Merci Suárez Changes Gears

Lolo has new glasses, and they are round and enormous. Merci bikes over to Tía Inés’s Cuban cafe called El Caribe to meet him after school. Tía Inés tells Lolo that Merci cannot linger as she has to take care of the twins, which Lolo meets with bitterness. Merci is also annoyed: no one ever asks her if she wants to babysit, Roli is often allowed to use schoolwork to get out of babysitting duties, and she is not getting paid for her work. She tells Tía Inés that she wishes someone would be hired to watch her cousins, which Tía Inés dismisses as nonsense.

Merci tells Tía Inés that she is in the Sunshine Buddies Club and has been assigned Michael Clark as a buddy. She tells her aunt that she is sure that Edna will pester her about this pairing every day. When Tía Inés muses that Michael Clark is “tall, dark, and handsome” after hearing Merci describe his height, Merci corrects her, identifying Michael as “the biggest and whitest boy [she has] ever seen” (50). Tía Inés continues to tease Merci about the romantic potential of the pairing. Merci tells her aunt that the solution to her problems is to drop out of school: She already has a career plan to take over Sol Painting, her father’s painting business. However, Tía Inés tells her to simply ignore Edna and keep her options open, as she is a young girl and her plans and ideas for her own life may evolve. She also tells Lolo to stop encouraging Merci’s plans, and that all the children in the family will go to college.

Lolo then makes a business proposition to Merci. He offers to pay her for lending a hand at an upcoming Sol Painting job site. Merci negotiates to get $30 out of her grandfather for a day’s work. She plans on putting it toward her purchase of a new bike.

“His eyebrows are weird […] pale but so bushy!” Edna cries. Merci has resolved to ignore these baiting comments from Edna. Besides, Merci only has eyes for Jake Rodrigo, the star of a film franchise called the Iguanador. She writes, “Now that’s dreamy. A long braid down his back. Dark skin. Muscles. And those green eyes with reptilian pupils, not to mention his aeris zoom that lets him hover and glide through the air” (56). She even has a poster of the character in her locker.

Merci and Edna are in Ms. Tannenbaum’s social studies class. Ms. Tannenbaum, “a thin lady with unruly hair and hippie clothes” and “everybody’s favorite teacher” (56). They are studying ancient civilizations and being tasked to make “a relief map of the Tigris and Euphrates river basin” (57). They will also be graded on their teamwork skills as a part of the assignment. The assignment is to make the map in a creative way. As Ms. Tannenbaum is going over instructions, Edna pesters Merci about making contact with Michael Clark. Merci privately frets about Edna potentially ruining the best part of this class, which will come later in the year: the transformation of the classroom into a life-size tomb as a part of the Great Tomb Project.

The students are split into groups, and Merci is in a group with Edna and her coterie, composed of girls named Hannah, Jamie, and Rachel. As usual, Edna assumes dominance in the group, tasking Merci with being secretary and unilaterally deciding that their map will be made in clay. However, Merci has other ideas: Ms. Tannenbaum has encouraged them to use unconventional materials, and Merci believes that Abuela’s sewing kit, full of buttons and cloths, is a better choice. However, no one in her group co-signs her idea until Ms. Tannenbaum suggests that they wait a week to finalize their materials decision. Once Ms. Tannenbaum leaves, however, Edna insists that the decision to use clay should be made now, and Merci cannot successfully enlist the other girls to her cause: They’re too accustomed to following Edna around like sheep. However, with the help of Hannah, who boosts Merci’s idea, the group reaches a compromise, and it is decided that they will use both clay and sewing supplies.

Merci then watches the younger kids on their recess break. She wishes that she could be playing kickball, which she excels at, because her father allows her to play on his community fútbol team occasionally, and the men and the league do not go easy on her. She has a mean kick, which is why she’s always the first team pick when she plays kickball in her own PE period. After class, Michael stops Merci and tells her that Edna told him that she had something to ask him. Flustered, Merci tells him that she is his sunshine buddy—while downplaying the entire club and telling him that he doesn’t even need a sunshine buddy because everyone likes him already. Later, she meets with Miss McDaniels. Merci pointedly tells her that Michael Clark is doing fine and making male friends, hoping that this will persuade Miss McDaniels to let her off the hook. However, Miss McDaniels stays firm about Merci’s assignment.