“That’s cheating,” I try to sound serious, but the laughter surrounds my words.

“How is that cheating, Vero?” my brother, Javier, asks. “It’s called a poker face. Ever hear of it?”

“Yeah, except we’re playing Go Fish, Javi.” Tossing my cards down, I watch as they slide across the table.

Ever since I was in middle school, all of my brothers—Javier, Tomás, and Miguel—along with Cindy, have had a standing traditional card game after we have a family dinner on Friday nights. Cindy laughs, while Tomás, my oldest sibling, stands up and starts organizing the cards. Javier reaches over the table, clawing at his winnings; an obnoxious amount of gummy bear packages.

“You can’t lie and say you don’t have a two in Go Fish. If you have it, you have to hand it over.”

He smirks, lifting his shoulders, and opens up one of the candy bags. “Whatever.”

“Come on, Cin.” I push away from the table.

My parents have already retreated to the living room, my dad reading while my mom watches one of her telenovelas. Miguel steals one of Javier’s bags of candy.

“So, how’d your finals go?” Tomás asks Cindy.

“Aced ’em,” she says proudly.

“Of course you did,” I tease her. “I still can’t believe you decided to not go to some fancy college and leave me behind to suffer in community college hell.”

“Watch it,” Tomás warns me.

Being the oldest, ten years older than me, he’s always played the authority figure. It gets annoying because I’ve heard him use more than his share of f-bombs, but he likes to act as our second dad, to me especially. I’m pretty sure my father enjoys that because that way there’s another set of eyes on the baby, even though Javier is only two years older than me. Miguel is in the middle, at five years my elder.

‘Whatever,’ I mouth to him, making my thumbs and fingers into a W.

“I could never leave you, V,” she says, wrapping me in a hug. Her arms still around me, she looks over at Miguel. “Besides, you know I’m waiting on Mike to ask me out.”

“Very funny,” he brushes her off, eating another gummy bear.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” She turns around and follows me as I head back to my room. “I ran into Taylor after class. He invited us to a party he’s throwing tomorrow night.”

“What party?” Tomás asks more commanding than necessary.

“Whoa, down boy.” I pat his shoulder.

“Who’s going to be there? You guys aren’t twenty-one, will people be drinking? Vero, you’re not drinking.”

I stand there, flabbergasted. Miguel and Javier are snickering while Cindy tries to stifle a laugh. “Oh my God, Toto. I have no idea who will be there, what will be going on, or if I’m even going. You were standing right next to me, two seconds ago, when Cindy brought it up. It’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

“I’m just saying—”

“I know what you’re saying.” I fold my arms, staring down my older brother. “Come on, Cin, let’s go to my room,” I say without breaking my line of sight with him. “That way we can have some privacy, talk about drugs and alcohol, and figure out when we want to get knocked up while being drunk at some college party.”

“Vero,” Tomás admonishes, but I turn around and walk away.

“Go home, Toto. I think I hear Yesenia ringing for you.”

The last comment makes everyone burst into hysterics, leaving Tomás grumbling as I close my door.

Yesenia is Tomás’ wife, and they live in the guest house in our backyard. She’s super nice, and we get along great, but the ringing comment is an ongoing joke. She broke her leg last year and Tomás, being the thoughtful and loving husband he is, decided to get her a bell. Whenever she needed something, all she had to do was ring the bell, and he’d turn up. I thought it was adorable, but Miguel was the first to bring up the fact that she was beckoning him like a dog.

That, combined with the fact that I call him Toto—I started calling him that when I was three and it stuck—sent all of us into a fit of laughter when Miguel said, “Look at that. Yesenia is Dorothy, and she has her very own bell for Toto.”

It wasn’t hilarious, but at the exact moment he said it the bell rang. Tomás flashed us all a menacing scowl, before turning around and sulking back to the guest house and his wife. “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” Javier yelled out. That sent us overboard.

“So, what’s this about a party?” I ask, laying down on my bed and pulling out my phone.

“I guess Taylor said it’s just a party to kick-off summer, or whatever. It’s the perfect chance to finally get you with Micah. They’re roommates.”

“Cindy, would you stop with that already.”

“What? It’s my job, V.”

“Nothing is your job.”

“You’re right. It was our job. But seeing as how Izzy decided to take UC Santa Barbara up on that scholarship, we don’t see her as much anymore.”

Izzy is our other best friend from high school. She was initially going to enroll at Irvine Community with us, but she had a great scholarship offer from UCSB. It’s only a couple hours away, but far enough that she stays close to campus, and when she is home, she’s usually with her boyfriend.

“Oh God, not this again.”

“Yes. This again. Project V.”

I let out a long, exasperated sigh at the stupid nickname. After we graduated high school last summer, they said they were making it their responsibility to find me a good guy. Not for a long-term relationship mind you, but someone they thought would be the perfect guy to lose my virginity to. And they gave themselves a deadline, too.

“V, we just finished out the second semester. July fourth is right around the corner. You know as well as I do that that’s the deadline.”

“I can’t believe you’re taking this that seriously. It was a stupid joke.”

“Izzy may have said it as a joke, but I’m serious. Look, I know why you’re nervous,” she says, and I can feel her eyes on me. She knows what happened with Tim, I just told everyone else I broke up with him. They both assured me he’s a lying dirtbag, but they know how much his words stung. “But that’s why I’m taking this so seriously. It’d be fine if it were something big, like waiting until you were married. That’s fine. But you and I both know that’s not why you haven’t tried to do anything this entire year of college.”

I bite my lip, breaking eye contact with her. I love and hate that she knows me so well.

“We’re going to this party, and I’m not saying you have to hookup with someone there. Hell, I really don’t care about that deadline either. This isn’t a bet thing. This is a Veronica thing. I want you to feel good with yourself. Comfortable with who you are because you’re so great. And once you finally realize that, whether it’s because you punched your v-card or not, that confidence is only going to magnify what I already know. That Veronica Rodriguez is amazing.”