This novel in verse is told from the point of view of two teen girls in their hospital room. Both are suffering from Crohn's disease, one newly diagnosed, the other a veteran of many years of illness. Francesca (Chess) is the newby, she is scared, confused, embarrassed, and suffering through the torture of tests and a nasogastric tube. (I can vouch for how icky that is.) Shannon is the one with many years of experience of the discomfort, pain, and surgeries that go along with the disease. She displays anger at her situation, the doctors and nurses, and her family. The girls' separate voices are displayed with Chess on the left and Shannon on the right. A line down the middle of the page designates when the curtain between their beds is closed. Their back stories eventually come out through their conversations and Chess's private thoughts. In the end Chess learns she is stronger than even she thought and Shannon reveals she is not as tough as she puts on.
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