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

I spent the rest of the day in my bedroom. I told my parents I was sick and locked the door. I alternated between crying and listening to downloaded Razor Burn, debating over whether to text Dawn or call her.


My tablet beeped, and my hands trembled.


I turned up my music and dropped the tablet on my mattress.


The next day I had to crawl out of my room and act like everything was all right.


“Just a few more days until you leave for camp,” Dad said at breakfast.


“You’ve always said it’s the best part of the year,” Mom added.


I grinned, pretending I was the same happy daughter they’d always known. “I love camp. I can’t wait!”


I was headed back to 17 tonight for an HEO meeting to see if Project Jericho was really going to happen. Even if it wasn’t, I would use my next week of freedom to try to win back Dawn’s love. Maybe I’d stay in the storage rooms of the furniture store at night, since I had a key.


Chapter 37