, "We know because you always say, 'I'm killing it.'"

"This is all my fault," Schneider tells them, "You needed to do real studying, and I distracted you with my spinning and beautiful globes."

"No, I did study. I tried really hard and I still didn't do good," Penelope admitted.

Elena corrects, "Do 'well'. Sorry."

"It's just one test, Mom. You'll do better next time," encourages Alex.

"That's the thing." She pulls out a stack of papers, papers with bad grades that she had been hiding.

"75? 68? 62!"

As the kids were complaining in shock of their mother's grades, Lydia remarks, "I would faint, but I don't want a below-average nurse to help me."

"Mom, maybe you need to study more," The teen girl suggests.

"No, that's not it. It's me. I can't do it."

As the family tries to bring some kind of support to the nurse, it only backfired. "Oh, mami, I can't! I obviously can't! I'm sorry. I let you all down, and I really wanted to do this for all of us. But I think it's time to admit it, that I tried, and I failed. And now, I think it's time to quit."

"Mom, this is your dream," Elena recalls.

"Yes. But this is... this is also my dream." She refers to them. "You know, a great family. I already have a great job. When you add school on top of it, it's like I'm trying to do three things great, but I'm just doing them all badly. So I think this is the right decision, and I think it's time to quit."

Lydia only nodded her head.
This was her decision, if school was just too hard for her, then it's not worth having herself become miserable over.

The woman sighs from relief, "I can go back to showering every day. I can take you to protest so you can yell at people. We can yell together."

"Oh, that's gonna be great, because you're so loud," Elena smiles.

"This is great! This is gonna be great. Who knows, maybe after a couple of years, when you guys are out of the house, and it's not so crazy, maybe I can tackle school again."

They all smiled at the woman.
It had been a while since they have seen her truly relax before.

"Oh, my god. You guys, you guys... do you know what I'm gonna do tomorrow morning? I'm gonna sleep, till 6:30 in the morning!"

The family hugged each other. They were glad Penelope can make the decision that helps herself, to think about her for once.

"Keep it going. I'll get there," Schneider says, before immediately regretting moving a single inch. "No. Fire in the junkyard."

¡

Andrea makes her way up to Alex's window, in her pajamas for it is almost 5 in the morning.
Her eyes were about to burst, she felt like she was about to burst.

Coming to the window, she looked inside to see nothing. The room was too dark, she couldn't see anything inside.

The girl pulled out her phone to call him. She could hear the phone ring in his room, the light glows in the dark, but there was nothing. No body stirring, no hand pushing the decline button, nothing.

"A-Alex?" She peeped, with her voice cracking. "You there?"

Meanwhile, Alex was busy with his mom. A very sleepy Penelope was led by her mother, she was shocked to see her two kids standing by a desk with proper study utensils for studying.

"What is this?" Penelope grabs a cup of espresso, given by Elena.

"We decided you're staying in school," The boy tells his mom.

The woman shakes her head. "No, no. No, remember, I failed. I'm a quitter, it's fine."

"Lupita, after you went to bed last night, none of us could sleep."

"We realized we were being selfish," Elena states, "You didn't fail, Mom, you just can't do it alone."

"That's right! You know, you don't have to be a superwoman! There can only be one such woman in a family... which is me," Lydia nods.

"So we're all going to pitch in and help you make your dream come true."

"I'll take out the trash and pack my own lunch," Alex tells.

"And I am going to skip the Queer Women March Against Nukes to help you," Elena adds, "What's your preferred study method?"

"Coffee and tears," Penelope answers.

"You're a disaster! I can fix you... if this is what you want."

"I do." The woman looks to the people who are willing to help.

"And you got this. And we got you."

"And I will be here for you, mi amor." Lydia pulls out a spray bottle, not hesitating to spray her once. "No more talk! A estudiar!"

"Can you guys keep it down?"

They all turn to see their landlord, half-asleep on their couch, with a blanket over him.

"Schneider, why are you still here?" questions Penelope.

"I can't feel my legs!" He declares, "I might be here for another day or two. Oh..." He looks to the family. "It's the scene from my snow globe... adding Andrea."

However, the poor girl was still outside. She pulled her knees to her chest and cried to herself.
She had never felt so much guilt in herself. The court didn't go good but it wasn't bad either, it was more of a shock than anything.

Maybe she needed the time to herself, the time to cry on her own, the time to process. She didn't want to imagine how her father feels, he really did try his best.

Realizing that Alex won't be there, she left back to her apartment, making her way to her room. She didn't want to be alone but she also didn't want to talk about a thing.

Getting her pillow, she makes her way to her father's room. He was already in bed, under his covers. His body turns over to see Andrea in the doorway.

"I can't sleep," She says.

Without hesitation, he opens the covers for her, which she grateful got in. They didn't talk, they didn't say a single word. They just needed silent company, just the acknowledgment that someone was there.

All that they needed was just one day, one day for the world to not be against them, for once. Just a single moment of clarity.

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Translation/Meaning

estudiar - study