When her father was laid off, fifteen-year-old Ava thought the worst part would be the money. She didn’t expect to watch her mother quietly miss meals because of medication costs, or see her little brother outgrow clothes nobody could replace.

Her father kept saying the right job was coming. But as the bills piled up and the kitchen shelves got barer, Ava made a decision she knew he would never understand. What happened when he found out turned their already strained home into a place none of them recognized.

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