Belén Dolores Itzel del Toro wants the normal stuff: to experience love or maybe have a boyfriend or at least just lose her virginity. But nothing is normal in East Oakland. Her father left her family. Shes at risk of not graduating. And Leti, her super-Catholic, nerdy-ass best friend, is pregnantby the boyfriend she hasnt told her parents about, because hes Black, and her parents are racist.
Things are hella complicated.
Weighed by a depression she cant seem to shake, Belén helps Leti, hangs out with an older guy, and cuts a lot of class. She soon realizes, though, that distractions are only temporary. Leti is becoming a mother. Classmates are getting ready for college. But what about Belén? What future is there for girls like her?
From debut author Carolina Ixta comes a fierce, intimate examination of friendship, chosen family, and the generational cycles we must break to become our truest selves.
