Grace Gutierrez is a single mom raising her teenage daughter Ansiedad. She is busy juggling work, bills, and her relationship with the married Dr. Harford. So, Ansiedad must take care of herself as well as her mother most of the time. When Ansiedad's English teacher Ms. Armstrong inspires her with coming-of-age lessons, Ansiedad decides to rebel. She wants to grow up quickly, to become mature enough to move out. Ansiedad creates a list of must-do tasks to reach her big goal: run away to
New York. Ansiedad's first task is to remind everyone that she is a good girl – she signs up for the school's chess team and wins a match, and goes to a nursing home and regularly visits an old woman who Ansiedad names 'Maud'. Next, she must befriend the most popular girl in school, Valerie. After much humiliation and bribery, Ansiedad successfully completes this task, but must betray her best friend Tavita to make this happen, calling her fat and useless. Tavita begins to cry from Ansiedad's harsh comments and runs off to her boyfriend Ferguson. Ansiedad witnesses him harshly breaking up with her, saying what they do in his basement will never mean they will be together. After Ferguson storms away, a crying Tavita tells Ansiedad that she was never there for her and that she hates her. Ansiedad moves onto her next tasks, to have her first kiss and lose her virginity. For these, she targets one of the most popular boys in school, the supposed womanizer Trevor. Ansiedad confirms that he will be at a particular party that night, then asks him to take her virginity there. He agrees, and they kiss awkwardly. Ansiedad checks "first kiss" off her list, disappointing Trevor, who thought she might have liked him. At the party, he takes her to an upstairs bedroom, much to Valerie's anger. Locking the door, Trevor tells Ansiedad that he thinks she is pretty, but she tells him off for being nice. Trevor then tells Ansiedad that he only acts as a womanizer to bug his dad, but she says she does not care. As she strips down and gets into bed, she realizes how scared she is, changing her mind when a naked Trevor emerges from the bathroom. She quickly dresses and runs out where Valerie stops her and calls her a slut. The party guests refuse to believe Ansiedad's protests that she and Trevor did not have sex, which is made worse when he yells out that they did. She runs home, crying out for her mother, who is not home. Ansieded trashes the house in anger and cries herself to sleep. Grace had fallen asleep at the house of her co-worker Mission Impossible, who is in love with her. She wakes in the morning to find Mission gone. Grace hurries to work and finds that someone has robbed the family-owned business' money, which means they will be closing down. She finds Mission in the back of the restaurant and he tells her he stole the money to cover Ansiedad's tuition. Grace calls him an idiot and he promises to return the money. When Grace sees Ms. Armstrong about Ansiedad, she learns what she has been doing, and the teacher reprimands her for her negligence. The teen has boarded a bus to New York, only to be stopped by her mother. Ansiedad and Grace argue, but Grace stops her by saying "I don't want what happened to your friend to happen to you". Ansiedad learns that Tavita took weight pills and almost died. The two hug, then wait at Tavita's to see how she is. Ms. Armstrong gives Ansiedad's class their last assignment for the year: write a conclusion about coming of age stories. A series of shots show that Mission returns the money, Ansiedad starts to dress and act like a normal 14-year-old, and Grace watches Ansiedad chess tournament, embarrassing her with enthusiastic cheering, although Ansiedad is secretly happy Grace is there. Ansiedad apologizes to Tavita who hugs her. When Tavita asks her if she wants to hang out, Ansiedad smiles and says her mom is waiting for her. Grace and Ansiedad then board a city bus home. ==Cast==