Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Shanda Sharer, 12, was excited to be going to a different school. She was terrified of not fitting in, as she'd heard there were hoods, pretty girls, and all-that guys at Hazelwood.

#2 Shanda was enrolled in Hazelwood Junior High, which had twice as many students in just the seventh and eighth grades than St. Paul had in the entire school. She was excited about her new home, but her mother, Jacque, had reservations about the school.

#3 New Albany, Indiana, was a town that seemed to be immune to the violence that plagued bigger cities. It was a slice of small-town America, where people took life as it came and raised their children without fear.

#4 When Shanda came home from her first day of school, she was brimming with good news. She loved Hazelwood. Her teachers were nice, and she had already met some friendly boys and girls. But it was just two days later that Jacque received a call from the school's assistant principal. Shanda had been in a fight with another girl.