Mom has been begging me for weeks to learn Spanish. I guess giving up on it previously wasn't enough to convince her that I didn't want to learn Spanish.

She said that it was a part of my heritage; that I've lost enough of it already that this is the one thing that is the most important to her that I keep.

So I agreed. Then, I forgot about it for a while. During break, Mom came into my room to tell me she's so excited and that I was learning Spanish. She's planned a celebration in two months. She wants me to recite a poem in Spanish from memory for the family.

Fuck. I should have thought this through. Why did I make this commitment knowing I wasn't going to follow through? I've dug myself into a hole. Time to dig myself out.

I tried calling every Spanish tutor in the area and they all said they couldn't teach me in that amount of time. Or they were all booked for up to six months.

I didn't want to have my peers help me with this. I just started making friends and if they found out that I didn't know a lick of Spanish, I would be a laughing stock. I would be called a liar, I won't be able to live that down. I kind of told people that I was extremely fluent in Spanish.

So, I went to the community college that Luke goes to to scot for Spanish tutors.

I asked around for half an hour with no luck until I came across a girl who told me that there was this amazing Spanish tutor that managed to help her prepare for a Spanish oral exam in three weeks. She got an A.

Finally my day is looking up. She gave me directions and I followed them.

I came to a stop in front of an empty lecture hall with the door wide open. I knocked.

"Hello, I'm looking for a man named Luca that could possibly help me with Spanish." Someone cleared their throat and turned around. It was…Luke. What the hell?

"Si, mi nombre es Luca." I look at him with confusion and frustration.

"I have no idea what you just said. And how are you better at Spanish than me? I remember you failing French." He got up from his chair and leaned against the desk, arms crossed.

"I only failed because it wasn't the language that I wanted to learn. Mom forced it on me. Come to find out that I actually give things my all if it's actually something I enjoy doing. I loved learning Spanish. I even went up to Spanish 3. The only reason I didn't do AP Spanish is because I didn't want to turn into Alex. High strung and miserable. If my parents find out that I have potential they tend to suck the fun out of learning. Also, you came to me for help and you're insulting me already." He looked unimpressed by my behavior. I didn't think I wanted to learn from him. What if he's just fucking with me?

"I don't think I want the help anymore. I'll just learn it on my own." He gave me a knowing look. I tried before to learn it on my own and I failed…miserably. I thought he was going to call me out on my bullshit.

"Okay. There's the door. We'll see in a few weeks time how well you've progressed. Bye." He turned his back on me and began writing what looked like a lesson plan on the whiteboard. I gaped at him for a bit. Before leaving.

A ginger-haired college student walked through the door. He looked excited.

"Hola, Señor Luca. ¿Cómo está tu día?" Luke turned around and gave him a bright smile.

"Ha ido bien hasta ahora. ¿Y usted?" He contemplated for a bit.

"No fue tan bueno. Pero saber que hoy era mi sesión de tutoría contigo lo hizo un poco soportable." Luke waves a hand at him. As if to downplay what that guy just said.

"Eso es dulce de tu parte decirlo." It was silent before I realized it was because of my presence. The guy was confused I guess as to why I was here. Luke looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Manny, you can leave now. You said you didn't want my help. I have a student to teach. I'll see you later." I felt a pang of hurt at how dismissive he was with me. But, it was only fair because of how wrongfully I underestimated him just like everyone else.

I nodded and walked out.

I'm an idiot. I've wasted two week and I still haven't learned anything. My pronunciations are wrong. I still have trouble writing in Spanish and translating it.

"Is Luke home?" Phil tells me that he's in his room. I walk up the stairs with trepidation in my gut. I'm going to have to not only admit that I'm wrong but I'm going to have to beg him for help.

"Come in." I opened the door and walked through. I noticed that his room has changed since the last time I visited, which has been a while.

"Oh, it's you, what do you want?" He looks at me in indifference. I never thought I would see him look at me in that way.

"I apologize for insulting you. I was wrong. I haven't been able to learn anything in the last three weeks. I only have a month and a half left. I really need your help, Luke." He stares at me for several minutes. I try my best not to fidget.

"Hmm, only if you beg and do me a favor. It's going to be a big one." I sigh internally.

"Please, please teach me Spanish, Luke." He puts on a fake thinking face.

"Okay." He proceeds to tell me what the favor was. Hell, no.

"No, I can't do it, I won't. I've already worked so hard to subvert the stereotypes that were placed on me for years about me being gay. It's not going to help if I dress like a woman and pretend to be your girlfriend" He looks at me in understanding. But, I knew he was going to make me do it anyway.

"I get it, Manny. But, when are you going to stop letting what others think affect you so much? If they think you're gay so what. We have gay and bisexual people in the family. Why is the thought of being perceived that way so upsetting to you?" Fuck. He was right. Why did he have to be so wise about this? Why couldn't he give his wisdom to someone else?

"Alright, fine I'll do it. But you have to follow through with your end of the deal." He nodded in agreement.

"You have yourself a deal." We shook on it and went our separate ways.

There was a party on Saturday, one of the coolest guys at Luke's college was hosting. I had one week to prepare. That's not enough time. I know that I already have an extensive routine that I follow to look as polished as possible. But now that I'm going to pretend to be his girlfriend and a woman for the night I had to add even more steps. I'm normally organized but I can't figure this shit out.

To not make things too overwhelming for myself I start with something simple. I'm browsing websites for wigs. There are a lot of them. If I were a girl, what wig would I choose? Hmm. This one.

Next I look for my color scheme. I'll try teal and gold. Then I choose everything else from them.

I watch YouTube makeup tutorials, 30 of them in fact. I even figured out what my bra size would be.

Before you say, you're doing too much. Have you met me? I don't do shit half away.

In the end, though, I look like… my mother. God why.

This better be fucking worth it. It was very costly. Luke told me after this that I would have my first tutoring session on Monday evening. I'm still on edge though. What if he changes his mind?

He said to meet him at the diner 20 minutes away from where the party was going to take place.

"You look great. Did you know that-" I put up my hand.

"Yes, I'm aware. So, what's our story? What name did you give them?" He proceeded to tell me that my name is Michelle and he told them that I was from Canada. For some reason, Canada is an exotic foreign country in this family. That she's the best at ping pong, dancing, and is a polyglot. Ha. I'm nowhere near good at any of these things. I tried to play ping-pong once, I took out three windows, it was banned in the house for a while. The last time I danced, that wasn't musical theater-related, I broke someone's nose.

This is going to be a disaster.