Eugene is a new boy at Elena's school. Elena is discriminated against at her school because she is Puerto Rican and the majority of the school's population is African American. Eugene is white, so when he comes to Public School Number 13, he is in the minority along with Elena. Elena had already been given the nickname of "Skinny Bones" by her peers. Because Eugene is white and from Georgia, the students in the majority call him "the Hick." When students see that Elena and Eugene are friends, they link the two nicknames together by saying, "Skinny Bones and the Hick." It would seem then, that Elena and Eugene become friends in part because of their status in the school. In a way, their nicknames help to unite them as friends against the majority's teasing.
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