Danny and his father open an envelope together and learn Danny has been accepted to RISD with a scholarship.

Danny discovers a box of his father's papers containing documents and photos mentioning a man named Clay Ballard and a Chinese girl.

Danny's father announces at dinner that he has been fired from his job as a lab scientist.

Danny's parents announce the family will move from Cupertino to a smaller, cheaper apartment in San Jose.

Regina proposes a memorial newspaper spread for the anniversary of Sandra's death and asks Danny to draw Sandra's portrait.

Danny reconnects with his childhood friend Ethan, who reveals that Danny's family changed their last name from Tseng to Cheng.

Danny searches his father's Chinese name online and discovers his parents are wanted for assault on Clay Ballard's home.

The school newspaper publishes Regina's memorial spread for Sandra, exposing Danny's lie about attending his new high school.

Danny accuses his parents of being wanted for assault during a car argument, triggering his mother's panic attack and causing a crash.

Danny's injured mother refuses medical treatment from a paramedic at the accident scene despite suspected cracked ribs.

Danny's father confesses that he and Danny's mother lost their green cards and are now living in the country without legal documents.

Danny visits the San Francisco gallery to collect his artwork and discovers that someone named Ballard purchased the portrait of his mother.

Danny's mother confesses that Joy Ballard is Danny's living sister, left in China as a baby, orphaned, and adopted by an American family.

Danny and Harry drive to meet Joy, but Joy gently tells Danny she has no desire to reconnect with her biological family.

Danny wakes to find his parents gone, having left him money and a note telling him to attend RISD and live his future.

Danny's senior year begins perfectly when he is accepted to his dream school, RISD, but it unravels when his father loses his job and a mysterious box of papers reveals a connection to a man named Clay Ballard. As his family prepares to move from Cupertino to San Jose, Danny fights to preserve his school life by lying to his parents, while secretly digging into Ballard's identity. When Danny discovers his parents are wanted for assault and living undocumented, the full weight of their hidden past crashes down after a car accident forces his father to confess everything. Danny's mother then reveals that his sister Joy never died — she was left in China as a baby, orphaned, sold to an orphanage, and adopted by the Ballard family. Danny finds and meets Joy, but she refuses to reconnect with her biological family. His parents ultimately sacrifice their place in his life, leaving him alone so he can attend RISD and pursue the future they spent everything to give him.

The core story of Danny's family secrets and his path to RISD.

Danny's parents take him to dinner and present him with an expensive RISD sweater to celebrate his acceptance.

At a San Francisco gallery, Danny meets artist Vivian, who encourages him to submit his work to the '30 Under 30' art show.

Danny defaces Harry's birthday display at school out of jealousy and is caught in the act by Harry himself.

Danny and Harry bond at science camp when Harry sneaks away to drink alone and confides about the pressure he feels from his family.

Sandra, a former friend of Danny's, dies by suicide in March of their junior year of high school.

After Sandra's death, Harry and Danny hold each other and make a solemn promise to never die by suicide.

Danny helps his mother through a panic attack after his father announces he has lost his job.

Danny receives word that his artwork has been accepted into the '30 Under 30' gallery show for young artists.

Danny tours the new San Jose apartment with his mother and reacts with visible disappointment, making her cry.

Danny walks out of his new high school before even checking in at the main office.

When a freshman confronts Regina about the Sandra spread, Regina nearly breaks down and Danny steps in, offering to finish Sandra's portrait.

Danny forces himself to sit with his guilt and draws an honest, layered portrait of Sandra for the school paper memorial spread.

An angry, drunk Harry arrives at Danny's apartment and Danny tells him his parents are living in the country undocumented.

Danny confesses to Harry that he rigged the junior year student council election count so Harry would win over Sandra.

Regina calls Danny to share that she is seeing a psychologist, has convinced her parents to let her attend Northwestern, and has ended her relationship with Harry.

Danny's senior year is defined by the lingering grief over his former friend Sandra, who died by suicide the previous spring, and the strain that loss places on his friendships with Harry and Regina. His happiness is further shadowed by financial stress at home and a move that threatens to sever him from the school community he loves. As Regina pushes to memorialize Sandra in the school newspaper, Danny struggles to contribute his art while managing his unspoken feelings for Harry and the guilt he carries about Sandra's depression. Key moments — from bonding with Harry at a science camp to completing Sandra's portrait — reveal both Danny's deep empathy and his tendency to protect himself through avoidance. Danny's secrets eventually catch up with him: a drunk Harry forces a confrontation in which Danny reveals his parents' undocumented status and confesses that he once rigged a junior year election against Sandra. The pool ends with Regina calling to share her own hard-won breakthrough, having sought help and made peace with her future.

Friendships, Sandra's death, and the events that shaped Danny's senior year.

As a child, Danny draws with chalk on the sidewalk when a white man shouts at him to go back where he came from.

Danny's parents leave their infant daughter with her grandfather in China and travel to America to build a stable life for her.

Danny's grandfather dies suddenly in China, and a stranger takes the unattended girl away and sells her to an orphanage.

At their eighth-grade graduation, Harry tells Danny they will face the future together, making Danny feel deeply and lastingly included.

Danny rigs the junior year student council election count so Harry wins the class presidency over Sandra.

Danny finds a rejection notice in his father's mail and realizes his father has secretly restarted a controversial physics experiment.

Danny discovers that a man named Clay Ballard attended the University of Texas in Austin, linking Ballard directly to Danny's childhood home.

Danny overhears his parents discussing whether an unknown party knows his mother's identity, revealing a deep fear of being found.

Danny devises a swim team cover story to secretly continue attending his Cupertino school after his family moves to San Jose.

Danny draws Mr. X honestly for the first time, depicting him as an ordinary man rather than a cartoon villain, and feels freed.

Harry tells Danny that Regina knew Sandra had been expressing suicidal thoughts before her death but did not take it seriously.

During the drive to meet Joy, Danny takes Harry's hand and tries to confess his long-suppressed romantic feelings for him.

Joy admits to Danny that she once tracked down her biological father at his workplace, but he turned her away for her safety.

Danny tells his parents about Joy and announces he intends to skip RISD and stay home to support them through their crisis.

Joy tracks Danny on social media and attends a new art show of his, choosing on her own terms to reunite with her brother.

This pool traces the pivotal moments and hidden truths that quietly shape Danny's world, beginning with a childhood encounter with racism that plants a damaging inner voice in his head and ending with his lost sister Joy choosing to find him again on her own terms. Several events predate the novel — Danny's parents leaving their daughter in China, the grandfather's sudden death, and the girl's kidnapping — all of which created the mystery Danny slowly unravels during his senior year. Throughout that year, Danny makes reckless choices rooted in fear and longing, from rigging a school election to devising lies so he can stay near Harry, while the full truth of his parents' past continues to surface in fragments. Breakthroughs arrive through his art — drawing Mr. X honestly finally liberates him from self-doubt — and through emotional confrontations, including his near-confession of love to Harry and his discovery that his father's physics experiment was a metaphysical attempt to stay bonded with Joy. The pool closes on fragile hope, as Joy — having long nursed resentment over her biological father's rejection — quietly chooses to step back into Danny's life.

The turning points, hidden truths, and quiet revelations that define Danny's story.

Kelly Loy Gilbert

Novel

Fiction

Guide