her quick mind and quicker fingers had made julie so good at both that no matter how often she was shuffled off to a new foster home , she almost immediately achieved a certain popularity and respect among her peers , so much so that a few months ago , a group of boys had condescended to demonstrate to her the various techniques they used for breaking into cars and hot-wiring them-a demonstration that resulted in the entire group of them being busted by an alert chicago cop , including julie , who was merely an observer .