Dealing Sugar

Homeless, obese, and schizophrenic, sixteen-year-old Alba Gutierrez embodies the trifecta of all things sucky. Not to mention she's been a missing person since she was eleven years old. On the run from her cocaine-connected and inherently evil foster parents who want her dead, Alba and her lifelong friend José must flee Colorado with no money before the Huxleys can get them back into their wicked grasp. Enter Reese, a lonely young millionaire with the resources to keep them hidden and help them find their only chance at freedom - Alba's father. Though he's never had to sleep under a park bench, hear voices screaming in his mind, or feel Alba's constant self-loathing, Reese may be the only person she's met who can help her reclaim her past and live again. Throughout their multi-state adventure, complete with stolen cars, psychotic breaks, and the lovable but cognitively delayed fifty-year-old George, Alba's horrible life with the Huxleys comes into focus: At eight years old, she and José are thrown into the dangerous world of an American cocaine cartel. Little by little, they figure out who the Huxleys are, what they're capable of, and why they've taken them in, all while Alba battles with a disorder she doesn't know she has. Pretty soon, their only choice is to escape.