I flinched a little when Papa towered over me with a raised voice and his hooked hand pointing off into the distance while telling me to go home and wait for him. He said he was going to send me off to some boarding school in I drowned in my tears, I ran off with my arms welding Manolo's destroyed guitar into my chest.

When I opened the front door, I saw Mama across the hall, reading a book in her chair.

She saw my leaking eyes, and the broken instrument.

"Maria? What happened? Did those boys hurt you while you were playing?"

"No, Mama."

She put her book down on its face and walked towards me; I sniffled even harder when she knelt down in front of me and put one hand on my shoulder with the other on my cheek.

"Papa said he's going to send me away!"

"What do you mean, send you away?"

"I got in trouble again."

"Ay, Maria, what did you do this time?"

"I was playing soldiers with Joaquin and Manolo; and then when I ran by this corral, I saw the cutest baby pig. And then I realized he and all the other animals in there were going to be turned into bacon. So I set them free, and it caused a ton of chaos in the town square."

"Maria, I know you love animals, but that wasn't the right thing to do."

"Now, Papa doesn't love me anymore and said he's sending me to a school in Spain."

She looked worried. I didn't want my baby being around a bunch of total strangers.

"Honey, go on up to your room."

As I lay curled up on my bed with my plush puppy, I stared at the wall across from me. I can't believe I won't see San Angel until I graduated from school.

I decided to play with a couple of my toys while I waited. Then, the front door slammed with the force only my papa could handle.

Worrying that I wasn't supposed be playing, I threw my toys under the bed, and put my ear to the door.

"Rachel! Our Maria has gone too far!"

"I know; she told me what happened when she got here."

"She needs to be respectful."

"She's only seven!"

"I don't care! She needs to start learning how to be lady while she's young. Just think about it; if we don't do something, by the time she's eighteen, she'll be running with the animals like she was raised by them!"

I knew then that there was no choice, no chance in bribing him, or convincing. Almost instantly, I heard one of them coming up the stairs. Once I heard the grumbling, I knew it was Papa.

I ran and crawled under the bed. I got so mad when I heard him knock.

"Go away!"

"Maria, open that door! Or I'll-"

"You'll what?! Send me away? That's already on your agenda!"

Quietly, he opened the door and walked in. He knew my favorite spot to hide was under the bed.

"Mi hija, please come out from under there; my back hurts."

My instinct kicked in, and I obeyed in crawling back out, and massaged his back when he sat down on my bed.

"I'll certainly miss this while your away."

"So don't get rid of me."

"I'm not getting rid of you. I'm sending you to a school where you'll learn how to be respectful."

I stopped rubbing his back and crashed my face into my pillow.

"I love you."

I turned towards him again and my tears were raining again.

"I love you too, Papa."

He kissed me on the forehead.

Our tender moment broke when my heart did.

"Well, your train leaves for Spain tonight. Mama will come up here in a few minutes with a snack and help you with your luggage."

As he left, I sat on the edge of my bed and stared sadly at the ground.

Then, I looked out my window.

"Goodbye Joaquin. Goodbye San Angel...and goodbye Manolo.

PART 1 END