Alma frightens Garrett away, returns Maribel to the apartment, and does not speak a word of the incident to Arturo. One afternoon, Alma spots Garrett harassing Maribel outside the apartment-her shirt is lifted up over her bra and Garrett has her up against a wall. Rafael is skeptical of Mayor’s fascination with Maribel, and Alma Rivera, too, makes sure that the two are only allowed to spend time together while supervised, either at the Riveras’ apartment or the Toros’. Mayor’s father, Rafael, is a hot-tempered man with big dreams for his son-he wants Mayor to be a soccer star, though, unbeknownst to him, Mayor has quit soccer and is only lying about having attended practices and games. After “rescuing” Maribel from Garrett’s insults, Mayor begins to feel a “protectiveness” over her and the two spend more and more time together, growing closer and closer.
A bully from Mayor’s school, Garrett Miller, teases Mayor over his crush on the “retarded girl” and, eventually, he follows Mayor and Maribel to their apartment complex, where he taunts and bullies the two of them further. Mayor develops an interest in the beautiful Maribel and gladly accepts the challenge of attempting to communicate with and learn more about her. Mayor Toro, Celia’s son, is a stringy, geeky high-schooler who can’t seem to live up to his father’s dreams-or his soccer-star older brother Enrique, who has gone off to college in Maryland on an athletic scholarship. After connecting with a neighbor, Celia Toro, Alma learns the ropes of life in Newark-she begins taking English classes at a local community center and becomes excited about all life in America could offer. Alma, who is mostly housebound, struggles to navigate her new neighborhood as she deals with intense homesickness. Arturo takes a job at a mushroom farm, where he works on his feet for hours in the dark without breaks for food or water. Alma and Arturo settle into the Redwood Apartments and their new lives begin to take shape. Her parents are hopeful that by sending her to Evers, a school for learning-disabled or cognitively-impaired children, Mirabel will have an easier time learning and will soon begin to resemble her old self.
Maribel has been involved in a mysterious accident and has suffered a traumatic brain injury which has left her with a flat emotional affect and number of impairments, such as short-term memory loss and difficulty remembering certain words. border and up to Newark, Delaware to start a new life. Arturo and Alma Rivera bring their teenage daughter, Maribel, across the Mexico-U.S.
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