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

“My name is Dawn Delgado and you can trust me. I’ll answer any questions you have. If you do get banned, it’s not going to be the end of the world, okay?”


“Come on, Serenity!” Zenith called, pounding on my bedroom door.


I groaned and threw on some black pants and a plain pink T-shirt. I needed to do laundry; the pink shirt was always my last resort.


“I just got off a three-hour waitressing shift after a seven-hour school day, so excuse me for taking a shower.” I still wore braids tight to my scalp, with the curly ends falling past my shoulders, but I had to get the diner grease off my skin, even if it did make me late. “I never have a free second in the day.”


Zenith crossed her arms. “You don’t need to look fancy for Student Morality Club. And why would you want a free second? What would you do if you had nothing to do?”


I grinned, remembering I couldn’t just tell my best friend everything. “I have some homework to catch up on, that’s all.”


Chapter 6