Blind Speed Dating #20 (YA)

Title: BLACKBALL

Genre: YA Contemporary LGBT

Word Count: 68,000

Query:

The exclusivity of a clique is empowering until a member goes rogue. That’s why seventeen-year-old Bryn Michaels keeps her friends close and her enemies closer. She plasters a cheer captain smile across her face and parades around with her quarterback boyfriend. Too bad Bryn’s enemy, Ivy, knows their relationship is fake.

If anyone discovers Bryn is a lesbian, the small town residents will harass her. That’s why she keeps her mouth shut about Ivy purposely crashing into the guardrail as revenge for her humiliating cheer squad demotion, killing Bryn’s secret girlfriend. But Bryn knows the truth, and she not going to let Ivy get away with murder. She creates an elaborate plan to sabotage Ivy’s popularity and good girl reputation.

When Bryn discovers Ivy’s plot to murder everyone in their social circle to become the new “it” girl, she fears Ivy’s father will help her escape murder charges once again. However, Ivy’s boyfriend plasters Bryn’s scheme and sexual orientation on the Internet, risking her Queen Bee status and forcing her to face small town prejudices. Now Bryn must fight for equality and take down Ivy before she erases the clique one-by-one.

First 250:

Even though Anastasia and I rarely photographed side-by-side, one person knew we were in love. The person who killed her. The person who wrecked me.

My pulse pounded in my wrists as I gripped the open locker door and gazed at the collage of junior year memories. Five girlfriends tangled in various poses covered the cold metal. But the dimpled smiles masked a lie in every photo.

Some things were best kept secret. Especially the details of a lesbian relationship. But even one truth cloaked initiated a sticky web of lies.

I tore a picture from the center and pressed it between my index finger and thumb, coloring Ivy’s face with a black magic marker.

A girl hissed and shoved me forcefully into the magnetized “Bryn” mirror. My body jolted into the metal door and it clanked against the neighboring locker.

“First day jitters,” Ivy said.

My head snapped toward her voice. “Take your toxic behavior somewhere else.”

She grasped my arm and yanked me toward her. “I hold your destiny in my hands. Keep your mouth shut about the accident or the Andover High gossip mill will have several new juicy topics to discuss.” A cackle ripped through her lips as she waltzed away, glancing over her shoulder once.

Her eyes met mine. Squinted. Bright blue yet somehow dark. Poisonous.

A breath caught in my throat and my stomach lurched. The picture of us huddled by a campfire dropped from my fingertips. The fresh black marker swirl smeared across her face and pressed into my thumbprint.