Gabby Herrera is not like her perfect sister, Celia--straight-A student, obedient, responsible. Her parents don't get it. They don't get er C-average report card. Her love for basketball. "The three of them think anything is possible if you just try hard enough. Well, I've tried. It's not possible." She can't be who she is unless she is just like them. And if she's not like them, she's not a real person. She's a broken person. A broken Herrera. And that is unacceptable.
Sixteen-year-old Neema Powell was always the best-looking girl in school. Her girlfriends said that she looked like Beyonce, with beautiful caramel skin and a body others would kill for. But right now she was a wreck. Her mother's sleazy boyfriend was towering over her screaming, "Get out!" And her own mother wouldn't even look at her as she walked out of the apartment into the dead January day. Neema knew that Nate, her boyfriend, would take care of her. I'll give Mom a couple of days to calm down, Neema thought, and I'll swing by to pick up a few items. Like my pills. A couple of days couldn't hurt. But those two days made all the difference, and Neema must draw from somewhere deep for the inner strength she will need.
