English "American History" short story

Skinny Bones is a teenage Puerto Rican girl struggling to adapt to life in a multifamily apartment building in Paterson, New Jersey. She lives in a former Jewish neighborhood that is now inhabited mostly by Puerto Ricans and African Americans. As a loner, Skinny Bones is attracted to marginalized individuals like herself. She finds her soulmate in Eugene. Skinny Bones falls in love with Eugene, and they soon become inseparable, despite their cultural differences. Although Skinny Bones is a good student, she is not admitted to advanced courses because English is not her first language

a shy teenager who has recently come from south Georgia. Because of his marked southern accent he is soon dubbed "the Hick," and he becomes the school's newest object of ridicule, joining Skinny Bones as an outcast. Eugene, a bright student, tutors Skinny Bones in several subjects.

the theme of cultural isolation is explored on various levels. The problems that she has in adapting are geographical (she is unused to the bitter cold of the Northeast), interpersonal (she is still learning about another culture's codes), and familial (she confronts her mother's inability to provide feminine advice in this foreign society)

set in Puerto Rico by Judith Ortiz-Cofer