Bianca is the Westgate Prep quarterback’s sister—and
that’s her only claim to fame. When her friends’ social experiment turns her
into the It Girl of the Sophomore class and she captures the attention of the
most popular guy in her grade, though, she’s ecstatic to introduce the world to
her first boyfriend. But no one’s ever told her what to do when her friends
hate her boyfriend and Prince Charming starts acting like a control-freaky
nightmare. It doesn’t help that being around her brother’s best friend is
making her head all fuzzy, either.
Author:
Ella Martin is a prep school survivor and a Southern
California native. She writes books about spunky teenagers who are way cooler
than she ever was, and she totally believes in love and happy endings. She
likes sunny places and is terrified of snowy winters, so she now lives in
Florida with her husband and son.
Now available on
Excerpt:
Chapter One
“The exit polls are in, guys. It’s still early, but Bianca
may actually win this.”
I looked up from my salad at the lanky boy who took the seat
across from me. “Exit polls?” I asked. “Finn, you can’t be serious.”
His cool cerulean blue eyes peered at me over the top of his
wireframe glasses. “How often is it that one of my friends has a chance at
being Homecoming Princess?”
Beside me, my friend Talia crunched into a carrot stick. “So
what is she ahead by?”
I glared at her. “Don’t encourage him.”
She flipped her long ponytail over her shoulder, revealing a
bright green streak in her dark hair as she grinned at me. I sighed, knowing I
was defeated.
Talia Nicoletti was the only person I knew brave enough to
thumb her nose at the Westgate Prep Appearance Guidelines. The green streak she
sported was her way of coping with the birthmark on her scalp that turned a
lock of hair white. It totally violated all the rules, but after her mom had a
meeting with the principal last year, both of the school deans gave up, stopped
calling out her blatant disregard for the guidelines, and let her get away with
everything. We called it the Talia Clause. Not even her knee-high combat boots
and larger-than-regulation silver hoops that day earned a second glance from
the faculty. But it probably didn’t hurt to have a high-powered attorney who
terrified the entire administration for a mom, either.
“Based on the thirty-five random people I asked, which is a
sample size of about twelve percent, she’s up by almost sixteen percentage
points,” Finn replied, picking up his burger. “It’s just outside the margin of
error, but I’m really confident in my math.”
Of course he was. Finnegan Marks was Westgate Prep’s top
mathlete and the only sophomore taking pre-calculus while most of us slackers
suffered through geometry. Come to think of it, Finn was probably the only
sophomore not taking any regular tenth-grade classes. He stood about a head
taller than I did (which was significant since I was considered kind of tall at
five-foot-nine) and, despite his skinny frame, was fairly athletic. He was the
best shooter on last year’s JV basketball team, though he said that wasn’t as
much skill as it was a basic understanding of physics and geometry.
“I’m only on that stupid ballot because you and Jake thought
it would be a fun social experiment,” I said with a snort. “You really think
campaigning will have any effect on who’ll win?”
“Well, there has to be a way to level the field to prove it’s
possible to rig a popularity contest,” he said, sounding hurt.
“So I get to be the guinea pig?” I stifled a groan. It wasn’t
that I couldn’t win the Homecoming Princess crown on my own because I was ugly
or anything. I thought my boring brown eyes were a little too big for my face,
I was never crazy about the way my small nose turned up a bit at the end, and I
really wished I’d inherited some of my mom’s Latin curves, but my looks were
better than passable.
No, I wouldn’t win because I mostly kept to my close circle
of friends, and I was a pretty ordinary student. I wasn’t hyper-involved in a
ton of clubs, I was only in a handful of honors classes, and I wasn’t one of
those girls who guys were drooling over. I was the girl you saw walking down
the hall and didn’t think twice about.
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