Turducken

Everything looks different from the outside. That's what Mal begins to learn after his mom dumps him (as he sees it) with his Filipino aunt and uncle in their middle-of-nowhere (as he sees it) town, where he starts his senior year with one friend, who might (just possibly) become his girlfriend, if he can ever figure out when she's joking and when she's serious. Things might (just possibly) turn out okay, if it weren't for having to be take AP English from a major jerk (with a lech for guess-who's maybe-girlfriend?) and take care of a dog who doesn't seem to like him much (at least, the one time it talked, it called him an asshat), and if his mom would ever call him, instead of just sending money and no explanation for why he's stuck in Emmitsville. And if Mal didn't begin to think that the whole town of Emmitsville had a serious, serious, secret ....