Good Girls

Some people would say this is the story of a photograph.

How it was taken and what happened to me after the whole world saw it. And it is. But it's also the story of a lot of other things. Like ducking into an upstairs bedroom with Luke DeSalvio, the golden boy I swore I was done with.

It is about a camera flash in the dark, and a photo that turned my private life into school-wide gossip. Whisper by the lockers as much as you need to.

Around here, the varsity jock walks away a hero, while an honors student gets branded with dirty notes in French class. Call it whatever cheap headline you like.

Between dyeing my waist-length hair the color of coffee grounds and figuring out who my true friends are, I am done letting a rumor define who I am. So look at the picture all you want.

I am so much more than what you see.

• High School Drama: When the fallout reaches home, Audrey must navigate her father scouring cell-phone privacy statutes and her mother scheduling an excruciating checkup with Dr. Warren.
• Female Friendship: Cast out by former peers, Audrey finds unexpected solidarity over diner cheese fries with school pariahs Pam and Cindy, joining best friends Ash and Joelle in a defiant pack.
• Coming of Age: Between constructing sets for a production of Hamlet and crashing senior prom in rented wedding gowns, Audrey refuses to let small-town gossip dictate her future.
• Also by This Author: Bone Gap, Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All and Bad Apple.