On different sidelines

At Ridgeway High, the line between East Siders and West Siders wasn't written anywhere but everyone knew where it was.

East Siders wore designer shoes, drove cars their parents bought them, and laughed too loud in the halls like the school belonged to them.

West Siders learned how to stretch twenty dollars into dinner, how to walk home together, and how to survive.

Allison Emilia Ashby belonged to the East.
From the outside, she was perfect. Long hair always neat, clothes always pressed, smile always practiced. But perfection was a costume she learned to wear early-one her parents demanded she never take off.

Her friends weren't friends. They were accessories.
And she knew it. She just didn't know how to leave.