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

“They think gays should be banned too, right?” I asked. “And that you must believe in Jesus to be saved?”


“Well, then I don’t understand what the big deal is. If our town is so small, why are there two churches just because no one can decide how often to drink some grape juice and eat a cracker?”


“Now, Abi, she’s seventeen. These questions are perfectly normal,” Dad said.


“I know that, but some people will get the wrong idea.” She leaned closer to me, and I gazed back at complete attention, tablet forgotten on the grass. “You can ask us any questions you want, Ser, and soon we’ll get into further discussion about all of this. But please, keep your voice down. And don’t go talking like that to Pastor Lo or…or to anyone else, okay?”


“You’re not in trouble, Serenity. Let’s just watch the fireworks for now, okay?” Dad said.


I laid back down, heart pounding, as my parents mumbled to each other.


Chapter 30