Gabi, a Girl in Pieces

Gabi’s diary opens on July 24 with no year indicated. Gabi begins with the story of her name, which quickly becomes the story of “the basis of my sexual education” when the grandmother she is named after beats Gabi’s mother for being pregnant out of wedlock. Gabi grows up hearing her own mother tell her constantly, ‘“Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.’ Eyes open, legs closed.” Gabi doesn’t openly argue with her mother against this form of “the birds and the bees talk” but also doesn’t agree “with that whole wait-until-you’re-married crap” either. She can’t express this to her mother, though, for fear her mother will think she’s “trying to be White” (7).

Gabi’s senior year of high school begins in less than one month. Gabi daydreams about spending the remaining days of summer flirting with the boy at the Rite Aid counter and trying the spiciest tacos in town with her best friends Cindy and Sebastian. Gabi’s dreams of an easy-going summer are crushed when Cindy confesses that she might be pregnant. Gabi takes her SAT on August 1 distracted by thoughts of Cindy’s situation. She goes to the pharmacy with Cindy to buy a pregnancy test where Georgina, their nosey classmate working behind the counter, teases them for their purchase.