KATHY WAS FOURTEEN years old when her family moved from New York to Ohio. She was a pretty girl with dark brown hair and matching eyes. Yet she was already troubled by family problems. Her father was cold and distant, and she didn't like the way he treated her mother. Kathy hated her new school. She was highly intelligent, a top student who cared about her schoolwork. The kids here were different from the kids she had grown up with. They were rougher and less studious. She made some friends but still wasn't happy. She was even repelled by the way the girls "pigged out" at lunch time, "pushing mashed potatoes down their throats," she said to her mother. "Don't they care about how they look or what they're doing to themselves""

It was then that Kathy decided...