Offering a courageous, honest, and compassionate look at what really goes on inside a tough high school, this novel for young adults is told alternately from the points of view of the most troublesome student in school and the assistant principal. The story explores dangerous boundaries and reveals uncomfortable truths about parents, students, and teachers. Jamie Joel has a bad temper and a mouth full of nasty words, but she is also intelligent and perceptive. She is faced with the decision of whether she should live with her hostile aunt or on the streets. The sympathetic assistant principal of Jamie's school finds himself in the middle, and the two are thrown together in ways that test them both.