Seventeen-year-old Shade learns that friendship can be toxic after she joins the cheerleading team over her best friend's objections.

When a family tragedy occurs, ten-year-old Alyssa "Blister" Reed changes schools, moves to an apartment with her depressed mother while her father gets his own place, and tries to believe her grandmother, who tells her she is "elastic" and can handle it all.

Tam is new to the cheer squad, and from the first day of practice Maren, the squad captain, seems determined to make her look unprepared and incompetent--but with the backing of a new friend she finally finds the courage to stand up to the bullying.

Outcasts and best friends Serena Velasco and Melody Grimshaw strive together to survive senior year and break away from their rural factory town. Serena Velasco and her friend Melody Grimshaw are dying to get out of Colchis. They've been keeping a safe distance from the bleakness of home and the banality of high school. To make things more interesting Serena fixates on communism, eager to get a rise out of their conservative small town. Her Western...