top of the stairs, unsure whether it was safe to come down.
My mother held up the tablet. “You allowed yourself to be goaded into debating Andre Rosario?” Her tone was acid. “Come down here. I’m not going to give myself a muscle spasm in my neck looking up at you.”
Life in the days since the debate had been more interesting than anyone had asked for. McMann was polling only a few points behind my mom and Rosario, which was unheard of for an independent, and he was taking every opportunity he could to give interviews or hold rallies. Analysts were talking about him like he could honestly win, and Mom had been doing everything she could to combat his offensive, including working with the Rosario campaign to schedule a third debate, one where she would be ready for McMann.
But Dre was the thing I looked forward to more than any other, and I was willing to do whatever it took to see him.
I descended the stairs until I was face-to-face with my mother.
“Why would you do something so foolish?”
“I let Astrid interview me for the school paper,” I said. “She asked me about the challenge Andre had thrown down in Teen Vogue and whether I would debate him. I didn’t see the harm in saying yes. I figured the Rosarios would never allow it to happen.” I left out the part where I planted the suggestion that I’d be willing to do an interview with Astrid in Tamal’s mind, and then let him suggest it to her like it was his idea.
“Of course they’re going to let it happen! They’re overjoyed because every time they trot their son out, it takes the press’s attention off Rosario’s ailing campaign!”
“I still don’t understand why you’re upset,” I said. “Dre has no formal debate training whereas I’m a state-ranked debater who’s been invited to numerous national debates all over the country. I’m certain I can beat him.” I watched my mother’s reaction closely, looking to see if my argument was working. “And it will be held at my school. I’ll have the home field advantage.”
My mother sipped her drink but kept her eyes firmly on me. “I don’t like this, Dean. With McMann making a mockery of this election, I don’t have time to chaperone while you play at debating with that child.”
“Why do you talk about him like that?” I asked without thinking. “Maybe he’s not a debater, but he’s quite talented in his own right. Funny too. You might even like him if you got to know him.”
“I don’t know what has gotten into you, Dean, but enough is enough.”
“Fine.” I was trying to keep the anger out of my voice, but I feared I was failing. I just physically hurt to hear the way she spoke about Dre because, in a way, it felt like she was talking about me too. “Then I’ll tell Astrid it was a mistake and we need to cancel.”
“Well, you know we can’t do that. How would it look if you withdrew? Like you were scared, that’s how it would look.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
My mother pursed her lips, then let out a sigh, resigned to this. My joy at knowing I was going to see Dre was tempered by my mother’s attitude. I’d won, but the cost had been high. “This is the last time you go behind my back, Dean.”
“You know I would never—”
“Inviting Tamal to the debate?”
“Dad told me I could invite him.”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve already spoken to him.”
Everything I’d said was strictly true, but my mother knew there was more to it than what I’d told her. “I’m sorry, Mom. I know you were hoping I would hit it off with Mindy, but she isn’t my type.”
“That’s fine, but when you’re seventeen and you’ve never had a girlfriend, and then you start palling around with someone like Andre Rosario, tongues will wag, and that is the last thing I need right now.”
“What if I don’t want a girlfriend?” I asked, my tone sharp. “What if I never want one?”
My mother got a frosty gleam in her eyes. She was not used to me arguing back, and here I’d done it twice in one conversation. I had always been the dutiful son, and this wasn’t how dutiful sons spoke to their mothers.
“Now you’re talking nonsense, and I don’t have time for your foolishness. Do your debate, and then I don’t want to hear about Andre Rosario again. Understood?”
Dre had been right. This was how