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.

Laura Ruby is the Michael L. Printz Award–winning author of many books for adults, teens, and children, including Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All and Bone Gap, both National Book Award finalists; the ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection York: The Shadow Cipher and its sequels; the Edgar Award nominee Lily’s Ghosts; and the Book Sense Pick Good Girls. She is on the faculty of Hamline University’s MFA in writing for children and young adults program and lives in the Chicago area. You can visit her online at lauraruby.com.