From the Desk of Zoe Washington

“The envelope slipped from my fingers, landing on the floor.”

This moment marks the inciting incident of the plot. Zoe returns home after a fun, creative birthday party that fulfills her enthusiastic interest in baking. The wonderful mood of the day fades, however, when Zoe discovers a letter in the mail from Marcus Johnson, her biological father—a man in the state penitentiary whom she has never met.

“No way was I telling her anything. She’d probably force me to forgive Trevor, and that was not going to happen.”

A secondary conflict surfaces on the heels of Zoe’s first reading of her father’s letter: her dispute with former best friend Trevor. Trevor arrives with a birthday gift, but Zoe would prefer not to see him. Zoe does not reveal why she is angry and upset with Trevor here, which has the effect of piquing the reader’s interest and concern.

“What I really want to know is why you did what you did.”

Zoe drafts a letter to Marcus in her new journal; she includes this line regarding the crime that put him in prison, but she quickly decides to eliminate it. Scratching out the line and sending the good copy without the question in it shows that Zoe is a girl who is curious but uncertain.