Hearts Unbroken

That evening, Cam sends multiple texts insisting that “he wanted to get ‘back on track’” (12). Louise consults with her mother and Shelby, then breaks up with Cam. She chooses to do so by email, thinking he might tell her in person that she is “a nobody” without his popularity. On Monday, Louise removes her name from signups for cheer tryouts, realizing that cheerleading would mean many social encounters with Cam. Cam tells friends that their relationship ended because Louise was “out of line” (14). Shelby puts a printout of Cam’s profile picture on the dartboard at the pub where she waitresses and encourages Louise to throw darts at it.

After the school year ends, Louise’s family travels to the Mvskoke Fest, a heritage festival in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Though Louise never lived there, she feels the tribal community in Oklahoma is like home. Her younger brother Hughie asks if Louise wishes they’d moved there instead of Kansas when they left Texas. Louise says she sometimes does. Hughie tells Louise that bullies bothered him in Texas. Louise is surprised and guilt-stricken; she did not know that Hughie endured bullying.

The family trip includes visiting and helping relatives in the community and in the area. Near Tulsa, Louise and her “social butterfly” step-cousin Gracie go out for slushies. Louise meets Thomas Dale Brown, a Choctaw who introduces himself as a filmmaker. Gracie tells Louise that he “only dates white girls. Blondes and red-heads, for the most part” (18). Louise reflects that while visiting tribal communities, her personality changes subtly; she feels more at ease and more herself. The title translation is “Where Do You Live?” as defined in the book’s glossary.

Back home in Kansas, Louise is driving her mother’s car when it runs out of gas. The son of the preacher at Immanuel Baptist, a church Louise’s family tried earlier in the summer, stops to give her a ride. Peter Ney does not know that Louise and Cam broke up until the service station clerk comments on it. Though Louise thought Peter might be potential boyfriend material because he displayed an interest in her, she quickly tires of his attention to Cam’s athletic prowess. Peter is surprised that Louise and Cam broke up: “I was looking forward to bragging that I’d rescued the future homecoming queen” (22).

Louise takes Peter to lunch at the Grub Pub, where Shelby works. Louise wants to know how Peter feels about Indigenous Americans, so she tells him why she and Cam broke up. Peter says his church would be a good place for the wedding of Cam’s brother and his fiancé because his father enjoys performing both weddings. Louise likes this response but Peter ruins it with a comment about his church hosting AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). Louise believes that Peter wrongfully assumes the fiancé has an alcohol problem. Shelby tells Louise after Peter leaves that Louise might be overthinking his comment, or that he might have been alluding to Cam’s mother’s rumored drinking problem. 

Louise takes Hughie shopping for school clothes and shoes. She wants to ensure that he starts ninth grade in her large high school dressed appropriately: “Ensuring Hughie’s clothes weren’t bully bait was one way for me to look out for him” (28). Though Louise’s mom, a former English teacher now pursuing degrees in Indigenous Studies and law, took Hughie for school clothes, the two of them ended up going to the movies. Louise reminds Hughie to get involved in the school. Hughie plans to audition for the school’s fall musical, The Wizard of Oz. Hughie is usually “shy” and “left-brained” (29), so auditioning for a musical is a departure for him.

On the first day of school, Louise and Hughie arrive on the bus. Walking in, Cam hails Louise. Louise decided she would say hello on the first day and welcomes the chance to do it early. Cam, however, embraces her and kisses her intimately as if they never broke up. Louise pushes away: “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” (32). Cam responds rudely. Louise sits with Shelby at lunch.

Louise meets Joey in Journalism. He introduces himself as “Joseph A. Kairouz,” and he is half Lebanese. She finds his physical appearance attractive as well as his confidence. Their enthusiastic teacher, Ms. Wilson, describes how the small staff will work as a team. Joey asks if he can contribute videography and photos because he did that at his old school. Louise signs up for Features, but so does Joey. After class, Joey tells Louise he moved recently from another town in Kansas because his parents divorced, and his mother took a new job locally. Louise shares that her father, a dentist, was in the army before retiring from the service and moving the family to Kansas. Joey starts to ask Louise out, but she interrupts and tells him she will see him the next day, wanting to move cautiously after the recent disappointments with Cam, Peter Ney, and Tommy Dale Brown.

Over breakfast, Louise’s mom mentions that a parent group wants other parents to send formal complaints to the assistant vice-principal about the casting of the musical. The parent group says the theater teacher will embrace “color-blind casting.” Louise’s mother specifies that a “color-blind” approach can lead to whitewashing—"white actors in blackface, yellowface, redface” (41), but “color-conscious” means casting anyone regardless of color for roles where color does not matter. Louise asks what parent sent the letter. Mama tells her it was the wife of the pastor at Immanuel Baptist—Peter’s mother.

Since both Louise and Joey want Features, they interview in class with the editor in chief, Karishma, and the managing editor, Daniel. Karishma notes that Joey did his research into the paper’s archives when he claims that the paper is “boring;” he references an article about banned books that had no follow-up. Ms. Wilson fills in Louise and Joey: a parent group threatened to fire the librarian for “objectionable books” but settled for some books to require parent permission. Other books just disappeared. Louise discovers that the same parents are now members of PART. Louise and Joey will share the Features section.

Louise pitches the idea of a feature on bullying for the back-to-school issue, due in just two days. Karishma warns her that the topic is too complex, but Louise persuades her to approve it. Louise writes an article based on her conversation with Wyatt Hanley, a bullied senior. She tries to get in a meeting with guidance but runs out of time. Karishma kills the story for lack of sources, one-sidedness, and lack of expert opinion. Louise is not discouraged, despite Joey’s “smirking.”