Smack by Melvin Burgess

Smack is a tough book to read---just like Strasser's Can't Get There from Here, teens narrate each of the chapters from their point of view. Fourteen year old Gemma and Tar are on the run, Gemma wants a life away from her parents, but Tar's father beats him and his mother is a raging alcoholic. They squat in abandoned homes and become hooked on heroin. They lie, steal and cheat to feed their habit. Life on the street is tough and bitter!