Alex was fifteen when the eviction notice came.
It was taped to the door like it was no big deal, red letters screaming PAST DUE across the top. Maria found it first, coming home from her shift at the diner, grease stains on her apron. She stood there in the hallway, hand frozen on the knob.
Alex saw it when he got back from school, Sofia trailing behind him with her backpack.
"What's that?" Sofia asked, voice small.
Maria crumpled it in her fist. "Nothing we can't handle."
But Alex knew better. He'd seen the bills piling up on the kitchen table, the way Maria skipped paying the electric to cover rent last month. The laundromat had cut her hours. The diner too.
That night, they sat around the table eating rice and beans from the food bank. Maria tried to make it normal, telling stories about her old village in Mexico, the ones with happy endings.
But her eyes kept drifting to the notice on the counter.
"We've got thirty days," she said finally. "I'll find extra work."
Alex pushed his plate away, half eaten. "I'll help."
Maria shook her head. "School comes first, mijo."
But he did anyway.
The next morning, he skipped breakfast and went straight to the corner store, asked Mr. Gomez if he needed deliveries. Got a nod and five bucks for running groceries to three buildings. After school, he mowed the patch of grass at the community center for ten more.
He came home sweaty, hands blistered, and added it all to the can.
Sofia watched him from the doorway, her homework spread on the bed.
"You're gonna get tired," she said.
Alex shrugged. "Better than moving."
She nodded, serious like she was fifteen too. "I can help study. For your tests. So you get that scholarship."
They sat up late that night, Sofia quizzing him on math while Maria worked another shift. Alex's stomach growled, but he ignored it. He'd skipped lunch to save the dollar for the can.
By the end of the week, the can was heavier. Maria picked up extra cleaning gigs. They scraped together enough to pay the back rent, just barely.
The notice came down.
But Alex didn't stop the jobs. The can kept growing.
Sofia hugged him before bed one night. "We're a team, right?"
Alex smiled, the first real one in days. "Always."
They'd make it.
Somehow.