Summary

Chapter 1 opens with Amanda on a bus, leaving Atlanta because she knows she needs a change in her life. As she is riding, she remembers being in a bathroom after having been beaten. A boy on the bus starts up a conversation, and Amanda tells him she is headed to Lambertville. The boy asks about Amanda's black eye, assuming her boyfriend had hit her. The boy tells her that she deserves better.

In Lambertville, Amanda sees her father for the first time in six years. Amanda asks if her mother told him about her experience in the hospital. They stop at a diner for lunch.Dad introduces Amanda to a waitress as his daughter. A local man comments on Amanda's appearance, joking that he understands why Dad has kept her out of sight.

The chapter flashes back three years earlier with Amanda in...