Malú goes over to Joe’s house for band practice, having told her mom she’s going there to work on a school project. Benny and Ellie are already there. Malú has obtained 27 of the 30 signatures for Ellie’s petition; Ellie, while offering she has no musical ability, has brought her own drumsticks to practice. Malú puts on a song by The Ramones, but Ellie is skeptical of her ability to duplicate the drumbeat. Malú asks Joe’s mom for help; Joe, in turn, asks Malú to ask his mom herself. Malú heads back upstairs from the basement. Mrs. Hidalgo is making Mexican wedding cookies to sell at the coffee shop. Malú helps her finish making the cookies while taking furtive glances at Mrs. Hidalgo’s tattoos. On one arm, Mrs. Hidalgo has “a cluster of pink and orange flowers that looked like balls of tiny petals” (157). On the other arm, there’s a tattoo:

[It’s of] a girl [who] looked like Pippi Longstocking, except she had black braids sticking up on either side of her head. Instead of Pippi’s white freckled face, the tattoo girl’s face was brown and round with thick lips and a wide nose.