Off-Colored Rainbows

In an all-white community filled with WASPs, a high school senior, Ella, becomes best friends with her next-door neighbor, Julian, who happens to be a homosexual. Though she was raised in a WASP home that prides conservatism, she is determined to repress her homophobic feelings and pursue a long-lasting, but secret friendship with her neighbor. Even when her parents, friends, and the town of Wrightside discover that a homosexual has moved into town, Ella is willing to save her friendship despite all the hate mails, vandalism, rumors, and a fire that almost endangers Ella=s and Julian=s lives. In the end, Ella is left to make a decision that will either tear her relationship with her family or with Julian apart. Moreover, the story is a reflection upon the East Coast=s and Midwest=s clashing viewpoints towards homosexuality with which Brager has been confronted while residing at Brown.