Sixteen-year-old Danny Lopez arrives in National City, a suburb of San Diego, California, located just north of the Mexican border. Danny has come to spend summer with his cousin’s family while his mom and sister are in San Francisco. Danny is half-Mexican; his father is Mexican, and his mother is white. His cousin, Sofia, who is only one year older but much more mature, is happy to see Danny and proudly introduces him to her “girls” who are clustered at the edge of the cul-de-sac. Immediately, they ogle Danny and behave in outwardly suggestive ways toward him. At six feet, tall and lanky, Danny is self-conscious and “cringes at how different he must seem” (3). He hardly speaks and seems awkward around the girls, despite their obvious approval of him. His discomfort is, in part, due to his privilege. He lives in Leucadia, a coastal community in northern San Diego County, where he attends a prestigious prep school and plays baseball. In the presence of his Mexican family, Danny sees himself as inferior. Although he wants to be in National City, he feels out of place there. He is troubled by how different he is, by the fact he “is too clean, too light, [and] his clothes too soft” (3).