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

“Why do you have a Gay Chat in your history?” Mom asked, waving my tablet in the air.


I put a fist to my forehead. “It’s nothing. How did you get in there?”


“You left it on. All your mom did was cancel sleep mode.” Dad turned to Mom. “Let’s not get too excited, though, Abi. We live so close to Gay Community 17 that it’s normal for her to have questions.”


Mom pointed at me. “I forbid you from entering that chat room again.


“I forbid you from looking at my stuff again.” Rage welled up in my chest. “That’s my personal property and I’m allowed to have it according to the government!”


“Just promise us you won’t worry about all this queer stuff anymore,” Dad said.


Sweat broke out on my face, and my heart pounded. “What would you do if I turned out to be like them?”


Mom frowned, but Dad chuckled. “Stop playing games. You’d be banished just like anyone else. Normal people don’t turn gay, sweetie. It’s only the God-haters. People from broken homes, or those who hate freedom.”


Chapter 8