I was thirteen when my dad caught me with Tommy Webber in the back of Tommy's Buick, parked next to the old Chart House down in Montara at eleven o'clock on a Tuesday night. Tommy was seventeen and the supposed friend of my brother, Darren.
I didn't love him.
I'm not sure I even liked him.
The morning after...Tommy gave all the details to his friends.
Three years have passed. In Deanna's small town, stories tend to spread ferociously, finding residence in those that would mercilessly keep rumors alive. Deanna, no sixteen, struggles to find her self-worth amidst the shame of her past mistake. Her father still cannot look her in the eye while her peers look at her and all they see is the school slut. It doesn't matter that Deanna has since avoided the opposite sex completely. When Tommy enters her life again, the disturbance shakes Deanna's world. As she revisits the time leading up to that fateful night, Deanna must find the courage to confront those that want to define her by it. But, even more importantly, she must find the strength to forgive them...and herself.
Check out Sara Zarr's new book, Sweethearts.
Grades 9-12
Marlene Iwamoto
March 2008
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