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

She and I headed upstairs, and Malaki let me use my key to unlock the back door to the furniture store.


“So, where you headed?” she asked when we got out to the street.


“Where do you think? See you later.”


I ran to my bike and jumped on, racing to Dawn’s in excitement.


Dawn appeared in the doorway, eyes wide, as I pulled into her front yard. “How did you get that in here?”


“I told you, I’ve got a deal worked out. Want to go for a ride?”


Dawn flashed her mischievous grin and hopped on. The sun hadn’t set, and we cruised around 17 for a while. I couldn’t go as fast as I had on the outside but it was still fun. The solar sensors on the bike had stored enough sunlight by now that I could ride even in the dark; in fact, my fuel gauge said I had enough energy stored to travel for many more hours. Soon we went back to Dawn’s house, though, and I parked in the back yard. As night fell, we lay on our backs at the top of one end of her half-pipe, looking at the stars.


Chapter 29