Ocean, a white junior and star of the basketball team, convinces Shirin that they cannot deny their feelings, and that if they make their relationship public, hateful or racist comments will not bother him. Physical attraction and emotional chemistry bloom, but Shirin ignores it, eager to eliminate the risk of hurt feelings.
She does, however, meet Ocean in biology class. She makes no friends except the three boys who, along with Navid, make up the breakdancing crew.
Shirin enjoys this challenging activity and devotes hours of practice to training. Shirin's brother Navid, an easygoing senior, invites Shirin to join his new breakdancing group. Shirin is eager for college, where she hopes others will be wiser and more tolerant. This exhausts Shirin, however, and causes others to see her as indifferent and rude. She decides that it is safer to protect herself behind strong emotional barriers she can more easily ward off ignorant or hateful comments and others’ cruelty with a thick shell and sharp tongue. After many new schools due to her parents’ constant search for better opportunities, she knows the pain of saying goodbye to friends. Intolerance and hateful remarks now land on Shirin all the time. She recalls clearly when, shortly after the terrorist attacks, two classmates pushed her to ground and tore off her headscarf. It is September of 2002-one year after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when terrorists associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda killed thousands of Americans. Others, though, see her appearance and hijab (the traditional headscarf she chooses to wear) and make assumptions: that she is an immigrant, that she does not speak English, that her parents force her to wear the hijab. Shirin, who is Muslim, was born in America to Persian immigrants from Iran.
She is 16, a sophomore, and accustomed to stares and racist comments from others. The novel begins on Shirin’s first day at yet another new school.
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