“It will be summer job perfection, Ms. Rabinovich.”
“I think this is a good compromise, Mama. I really want to do this.”
My mom looks at me. “You think you’re okay to do this?”
I think about what I thought was going to be my summer first—dorm life, late-night pizza, field trips, 3-D printers, fabrication labs, group presentations. Yes, it sounded fun, but I was doing it because it was something amazing to put on my college applications. This new possibility of a summer—blue skies, chlorine, whole days with Sammie—I have to admit that I actually feel some of the tension release from my shoulders. “Yes,” I say. “I think this could be really good for me.”
My mom sighs and then finally relents. “Okay, I guess. Fine. I’ll have to talk to your father about this, but—”
“Thank you, Mama.” I kiss her on the cheek and grab Sammie’s hand so we can leave before she changes her mind. I hear Mila crying behind us, and I feel bad, but I don’t turn back.
AP U.S. History Exam: Sample Question
Between October and December of last year, Viviana Rabinovich-Lowe engaged in romantic activities that directly opposed her parents’ rules and expectations for how she was supposed to live her life. Analyze the reasons that these activities emerged in this period, and assess the degree to which Viviana succeeded in ruining both her social and her personal life.
Before Viviana started dating Dean early last October, her father warned her not to get involved with anyone. He said that “boys would be a distraction,” that they’d take her off course from everything she’d worked for her entire life.
She didn’t listen, of course.
She fell for Dean during a particularly bad day. Their physics teacher, Mr. Foster, had them in the computer lab, where they were working on an online roller-coaster simulator. Viviana had a C-in the class, so Mr. Foster thought that it would be a good idea to quiz her in front of everyone as a way to encourage her to raise her grade. He started riding her for not being able to explain the measurements of potential energy and kinetic energy as they related to her design. She thought she knew the answer, but everything that came out of her mouth was wrong. Rather than call on someone else, Mr. Foster kept picking on her. “Come on, Viviana. Think, Viviana. You know this, Viviana.”
He wouldn’t let up, and she wanted to cry so badly. Finally, rather than break down sobbing in front of the whole class, she put her head down and closed her eyes. Mr. Foster finally sighed and said, “Viviana, if you’d only apply yourself a bit more, you’d do well in this class.”
She did everything she could not to let the other kids hear her cry. She choked it back, let the tears fall onto the desk.
Then she felt a tap on her shoulder and a note slide under her elbow.
It was from Dean, who had just transferred to their school from the suburbs a few weeks before. It was a quickly sketched cartoon with the two of them riding a roller coaster, and above his little figure, it said, “Let’s convert our potential energy into kinetic together.”
She lifted her head, wiped her tears, and smiled at him.
With that one little note and one kind smile, she was all in. She fell for him, and fast.
But her parents hated Dean from the very start. Her dad called him “a useless distraction,” while her mother reminded her constantly that she needed to focus on school.
Of course, she ignored them. She was able to hang out with Dean and even get her physics grade up to a B+. She was experiencing all kinds of firsts: first date, first kiss, first show-me-a-little-of-this, first hold-me-a-little-like-that. They tripped over the words “I love you” at first and then said them again and again. And then they explored and played and learned about each other’s bodies. Dean wanted more, of course. He’d already had sex with his ex-girlfriend, and he said he was “hungry” for her. She wasn’t ready yet, but she was completely okay with doing other stuff—playing and flirting and trying nearly everything but.
So last year, right after Thanksgiving, she took a picture of herself, a very private and personal picture that was supposed to be for his eyes only. She sent it to him via this new app called HushDuo, which was supposed to be this messaging system that was truly secure, unlike Snapchat. It was her idea. And he sent her one, too. She knew what she was doing. She liked what she was doing. He said he liked it, too. He said it was enough.
And she was in complete control.
Until she wasn’t.
When Sammie texted her a photo of Dean making out with some girl at Alex Luna’s New Year’s Eve party, she broke up with Dean that night. She forwarded Dean the photo of his lying face sucking on that girl, along with one simple message: “We’re done.”
Even though she cried for four days, her parents seemed more relieved than anything that “this phase” was over.