Chapter 33

In this chapter Torey is getting ready to throw a small party in her classroom to celebrate her birthday and Lori's "reading" success, as well as to mark the end of the year. The day before, Tomaso announces to everyone that he is moving back to Texas to live with his Uncle Iago, and seems incredibly excited. He then becomes more excited when he realizes that the party the next day can also be a going-away party for him!

When the party comes along, everything seems to be going well. Part-way through the party Torey notices that Tomaso is no where to be seen. When she asks Lori if she knows where he is, Lori tells her that he is in the closet crying because he already misses them. Torey goes to talk to Tomaso, and he is very upset because he does not even know his uncle and he wants to stay with his foster parents and with the class. He tells her that he is tired of moving. He then says, "I don't see why I should have ever bothered to do anything. I don't see why I ever bothered to be good, if they're going to make me go away. It doesn't matter now, everything I did." (pg. 319). Then he tells Torey that he is never going to like anybody again, because he knows that he will just have to miss them when they are gone. Torey tells him that that is all a part of caring about somebody. After a while, Tomaso does come out and join the rest of the party.

At the end of the day Torey waits with Tomaso for his bus. He starts telling her that his father (again, deceased) has come back from Spain and that he has come to pick up Tomaso so they can live together. He continues to repeat this. When Torey looks at Tomaso and makes eye contact, Tomaso finally says, "No, I'm not. I know that. I'm going to live with Uncle Iago. I'll never live with my father." (pg. 321). He then holds on to Torey until his bus comes.

This was a very touching moment to read because Torey has worked so hard to create and maintain a relationship with Tomaso, there have been many signs along the way telling of Tomaso's feelings about Torey and the class, and this was like the last piece of the puzzle. It is devastating to think about the students who don't put any trust/time into caring about people because they know they are just going to leave. They have the mindset that there's no point in 'being good' if they just have to ripped away from people all the time. With that in mind, what is there really to give them the incentive to care? I know that the foster system tries to keep students within the same districts or at least not moving them so far apart from previous places, but it still breaks my heart that there are children who have absolutely no stability in their lives, and really don't have much of a say in where they want to be.