Catchpenny

Meg Shannon was rarely surprised. She wasn’t surprised, for example, whenever she came to school to find her locker vandalized again. Slut! Whore! Trash! She was an independent, self-confident, intelligent young woman, and she’d stopped caring about the labels people born on the “right” side of the tracks in Shirley County slapped on her. So when quarterback Tristan Jameson walked up to her at lunch and flat out asked her to Homecoming, she refused to be surprised then either. But she wasn’t stupid. Was it a joke? Was he looking for a guaranteed good time? Her phone number on a bathroom stall with just such a promise came to mind. But he seemed nervous, as if he truly cared what her answer would be. Maybe, just maybe…he actually liked her. But to believe that would be dangerous. Raise the stakes. Sure, Meg was brave but was she willing to risk everything? Her pride? Her identity? And why did she have such a hard time accepting that someone like him could want someone like her? Was it possible she had started to believe all those hateful labels? One way or another, Meg’s answer to Tristan’s proposal that sunny afternoon would change her life forever. And everything she thought she knew about herself, too.