"It's just a party," Emmett said. "Please, Mom. Camila will be there. Can I go?" 

Mom sighed and shook her head a little, a small smile on her lips. She never could say no to Emmett. "Be home by eleven." 

Emmett kissed her cheek and rushed out the door. He had been waiting for Mom to come home from work. He was already dressed up, dying to ask her for permission. He was so desperate to go that he forgot his pad on the table, a sketch half finished. As he stepped out of their rundown building, Emmett paused. He smiled at the night sky, his whole life stretching ahead of him. 

The night was full of possibilities. He was full of possibilities. 

He would go to the party at Malik's place and laugh with his friends, cracking jokes. Their voices would rise above the music. He would spot Camila from across the room, his stomach clenching in excitement and nerves as she smiled. He would take one small step at a time towards her and her girlfriends. He would lick his dry lips and ask her if she wanted to get a drink with him, desperately trying to play it cool and failing miserably. His heart would soar when she said yes, her eyes shining and her full lips curling into a smile. By the end of the night, after spending hours talking to her, Emmett would kiss Camila for the first time. 

Emmett continued to fantasize about his life ahead...  

In the coming year, he would be just an ordinary kid. He would keep on sketching. He would start dating Camila. He would go to school and hang out with his friends. He would help Mom around the house and look after his baby sister when Mom had to work late. He would listen to music. He would go to the movies.  

There would always be that itch, though: the need to create and to understand the world through art. When graduation came, Emmett would do the unthinkable. He would turn down a scholarship and the chance to go to college so he could focus on his art. Everyone would think he was crazy...including himself. Only Mom would support him.  

"I don't understand what you're doing," Mom would say. "But if that's what your heart wants, then I'm by your side. Always." 

It would take years for Emmett to understand what those words meant to him. It would take him even longer to thank Mom.