Summary

Xiomara Batista recounts what it is like in the summer as she walks through the streets and observes the people in her neighborhood, hears the sounds of Dominican music playing, sees older men playing dominoes, and deals with street harassment from the drug dealers who hang out in her neighborhood. She always sneaks back up to her apartment before her mother arrives home from work.

One of the things Xiomara also struggles with is that her body has developed much more quickly than those of the other girls around her. Their preconceptions about her curvy shape make her the target of rumors and smears that imply she is promiscuous. She has been forced to develop a thick skin. On top of that, ever since Xiomara was a girl her mother has always been warning her...