Chapter 1

Michelle Black, Monday, August 16, 2010

I woke up early. It was the first day of school, and the first day I would have to see Jason Trevino since the party. He'd been hunting for me ever since my week in the Naked in School Program. He finally caught up to me at a party to celebrate the end of the school year. I tasted something funny in my drink, and woke up underneath him. I'd managed to get a DNA sample, but Trevino insisted it was consensual, and the cops believed him. After all, I had been drinking. Mom and Jeff, my stepdad, had offered to move back to Nitrate City or let me switch to the regular public school, but I turned them down. For one thing, I didn't want to give him the satisfaction, and I at least knew I had a support network at McGovern.

I picked Shane up, and he held my hand as we walked into the school, escorted by about half the soccer team. I got to my first class and sat down. I glanced over at the spot where we had stripped everyday that week we were in The Program. Nobody would be stripping there anymore; the state legislature closed the loophole that let charter schools implement NIS over the summer. Actually it was right before Trevino got me. Nobody said anything about what had happened over the summer as we walked to class. I don't know if it was because of the soccer players surrounding me, out of sensitivity, or because people just hadn't heard.