Eugene and Elena are different because she is a Puerto Rican girl who lives in a large apartment complex and he is a white boy from Georgie who has just moved into the house next door. she has a dark complexion, while he has blonde hair and glasses. There doesn't seem to be any reason why these two would become friends, except that they are both minorities in a mostly African American public school in New Jersey. At school, both Elena and Eugene receive nicknames from the other students: "Skinny bones" and "Hick." They also find out that they both like to read, so they start reading certain books together and talking about them.