grab and go
*My YA novel, NO LOVE SONGS, hits shelves on April 18! Here's a scene with Myles and Mal, two thirds of the punk band, The Wide Awakes, getting sidetracked while working on a song together. We hit the trails along the back end of the park, hiking down to the ledge, where the rocks sit... Continue Reading →
The headlights sweep across the well-groomed lawns of two story houses as we turn around at the end of the street. I mute the radio while my two hulking passengers giggle like preschoolers. I’m about to shush them when, near the mailbox, the bushes wiggle. Zaye leans forward from the back seat. “There she is!”... Continue Reading →
The last thing I want to do is fight Carlos Kemp. But after he challenged me in the cafeteria, right in front of Lisa Crosby and everyone else in school, what choice did I have? Now, if I don’t show my face at the roller rink, everyone will think I’m a coward.Besides, I might as... Continue Reading →
How I got quarantined with Nadja Friess was one-part luck, one part circumstance, all parts awkward. Her parents were out of the country. My parents were out of my life. So that left the two of us, in the hills of Vermont, with a bishop, a handful of nuns, and two sleepy security guards. If... Continue Reading →
Maybe it was the light speed thoughts inside his head. His brother’s death. The fact that he had a father, out there roaming the earth—could be—laughing, crying, functioning as a human being. Making zero effort to reach him. Maybe it was just boredom that drove Jayden up to the roof. No stars. A cover of... Continue Reading →
The football field sits at the bottom of the hill, surrounded by one hundred-year-old trees scarred with the carvings of our predecessors. Peakland Episcopal is the kind of place you see in movies about private schools, where the dean has a fireplace in his office and they still hang paddles hanging proudly on the wall.... Continue Reading →
The music doesn’t skip to a stop like it does in the movies. Although everyone does turn and gawk. I am, after all, a very gawk-worthy girl. Terrified eyes, covered mouths, close whispers. I hate them all. Vice Principal Moyers straightens, her smile vanishing as she sets her shoulders back. Her face wears the pain... Continue Reading →
Alecia gripped my arm, just above the elbow, nails digging. I thought she was going to rip through my shirt. “Mom, Dad. This is Justin.” “Hi Justin.” Her father bolted across the room with a board meeting smile. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” Luckily, I'd been prepped for his vice-grip handshake. I braced myself,... Continue Reading →
I’m at my mailbox, tearing into a letter I’ve been expecting when I turn and find Molly Martinez standing in the road like she’d been expecting it too. It’s funny but not so funny. Because I kind of blame Molly for my predicament here. I mean, if I hadn’t walked into that lab that day…if... Continue Reading →
The apartment is crowded so I take a walk down the street. Earbuds in, Young Rif on blast in my ears. I set out just to get out, wandering around looking at the houses at the end of the street. No duplexes, nice lawns and they all have dogs, mostly little scrappy ones, like this little... Continue Reading →
Lunch Break Fiction 