CHAPTER 2
NOT IN HOUSTON ANYMORE

Heidi and Yasmin changed their clothes quickly. Yasmin couldn’t remember the last time she’d wanted to get out of a locker room so fast. Her heart was pounding and her thoughts raced.

She hated these feelings. Usually, she felt like she could do anything.

Yasmin followed Heidi out onto the school lawn. Parents waited in cars lined up at the curb. She was glad to see that her mom wasn’t there to pick her up yet.

Yasmin wanted a moment to talk to Heidi alone. She had two questions. The first one seemed easier to ask.

She cleared her throat again, but her voice seemed to have vanished. Finally, she was able to speak. “Why’d she say I was bragging?” she asked. “We did do awesome.”

Heidi tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. “I don’t know,” she replied. “I guess around here, people don’t really talk about it when they do a good job. There’s nothing wrong with it, but I guess we just don’t do it.”

Yasmin could hardly believe her ears. “That’s what she’s upset about?” Yasmin cried. “She’s mad that I said I did awesome? I did! So did everyone else on the team!”

Heidi nodded. “I know. Like I said, you don’t usually hear people say it out loud.” She shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I think it’s kind of cool to show you’re proud.”

Yasmin suddenly missed her old school in Houston, badly. It was hard to believe it had only been a month since her family had moved to this small town in Michigan.

Back home, her friends and teammates would rib each other all the time. They’d joke around and make fun of each other. But they were super proud of each other too. Whenever she said she’d done a great job, her teammates would joke and agree—and it never bothered anyone.

“That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard,” Yasmin mumbled. “What’s wrong with being confident? It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Heidi waited, like she knew Yasmin was about to ask something else too.

Yasmin swallowed as she built up her nerve. She had to ask now or she’d never get it out.

“And … ,” she started slowly, “what do you think Kelly meant about going back to where I came from, and that this is her country?”

Heidi shuffled her feet. “I think…” She bit her lip. Yasmin could see it was hard for Heidi to talk about too, but it was important. “I don’t think she meant going back to Houston.”

It was the answer Yasmin was afraid of. Her stomach sank.

“I can’t believe it,” Yasmin said. “She actually said something racist to me.”

“Has that ever happened to you before?” asked Heidi.

“No,” Yasmin said.

Her mom was from India and her dad was white. Yasmin’s skin was brown, but at her old school that hadn’t been a big deal at all. There were tons of kids in every shade of brown you could imagine. Her friends were Asian, Latinx, Indian, Black, Native American, everything.

Here, Yasmin had definitely noticed that she was the only brown kid on the basketball team. She was only one of a few kids of color in her whole grade. There were two Black kids, an Asian kid, and her. But until now, she didn’t know it would be a problem.

Heidi looked embarrassed. Her head hung down and her eyes focused on the ground. “I’m sorry that happened,” she said. “I can’t believe she said that. She was in the wrong.”

Yasmin sat down on the brick wall next to the school sign. She trembled in a weird way she never had before. Of course, she’d heard that some places were still like this. But she’d never been able to imagine it.

“Just because she feels like that doesn’t mean other kids will,” Heidi said.

“But everyone listens to kids like her,” Yasmin said.

Heidi didn’t say anything, probably because she knew it was true. Everyone on the team seemed to like and respect Kelly. All the teachers did too. That had been obvious to Yasmin from the very beginning: Kelly was a straight-A student, super polite to all the teachers, into sports and academics, on the student council, and all about school spirit. The exact kind of kid teachers loved.

A car honked.

“Oh, sorry … that’s my dad,” Heidi said. “I gotta go. See you tomorrow.” She paused. “I hope you’re OK.”

Then she headed off to her dad’s car, her shoulders hunched. Yasmin realized Heidi walked like that everywhere except on the court. There she held her head high.

Yasmin slumped on the wall and wondered if Heidi would talk to her tomorrow. Heidi was as blond and pale as you could get. What if she turned out to be like Kelly and decided it was too much trouble to talk to the new kid who looked different? Was Yasmin going to be completely alone at school and in basketball?

Yasmin’s mom’s car pulled up to the curb. Yasmin picked up her bag and walked in slow motion.

As soon as she slid into the seat, her mom asked, “What’s wrong?”

There was no fooling her mom. She’d just keep badgering her with questions until Yasmin gave in and answered. So Yasmin decided to be direct and just blurt it out.

“This girl just said something racist to me,” she said, slumping down into her seat.

Her mom’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as she pulled away from the curb. “I’m so sorry, honey,” she said.

Usually, her mom had warm and comforting things to say. Today, though, she pressed her lips together as she drove. “I was hoping it wouldn’t happen,” she said finally.

“But you thought it might happen?” Yasmin said. All the anger she felt at Kelly rose up in her chest. “Why didn’t you tell me? You could have warned me. Then maybe I would have felt more prepared.”

“I hoped it wouldn’t, but you never know. This area is different from Houston in many ways. I’ve experienced it a couple times already at work too.” Her mom grimaced. She was a doctor and had gotten a job at the hospital.

“No one’s said anything to me directly,” she added, “but some patients and nurses have made a bigger deal than they needed to about where I’m from. It’s not always obvious, but you know it when it’s happening. Sometimes it’s just ignorance, and sometimes it’s more than that.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Yasmin.”

“Why’d we have to move to this stupid town, then?” Yasmin said. “Especially if you knew it might be like this?”

Her mom didn’t answer, because she knew that Yasmin knew why. They’d moved because of her dad’s job. He’d gotten an amazing opportunity at a company nearby. It was too good to pass up, so they’d packed up and moved here.

“We’ll talk to Dad about this, and figure out a strategy,” her mom said. “It’s not OK for anyone to talk to you like that.” She patted Yasmin’s hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.”

Yasmin slumped even further down in her seat and glared out at the street. “Well, I wish we’d never come.”