During the Second Civil War, a new U.S. political party called the Family Protection Movement established The Divide, which separates Normal people from those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Seventeen-year old Serenity Blackwater lives in the normal Midwestern town of Mapleville, but she is not normal. She hacks into an illegal gay chat room and meets Dawn, a lesbian who lives in a gay community less than a mile away. Serenity discovers normal people can bribe their way inside the walls and decides to go, both to meet Dawn and check out what may be her future home. Dawn is even more beautiful than Serenity hoped, and the two soon become a couple. But Serenity only has a few months before she must take the Normal Verification Test, and then she’ll be separated from her family forever. So she joins the Human Equality Organization, an underground group working to end The Divide. Dawn thinks the rebellion is too dangerous, and since Dawn’s ex-girlfriend Malaki is also a member, Serenity doesn’t tell Dawn about her involvement. Serenity reveals to the HEO that her parents are leading a campaign to organize attacks on all Gay Communities. With her help, the HEO creates Project Jericho, in which all Gay Communities walls will implode at once. But after too many delays, and when Dawn discovers Serenity has been spending more time with Malaki than her, Serenity knows she has to start the revolution herself. She heads to D.C. to contact a group of senators secretly against The Divide ... or straight into a trap set by the Family Protection Movement.

Uprising

But this Dawn360 person…I wondered what she looked like.


“Serenity!” A tall redhead with caramel skin dodged through the crowds.


Zenith started talking about something, but the person online filled my mind…I couldn’t believe someone who’d been born in a gay community didn’t seem demonic at all. It was so weird.


“Did you hear me? Did you study for sociology?”


I nodded and walked into my first class, US History, as the bell rang.


“Today we’re going to talk about separation of church and state,” Mr. Eluto said as he paced the front of the room. He was already sweating; he was famous for it. Behind his desk, the usual enormous, blank computer screen was mounted on the wall.


I pulled my tablet out of my backpack, tempted to break into chat rooms instead of taking notes, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Instead, I forced all thoughts of the night before away, watching Mr. Eluto’s bald head gleam under the lights.


Chapter 3