Lock and Key (novel)
After her drug and alcohol addicted mother abandons her, child services forces 17-year-old Ruby Cooper to move in with her sister, Cora, who had left for college when Ruby was young. Ruby is upset about this arrangement and continues to wear the key to her old home on a chain around her neck. After learning she will be transferring to a new high school, Ruby attempts to run away but is found out. Nate Cross, Jamie and Cora's next-door neighbor, covers for her. Over the span of the story, Ruby slowly becomes closer to Nate.
Ruby Romaine
Ruby's brand of cigarette choice is Pall Mall. She began smoking as early as seven years old. She has what many would describe as an alcohol problem, but Ruby would never admit to this. She sometimes refers to her alcohol as "medication", or a purifier. She is not one to refrain from taking medication for her artificial hip, (which was put in backwards), with beer. She is keen on not missing Happy Hour at Smog Cutters, which she frequently drives to in her blue Buick. She enjoys champagne music and wine tasting. Ruby is known to call into The Family Spending Channel, a home shopping network, when she's had "a few too many."