Do the crime, do the time behind bars. But once you've been in, it can be tough to stay out.Alejandro has served six months for trumped-up charges after a brutal encounter with police. Now that he's out, he's determined to break ties with his gang and forge a new path. But it won't be simple. When Alejandro sees a video of a local girl suffering a similar police assault, he knows he has to meet her. The connection between Alejandro and Chrissie is electric. They just want to move forward—together. But Alejandro's family doesn't approve of Chrissie. Chrissie's family pushes her to go after the police; however, she'd rather just back off the issue. As police violence continues, Chrissie and Alejandro are compelled to help bring justice. But are they willing to hatch a plan that puts them back in harm's way?

Sometimes things change, and sometimes they don't...Johanna always feels like she has to be perfect—the perfect student and the perfect obedient daughter, which leads her to being the perfect outcast among her high school peers. They say opposites attract, and that could be the only explanation for her attraction to Paul. Always the life of the party, Paul won his seat on the student council by running on an apathy platform. Wherever Paul goes, laughter follows, and Johanna longs to be a part of his inner circle. And whenever Johanna wants something, she plans and works hard to achieve her goal. Getting Paul into her life turns out to be the easy part. Keeping Paul happy while juggling all her other responsibilities is tough even for an overachiever like Johanna. Soon Paul's happiness becomes more important to Johanna than her own. More important than her relationship with her parents and friends. More important than her grades, her safety, and her future.

Rachel's junior year is going to be perfect—she's taking AP classes, is first-chair viola, and is busy planning her college visits. Then Misty, Rachel's wild and unpredictable cousin, lands on her parents' doorstep and turns Rachel's orderly world upside-down. Rachel's family hopes enrolling Misty in Rondo Alternative High School will help with her behavior issues, but her rough past and reckless choices make her a force to be reckoned with. As Rachel gets pulled deeper into Misty's dark secrets, she'll have to figure out if can she transform the uncontrollable Misty—or will it be Misty who transforms her?

Do the crime, do the time behind bars. But once you've been in, it can be tough to stay out. Tension between African Americans and Somalis at Rodney's high school erupts into a food fight that turns into a riot. In the midst of the violence, Rodney helps a Somali classmate to safety. Soon Rodney and Jawahir fall for each other. Against the pleas of their families and friends, they can't help but follow their hearts. As groups on both sides of the fight harbor lingering resentment, Rodney and Jawahir are caught in the middle. Rodney is determined to avoid trouble, having served a previous stint at the County Home School. But in a world where hate seems to rule, can Rodney and Jawahir keep their flame of love alive? Or will their relationship ignite a fire that destroys all in its path?

Danielle is drawn to Reid, the quintessential "bad boy." Even though she should learn from her mother's poor taste in men, she can't seem to shake her strong feelings for him. As she gets caught up in Reid's lifestyle, Danielle turns a blind eye to his lies, and is soon in way over her head. But her BFF Ashley is determined not to let Danielle become the road kill on Reid's joy ride through life. Once she forces Dani to see through Reid's deception, they take off on a revenge-injected road trip that starts with a stolen car and ends with some harsh truths. Patrick Jones takes readers for a ride in this dynamic story about good friends, bad boys, and fast cars.

Do the crime, do the time behind bars. But once you've been in, it can be tough to stay out.Ian's band is finally taking off. But the band's front man and Ian's best friend, Orlando, can't catch a break as a black kid in their white town. Tension with a security guard lands both Ian and Orlando in jail, and when Orlando is held indefinitely, someone will need to take over the band until he gets out. When Orlando chooses Chase, the band's bassist, to step in, Ian is slighted. As Ian's resentment builds, he plots his revenge. One by one, he turns his bandmates against one another, with tragic results. As Ian holds his friends close and his enemies closer, no one can tell which is which—until it's too late.

Harmon Holt always gets what he wants—and since he's a billionaire, what he's got includes music, movie, and TV studios, news networks, and a football team. Yeah, he's got everything, but he hasn't forgotten where he came from. Every year he picks one student from his old high school—no interview, no application—to be a paid intern at one of his companies. The money's good and the perks are great, but the opportunity is once in a lifetime.Latrell Baker's scientific approach to football—watching football—has finally paid off. Harmon Holt heard about the algorithm he developed for determining best defensive play, and now Latrell's landed himself an internship with the NFL's LA Stars. But he'll soon discover that working in pro football involves more politics and secrets than science.

The nail that sticks out farthest gets hammered the hardest.Flint Southwestern High School is run by a cult: the jockarchy. And Bret Hendricks could never fit into their conformity cult. Bret doesn't mind standing out from the crowd when he's on stage acting or singing in his band. And he feels at home in his funky girlfriend's arms because sticking out together doesn't seem as hard. But loyalties aren't what Bret thinks they are, as his safe havens seem to disappear one by one, and he learns that sometimes you just have to risk getting hammered in order to build a great future. For any teen who feels that standing out is harder than just conforming. Patrick Jones's second novel nails the real truth about the high price of hiding one's true self.

Cody's basketball team, The Rebels, has an almost perfect record, thanks to the skills of his best friend Jayson "Dominator" Davis. Jayson is new to the team and to the nearly all-white high school. Tension between the coach and Jayson has simmered since he transferred from the inner city. When Coach kicks Jayson off the team, more than the school's record is at stake. A school-wide dispute falls along racial lines, and Cody finds himself at the center. Can Cody step up his game where it really counts?

In Troy, Ohio, there's Trojan football and then there's everything else. It's been that way as long as anyone can remember. But it's been more than a decade since Troy took home the state title. This season, they finally have a chance to end the drought.Brian Norwood is the son of a Trojan football legend. His father starred on the last championship team—an undefeated team. And it seems like every sacred Trojan tradition began with his dad. Now Brian is the starting tight end—a member of the team's inner circle. He's finally living up to his father's expectations. But being one of Troy's privileged few is not at all what Brian expected.