Gabi, a Girl in Pieces

Gabi’s diary opens on July 24 with no year indicated. Gabi begins with the story of her name, which quickly becomes the story of “the basis of my sexual education” when the grandmother she is named after beats Gabi’s mother for being pregnant out of wedlock. Gabi grows up hearing her own mother tell her constantly, ‘“Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas.’ Eyes open, legs closed.” Gabi doesn’t openly argue with her mother against this form of “the birds and the bees talk” but also doesn’t agree “with that whole wait-until-you’re-married crap” either. She can’t express this to her mother, though, for fear her mother will think she’s “trying to be White” (7).

Gabi’s senior year of high school begins in less than one month. Gabi daydreams about spending the remaining days of summer flirting with the boy at the Rite Aid counter and trying the spiciest tacos in town with her best friends Cindy and Sebastian. Gabi’s dreams of an easy-going summer are crushed when Cindy confesses that she might be pregnant. Gabi takes her SAT on August 1 distracted by thoughts of Cindy’s situation. She goes to the pharmacy with Cindy to buy a pregnancy test where Georgina, their nosey classmate working behind the counter, teases them for their purchase. Without thinking, Gabi stands up to Georgina and refuses to engage with her on the bus a few days later.

Cindy is pregnant. Gabi visits her friend Sebastian, and they talk about Cindy’s pregnancy in disbelief. Sebastian has just returned from a trip with his father to visit family in Mexico. The trip leaves Sebastian feeling closer than usual to his father, and he considers telling his father that he’s gay. Gabi quietly doubts that Sebastian coming out to his father could go well, but she decides not to say anything because she doesn’t want to hurt Sebastian’s feelings. On her way home from Sebastian’s, Gabi sees her own father, “a homeless looking guy on his bike weaving across the street” (19) and is relieved when her bus arrives before her father notices her. (Her father is a meth addict, which is the reason behind his strange behavior. At this point in the narrative, though, his behavior is still unexplained.)

Sebastian tells his parents that he’s gay and they immediately kick him out of the house, dropping him off to stay with Gabi until he can find a more permanent place to live. Gabi’s mother lectures Gabi about Cindy being a bad influence, but she lets Cindy come to the house because she sees that Sebastian needs his friends.

Gabi’s father returns home after a long absence, sending her mother into a flurry of odd behavior just as Gabi’s senior year of high school begins. School starts on August 26 and Gabi describes it as “a crazy first day” in her diary (26). She is excited that she can drive herself to school, even if she does have to drive her younger brother Beto as well, and she is excited over a crush on a boy named Joshua at school. Gabi is not good at math—she is repeating Algebra II after failing last year—but she likes poetry class.

The excitement of returning to school quickly turns dramatic as gossip of Cindy’s pregnancy spreads. Meanwhile, Gabi offers the first direct mention of her father’s situation in her September 10 diary entry: “My dad is a drug addict. A meth addict” (29). Gabi decides to write a letter to her father to express her anger and frustration at his addiction and resulting behavior. She writes the letter knowing her father cannot read it because he is too high, and signs it, “Papi, I miss you” (31).

Gabi experiences a broken heart when her crush Joshua begins dating a girl named Sandra, and Gabi’s mother comforts her in a rare moment of tenderness between them. Gabi uses her heartbreak as inspiration for a short haiku, her first of many poems in the story. She also writes a second letter to her father as drama with his addiction intensifies. Gabi’s mother invites Tia Bertha to stay with them “to come see if she could do something about her brother” (41). Sebastian has moved on to live with his own aunt, which is a relief to Gabi because Tia Bertha’s opinions on a person’s orientation would have caused even more drama in the house. Gabi gradually gets over her crush on Joshua and develops a new crush on a boy named Eric. She writes her second poem, a list of goals for senior year that focuses on being more positive (47).