Swimming to America by Alice Mead

Linda knows there are secrets. Secrets that her parents keep from her. At 13, she is becoming angrier about the secrets. But she has her own secrets. Her secret hideout that she and her friend Ramon have built. The stranger who claims to have jumped off a ship in the harbor. The thugs who are looking for Ramon's brother. Linda knows it isn't good to keep secrets but what can she do? Her parents won't talk so why should she. Until a school assignment brings things out in the open.