Mental Health

The story explores the way mental health issues can silently affect young adolescents. Danny is characterized as shy by the people around him. When Sofia first introduces him to her friends, she tells them: “‘Danny ain’t no big talker, all right? He’s mad smart, gets nothin’ but A’s at the best private school in San Diego, but don’t get your chones in a bunch if you can’t never pull him into a convo’” (2). He smiles politely at the kids he is introduced to, but at the same time he is described as physically hurting himself: “Behind his back he grips his left wrist, digs his fingernails into the skin until a sharp pain floods his mind, makes him feel real” (3). None of the other kids notice what he is doing, and the sentence is crammed between the exciting action of...