With her too-perfect cousin Tasha moving in with her family and attending her school, Sarah Gordon worries that her junior year at Murphy High will be spent competing with Tasha.

Excited about securing the best rap group in town for the upcoming senior class party, Jennifer Wilson decides to hold the party at her house while her parents are away.

One of a series featuring a multi-cultural cast of characters who meet at 18 Pine Street to talk about their friends, dating, and life at Murphy High. Things start jumping when Sarah Gordon persuades the gang to do a rap version of "Romeo and Juliet" for the Junior Jump.

A timely tale about friendship, family, and society's attitude toward achieving girls. Schoolwork has always come easily to Tasha. With so little effort seeming to go into her work, she is accused of cheating on a state-wide math test. And Tasha learns that even though she's a strong person, she still needs the support of her friends and family when the going gets tough.

Murphy High's new student, William Sky Man Hodges, is soon the school's star basketball player. He's sure to lead the team to the state championship—if he doesn't flunk out first. Sarah and Jennifer offer to tutor Sky, but he thinks his talent on the court is all he needs to get him through school. Can the girls change his mind—before he loses his chances for good?

Tasha Gordon's clothes are the hit of Madison's annual charity fashion show. When a well-known designer wants to sign her up on the spot, Tasha's ready to jump right in and start her fashion career. And why not? The money is good, the parties are hot, and the men are fine! There's only one catch—if Tasha takes the job, she'll have to drop out of school. Everyone offers advice, but only Tasha can decide. Is high school only about getting a good job? And what about college? If she stays in school, will Tasha be passing up the chance of a lifetime?

While most of the kids at Murphy High are engaged in shooting water pistols at one another, a female student decides to invent a game of her own: to kiss other girls' boyfriends.

The 18 Pine St. gang must watch a baby while the baby's mother, Cindy's friend Karin, struggles to put her life together and get back on track.

Julie seems popular and smart, so Sarah is glad when their history teacher asks Sarah to exchange her daily journal with Julie. Now Sarah isn't sure what to do when a journal entry she reads sounds like a desperate cry for help. From an award-winning author, this welcome effort nicely fills a void in the fiction marketplace.—Publishers Weekly.

When a student at Murphy High tells an off-color joke, Tasha Gordon considers it an insult to African Americans. Several of her friends think Tasha's just overreacting, until the issue ignites the entire school. Will the debate help everyone to see both sides—and heal the rift in the 18 Pine St. gang?