Summary

In the past, Maya attended Berkley High School, the well-respected, multicultural school from which her Popo graduated. After Popo’s death, Maya started cutting class, hanging out with her best friends Sarah and Debbie, calling themselves the “vampires.” Sarah, a bulimic, made up a psychopathic stepfather, while Debbie came from a genuinely abusive home where she was sexually assaulted. The girls dressed like goths, shoplifted, and experimented with drugs, ranging from marijuana to ecstasy to cocaine. Maya stopped playing soccer after her coach groped her. Determined to lose her virginity, she chose a wannabe thug named Rick Laredo to deflower her, only to have him follow her around like a lovesick puppy. With Rick’s help, she, Debbie, and Sarah extorted money from pedophiles by answering their online ads and then accusing them of attempted rape.

Nidia finally emerged from her grief and...