Façade

Some situations are just doomed to end in tears, and Starlyn Marquez has an addiction to flinging herself head-first into them. Poor but not plain, she's never short of witticisms, and she's smart enough to know exactly how to survive in her own tough world, and support a family with meagre means.

However, her home town is divided by the rich and the poor. A set of working rules in one game leads to loss in another, and the people rarely mix. Someone with silver hair and combat trousers could never enter the dissimilar life of a preppy, private-school, Latin-learning student. But they can figure out the complications, although it's not exactly in their favour with obstacles out to trip them up from other factors.

The real trouble is, Starlyn's short-sighted. Her outlook on the world blinds her to risks and consequences, so she ends up paying a greater price. But as they say, hindsight is 20/20. It's a pity it's just a little too late...