Girl Mans Up

Sixteen-year-old Pen Oliveira knows she is a girl. What she cannot understand is why everyone else seems determined to dictate what that should look like. At home, her Portuguese immigrant parents demand a version of respect that leaves little space for her own choices. Among her friends, longtime ally Colby expects loyalty even as his treatment of girls becomes harder to excuse. Pen's older brother offers support, but new connections begin to change the terms of her everyday life. Friendship with Olivia and a growing relationship with fellow gamer Blake make room for a different kind of belonging. Pen must decide which expectations deserve her loyalty and which ones ask her to abandon herself.