Graciela

Graciela is a young Mexican-American teenager living in California with her parents. She is an only child and has a close relationship with her mother and father who encourage her to be who she is. Graciela is headstrong and stands up for herself. After experiencing sexual assault at a party in the summer, she retreats into herself and no longer has such high self-confidence or self-esteem. She wonders frequently about the boy from the party that she left at the hospital until she sees him again at her school in the fall. She begins to like Lock, but feels the weight of her secret pressing down on her. She does not know how to tell him what happened or whether revealing the truth will benefit either of them.

Graciela struggles with the lack of diversity in her city and the socioeconomic gap between herself and most of her...