DECEMBER
Linda Oatman High
Contemporary YA Romance/Bullying, 54k
~Editor's Pick~
Lake Millay has goals, hopes, and
dreams...until she moves to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and becomes ensnared
in a vortex of violence.
Bullying and stalking become Lake’s
life, and ultimately the destroyer of her dreams.
A cautionary tale based on the true
story of Laurie Show, murdered by three teens in 1991.
Excerpt:
“This gazing globe’s really old, like from the
1800s. People believed that a witch couldn’t sneak up on you when you
were looking into the dome.” The voice comes from nowhere and from
everywhere, and an electric bolt of fear buzzes through my body. My heart
thunders, filling my chest and ears. I’m dizzy, numb with shock, not able
to move.
Then a face appears––a face––blurring
and blending into my own in the rounded silver of the globe. I
scream, filling my body and my heart and my ears, and I leap and fall
backwards, banging hard into flesh and bone: a person.
I scream again and fall on my knees
in the mud.
“HELP! NO!”
“Man. You’re jumpy. Sorry
if I scared you.”
It’s a girl, just a scrawny
anorexic-looking girl, about my age, fair-haired and pale, with fake-looking
cobalt-colored eyes. She’s one of those girls with an upturned little
nose and perfect teeth. Flawless complexion. Makeup.
Teeny-weeny, clean white shorts. Tanned cheerleaderish legs.
I gasp, trying to catch my breath.
“You scared the crap out of me.”
“Man, you scare easy.” Knuckles
on hips, she cocks her head to the side, pale hair falling over those bright
blue eyes.
I press my hand to my heart.
Puke climbs up my throat, and then slides back down again.
“What are you so jumpy about?
There’s nothing to be scared of around here. Not like it’s an epicenter
for crime.”
There are definitely shades of
cheerleader in this girl, yet none of that high-pitched perkiness. Clouds
of sadness seem to be leaking from her eyes and her smile and her voice,
despite the faultless exterior. A tiny diamond-like chip glints on her
nose.
“We don’t even lock our doors around
here,” she says.
I heave myself to a standing
position. My heart’s still racing in a marathon of terror.
“What did you think I was?” the girl
asks and I shrug.
“A wacko. Weirdo.
Murderer. You never know.”
She barks out a laugh.
“All of the above,” she says. “You
better run.”
I try to smile.
“Here,” she says, reaching down to
pluck a flower. “Peace offering.” She holds a red-nailed hand toward
me––her thumb and finger, daintily holding the stem of the red flower.
I take it. Our fingers
graze.
“Servants also used these
gazing globes to be sneaky and watch their bosses,” the girl says.
“Pretty far-out, huh?”
I’m still shaking, but I nod.
“Cool shirt. I can tell that
you’re not from around here.”
I look down, suddenly super-aware I’m
about fifty pounds bigger than this chick. This makes me irritable, and I
shove the red flower into the pocket of my shorts.
“What are you doing here,
anyway?” I ask. “Don’t they have laws about trespassing around here?”
“Just checking out the new
neighbors,” she says with a shrug of bony shoulders. Her voice is like
cornhusk: raspy and rough.
“Where’d you come from?”
“Over there.” She points with
her sharp little chin. “Through the field and to the left. When the
corn’s down in the winter, you can actually see our place.”
“Okay.”
“I’m Brit Dannon,” she
says. “Brit with one T, not two. You’re the new preacher’s
kid, I presume? Got any pot?”
“What?” I almost laugh.
“Got any weed?”
“No, I . . . don’t smoke.”
“Man. You really aren’t from
around here. What’s your name, anyway?”
“Lake Millay.” There’s a final
feeble clank of thunder, like beaters in an empty metal bowl, and then the sun
comes out, shining. Brit Dannon seems to shimmer: shiny hair and
makeup and nails and that perfect-girl sparkly shirt, with sequins spelling out
the word Princess.
“Welcome to Badger Gap, Lake Millay,”
she says. “The Center of the Universe! The most happenin’ location
on the planet! The place that’s going to freaking change your
life!”
About the Author:
Linda Oatman High is an author/journalist/playwright
who lives in Lancaster County, PA. She’s published more than 20 books for
children and teens, and her books have won many awards and honors, including
VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) “Perfect Ten” awards. Linda also writes for
adults, and her short story NICKEL MINES HARDWARE, based upon the Amish school
shootings of 2006, was honored in England in 2012 with the Sunday Times EFG
Short Story award shortlist. Linda holds an MFA in Writing for Children and
Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she presents at schools
from K-college both nationally and internationally.
Giveaway: $10 Evernight Teen Gift Certificate and 1 Signed Print Copy
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