With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

Winning

When I get to the rooftop paella restaurant where our group has a table, I see that everyone looks how I feel. Like a bulb has been turned on beneath our skin.

Everyone at the table is too excited to shut up. We play with our dinner forks and recount our days. What our chefs or sponsors asked us to do, what we cut and measured. Pretty Leslie is shadowing a line cook. Richard is working at a seafood market and Amanda is at a bakery. When Malachi asks what station I was working at, I shrug.

“You saw how small a place it was. No stations, really. Chef Amadí had me prepare the daily special.”

Even though Pretty Leslie is three seats away from me she must be ear-hustling hard because she leans in halfway across the table to ask, “The whole meal? On your first day?”

I shrug again and don’t answer. In the moment I didn’t even consider how much I was being challenged. I just put my head down and got to work. But I guess not all of us were being challenged in that same way.

Chef Ayden looks calmer and happier than he did in our classroom. “I’m glad you all are learning so many different things.”

I look down at my cold soup, a gazpacho, and try not to smile. Then I sneak off to the bathroom so I can use the restaurant Wi-Fi to FaceTime with ’Buela. Babygirl is at her daycare, but at least I can hear ’Buela’s voice and get an update on things back home.