Spain or Shine by Michelle Jellen Page A

Elena’s room before the older girls even had time to set their backpacks down by the door.
    Â 
    Señor Cruz walked through the front door at half-past eight, and Señora Cruz called them all to dinner twenty minutes later. The three girls put down their magazines and joined Señor and Señora Cruz and Alita at the round dinner table. Elena gathered that the Cruzes’ normal dinnertime was close to nine o’clock in the evening. She made a mental note to check with another student who lived with a host family in town to see if it was a Spanish thing or a Cruz thing.
    After a leisurely dinner of paella, Elena and Jenna cleared the dishes and offered to wash up. Elena had been so travel-weary the night before that she hadn’t even thought to offer her help. She knew her mother would be mortified.
    Elena stood at the sink scrubbing the pans and plates, while Jenna sopped them with a dish towel and then lined them up in the drying rack.
    â€œDo you wash the dishes at home?” Alita asked from the table where Senora Cruz was helping her with her homework.
    â€œUh-huh. We all have chores, and mine is to do the dinner dishes,” Elena explained.
    â€œHow many people do you clean up after, Elena?”
    â€œSix when my brother Jeremy is home from college.”
    â€œThat is a big job,” Senora Cruz nodded to show her approval of Elena’s work ethic. Elena didn’t tell her that at home all she had to do was squirt the dishes with water, stack them in the dishwasher, and flip a switch. “And what about you, Jenna?”
    â€œWe have a housekeeper,” Jenna murmured.
    â€œI have chores,” Alita interrupted. “I clean my room and sweep the balcony, and I help Mama with the groceries.”
    â€œSí, estás muy útil,” Señora cooed. “She is...is it an American phrase ... my little helper?”
    â€œYes, that’s a phrase. She’s your little helper.” Elena smiled over at Alita, who lit up. Señora Cruz kissed Alita, and then scooted her off to bed. Elena could hear her stop to kiss her father good night in the living room.
    Elena rinsed the last dish in her pile and handed it to Jenna. She pulled the stopper in the sink and watched the murky water slide down the drain and putter out at the end.
    â€œThat was the last one,” Jenna announced to Señora Cruz.
    â€œThank you so much for helping, girls.” Señora Cruz took the wet dish towel from Jenna and hung it on a rack in the corner to dry. “You are good workers.”
    â€œThank you for dinner,” Elena said.
    â€œThe meal was wonderful,” Jenna piped in, as Señora Cruz left the room.
    â€œYou can use the bathroom first,” Elena offered to Jenna.
    After Jenna padded toward the back of the apartment a hush settled over the small kitchen. There were only a few sounds in the apartment. The ancient window that stood over the sink was shoved open, allowing a cool night breeze to waft in. Elena could hear a car’s tires crunching on the nearly empty gravel road outside, and music playing in one of the apartments across the alley. She couldn’t recall a time in her own house when things were still long enough for her to pause and consider each soft, distinct sound.

Chapter Four

    On Thursday, Elena broke her routine of hanging out in the sun-drenched quad during the break before play production. Instead, she’d rushed to the multimedia center as soon as the bell rang in order to snag an empty computer and check her e-mail.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: Miss you!!!
    Hi Lanie,
    How are you, Señorita? (See, I can speak Spanish, too.) I still can’t believe you actually did it—you went to Spain by yourself. What do you think of it so far? Have you made any friends yet? Are the Spanish boys cute?
    School starts next Tuesday, after Labor Day. I’m already busy with track, and the occasional party.