Julie Faulkner is an artistically gifted 19-year-old girl. And she's finally been accepted to her dream school, a private arts academy in a sleepy seaside town tucked behind some mountains.A few weeks before she was scheduled to move to Freetown, her home caught fire in the middle of the night and she lost everything. The principal of the academy arranged for her to move in with her right away so she wouldn't be homeless until the dorms were ready.Now it's September. The birds are chirping, the morning air is crisp, and the sleepy town isawakened by the return of students. Julie feelsout of place at Linmarsh Academy. She has noreal friends in Freetown either.And then she meets Sylvia, a rebel with a cause as she calls herself. And that's when things change for the better, well, at least at first.