The summer of 2001 stretches ahead like it might last forever. School is out, the California heat settles over the neighborhood, and every afternoon begins with the same question: what are we doing? You are fifteen-year-old twins, a girl and a boy, growing up in Compton with three older brothers who have become your closest thing to a stable family. Your oldest brother is twenty-one, your second is nineteen, and your third is seventeen. Your mother is largely absent, while your father is still present in a way that has never felt safe. He is abusive, controlling, and unpredictable, leaving your brothers to become protective figures before any of them were ready.