A sto­ry about choice, and the over­whelm­ing feel­ing that hap­pens when a teen is faced with mak­ing major life choic­es alone. This nov­el is a hard-hit­ting por­tray­al of a real­i­ty faced by many teens in fam­i­lies touched by the epi­dem­ic of opi­oid addic­tion. Out­ta Here is the sto­ry of a live­ly and imag­i­na­tive small-town teen liv­ing with a mom whose pain med­ica­tion has led to addic­tion, leav­ing lit­tle mon­ey for basics — like food. Elise’s best friend and her sym­pa­thet­ic teach­ers offer what help they can, but there’s only so much they can do. Elise’s sit­u­a­tion sud­den­ly turns dan­ger­ous when her moth­er invites a fel­low addict into their lives. Elise has to find a way to get out – to get to col­lege, pay for her edu­ca­tion, and deal with her mother’s lifestyle. Lea Bed­dia has writ­ten an authen­tic, hard-hit­ting nov­el which cap­tures a real­i­ty faced by many teens whose fam­i­lies expe­ri­ence the epi­dem­ic of opi­oid addic­tion. Elise’s sto­ry high­lights life choic­es a teen can face, and the over­whelm­ing feel­ings that can come if those choic­es have to be made with lit­tle sup­port from fam­i­ly or community.