17 y/o Black teen Savannah Howard, gave up high school parties, a dating life, and pretty much anything besides studying to land an almost perfect SAT score in high school. Earning top grades was her ticket out her poverty-stricken neighborhood and into Wooddale, an Ivy League college full of rich white kids. Savannah quickly realizes attending Wooddale means living four years feeling out of place, from the way she talks getting side-eyes, to complaints her natural hair is blocking kids’ views in class. But landing a coveted Wooddale degree, which would change her family’s life forever, is worth putting up with almost anything. 

 

Almost. 

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When Lucas Cunningham, from the long line of well-to-do Cunninghams, gets away with a blackface incident on campus, Savannah investigates him for the school paper and learns his admission to Wooddale had nothing to do with academic worthiness--and everything to do with his parents’ wallet. 

 

Lucas bought his way into the school she worked her ass off to get into. 

 

Threats to keep quiet grow increasingly bold, and word on the street the last student who went up against Lucas was expelled or just plain disappeared. Not to mention the first boy she’s ever liked—who really seems to like her back—might also be involved. Savannah can keep her head down and tolerate Lucas’ aggressions, or out his secret, risk losing the guy she kind-of-might-love, and face the wrath of a powerful, racist, white dude.