In the book Home Before Darkness by Susan Wiggs, Lila is a fifteen-year-old girl whose overwhelming desire to be popular influences all of her decisions. Lila's mother, Luz, describes her current behavior as "a sort of identity crisis." Specifically, Luz says, “She got in trouble at school, acting out, that kind of thing. You saw how she acted with me. My sweet little fairy has turned into a demon, skips school, sneaks out at night, climbs the water tower, goes down the railroad bridge, dives naked into Eagle Lake. I keep telling myself it's normal teenage rebellion, she'll get over it and we'll all survive, but things just keep getting worse. Her grades are slipping, I don't even know her friends anymore." Lila would not dispute her mother's description of her, but she would justify her behavior as necessary to hang out with the more popular kids. Lila is a second grade student year in high school dating the varsity football team defender. She hangs out with all her upperclassmen friends and feels forced to smoke weed and drink alcohol. Lila acts out of her personality and starts sneaking out at night to see her boyfriend Heath. One night, Lila and Heath along with other upperclassmen crash the curfew party in Heath's car. Lila feels compelled to fit in with her friends and suggests they "drop in." hill", the coolest new thing to do. Hill hopping is where you drive as fast as you can off road in mountain terrain trying to get as much air as possible before landing. Unfortunately this night the fun and games turn tragic when the car and its passengers end up in a terrible accident. Remarkably, Lila is unharmed, but one of her friends dies in the accident and her boyfriend crushes his leg, ending his football career. After the accident, Lila and Heath break up and her friends abandon her. Lila is accused of causing the accident even though she wasn't driving because as the youngest student she is an easy target. Isolated from her friends and confined to her home, Lila chooses to spend a lot of time alone. The visiting aunt plays a much-needed role in reaching Lila and making her understand that you don't need to conform to peer pressure to have friends, but rather find friends where you can be yourself..