treacherous • alan bosley

prologue

maisie sanning had loved to write since kindergarten. once she learned how to spell, writing was all she had done ever since. short stories, poems, research papers, really anything she could manage to get her hands on.

when she got to high school, she made it her mission to become a part of the school newspaper. journalism had always been something she wanted to try her hand in, and luckily she was able secure the only freshman spot on the crew.

two years later she was essentially running the joint. she had become editor in chief, and always got the exclusives on the best stories. high school journalism was usually pretty boring and mundane, but maisie knew it was about to become the talk of the town. her school would be integrating this year, and there would be a lot for her to cover. as long as they actually let her keep her spot.

with the two schools combining, maisie worried they might just throw out the prospect of a school paper all together. after all, there were more strenuous tasks ahead of them. a student run paper was probably the last thing they wanted to worry themselves about.

she figured she would get her rejection after school started, but instead she was invited to write about the football team at their retreat a couple weeks before the fact. the school wanted the event covered in the paper in hopes of making integration more seamless, and maisie was just the girl for the job. with the notion that they were letting her keep the paper, she said yes without a second thought.

not to mention, she was probably one of the only people at her school who was actually happy for the change, so it made sense for her to want to write a positive story. she had always hoped her state would be as progressive as their friends to the north, and this was the first time she felt like her town was running with the wolves.

plus, there were a couple football boys who she knew would make this trip worthwhile. she had known them since they first started elementary school, but she had never really interacted with most of them. they were hands down the cutest guys at school, and maisie knew that was enough for her to start packing her bags.

the story she wrote would be good, but the love she might find along the way would be even better. it wasn't her main objective, of course, but she wasn't totally opposed to the idea.

she just worried that these football boys were more trouble than they were worth. most boys in her town weren't really interested in her lifestyle or aspirations, and she wasn't sure any of these football boys would be either. she wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but she had always been careful around boys like them.

she never really knew what they were about, so she always remained treacherous.