reat way of not crying. Whenever a lump welled up inside my throat, I swallowed real hard and counted to ten and thought about things in this world that I hate, things like speed bumps and raisin pie and the smell of cat pee on carpet."

Syd Callens moves to Augusta, Georgia, with her dying father and her mom. In her raw state of loss and loneliness, she resents the fact that he's the one who "got taken."

Little does she know, high school misadventures await: on day one, she meets Megan and Ashley, who possess none of that southern charm but who seem to want to persecute Syd at every turn. Syd also meets Mel, a sarcastic oddball who shares a secret about an illegal wild animal she keeps in her bathtub.

Then Mel disappears. "It's like she offered me friendship then yanked it away." Syd makes it her mission to find and save Mel.