Chapters 31-40

There was a girl named Sally that went to the same school as Esperanza. She was beautiful and very religious, therefore her father never let her outside of their home. She wears makeup and dresses sophisticated. She also goes straight home after school everyday. Esperanza wants to be just like her because Esperanza feels ugly and unattractive to males due to their lack of interest in her. Then she had a conversation with her mother. Esperanza's mother confessed that she quit school when she was young because she didn't have nice clothes. She regrets letting shame in her appearance stop her from getting an education. One day, Sally walked into school with bruises. She lied to everyone and said she fell, but no one believed her. She told Esperanza the truth, which was how her father beat her like an animal because he thinks that as a female, she's going to runaway with another man. Esperanza felt bad about her tragic situation and offered Sally to stay at her house for the night. But Sally's father went to Esperanza's that night and cried and begged Sally to go home. Shortly after she went home, she was beat, yet again because she was on the phone with a boy. She couldn't go to school for awhile. There was a garden in the neighborhood where most kids hung out at, and Esperanza's most embarrassing moment happened there also. One day, Esperanza watched Sally flirt with boys and then they stole her keys and told her that she had to kiss them to get them back. Esperanza was angry and threw sticks and bricks at the boys. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy, even Sally did. Sally told her to go home. Then, she cried due to embarrassment. She never went back to the garden after that day. In chapter 39, Esperanza got raped by one of the boys who flirted with her. She claims that sex isn't like any of the movies that Sally had described and says that Sally is a liar. In chapter 40, Sally gets married. Remind you, she is only in 8th grade. Her husband forbids her from going out, therefore she stays home because she is afraid to go out without permission from her husband.