If you give boys what they want, they give you what you need. Right? Anna remembers a time before boys, when she was little and everything made sense. When she and her mom were a family, just the two of them against the world. But now her mom's gone most of the time, chasing the next marriage, the next stepfather. And Anna has learned a new way to make sense of the world. A way to fill her empty afternoons, her empty house. Anna discovers that boys – from Desmond to Joey, from Todd to Sam - can make you feel less alone. Everyone at school has heard about Anna and the boys; everyone calls her a slut. Anna's only friend, Toy, is a girl like her. Toy is a master at using boys, who seems to get everything she wants from them. Anna longs to be Toy, to have Toy's romantic life, because even when Anna gives boys what they want, she still fails to get what she needs. When Anna loses Sam, a boy who is more than just useful, a boy so perfect that even Toy could be jealous, she discovers the truth about Toy's stories – and a truth about herself. That no matter what she barters or gives away, she still has to confront herself – the child inside that's spent her life yearning for family, belonging and affection. Now, with so much of what she thought true proven to be a lie, Anna finally takes a new look at herself and her life. Could there be a different way of seeing boys? And could she, for the first time, find the strength to take her destiny in her own hands?
