I live in a small town in southern Texas, probably about a 20 minute drive to the border of Mexico.

I am 16 years old and this is my first time being so far from my home on the west coast.

My father is a coast guardsman who was stationed here to provide extra help to border patrol.

At the time, the politics of this was beyond me.

As far as I was concerned, I was forced away from my friends, family, and pretty much everything

I knew.

I would start my sophomore year of high school here.

I was nervous.

All the kids would already have their pre-established friend groups.

My dad gave me several warnings. If anyone offers you a free cell phone,

don't take it. It's probably drug traffickers. They will call the phone and threaten to

kill your family if you don't do a job for them.

Be careful of people inviting me places I don't know.

Since I am white in an area dominated by low income families, I can be used for a large ransom

as people will assume my family has money.

Thanks Dad, wait to make me feel better about being forced here against my will.

School started without too much of a hitch. It was not as bad as I figured it would be.

The other students were welcoming and I soon had a few people I would talk to regularly,

but I could tell by the way they talked and their body

language that we weren't friends yet.

In my second week of school, I met Gabe.

Gabe was a chill dude, always wearing bandees and converse,

...