Aadila (Kyle novel, SD 2.1, 16 images)

Give it up for the first freshman to be homecoming queen at her school. You'll never imagine how many people had to be double-crossed for her to get there, just like her mama before. By the time her friends catch up to her -- she skipped eighth grade -- they hardly recognize her.

Aadila is the half-Egyptian daughter of a blonde American homecoming queen from my fictional rural Tennessee college town and the reigning mean girl in high school.

Disregard all the photos with the head coverings; those are just what they send to Daddy over in Cairo to keep the child support coming. (Oh, and she has both arms.) It's 2000, the Net's still kinda niche in that part of the country, and modern social media is a few years away.

Aadila the high-schooler does play the Egyptian card if it's to her advantage, but after 9/11 she becomes a devout Muslim and puts on the hijab willingly at a time when others are casting it aside. That contrarian streak serves her well as an attorney in years to come.