Haunted by an embarrassing moment from the seventh grade, Blaire Sunderland is about to embark on her senior year at Honeybrook High. Though she has already confronted her issues with depression, anxiety, and body image, she's still known as "Blush"...
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~ Blaire ~
I started senior year in my favorite pair of ripped jeans, purple converses, and a mustard knit cardigan that nearly swallowed me whole.
My makeup was nothing special. Some liner and lip gloss. I never went anywhere without gloss. That day I chose to wear my glasses. They were round and eclipsed nearly half of my face.
As for my hair, I had nothing but gratitude that it was on its best behavior. My curls were popping and thanks to the summer sun, my recent dye job had faded to a lovely ombré going from dark brown to burnt amber.
For a moment, I felt confident. And beautiful.
I stood before Honeybrook High and soaked up that feeling. Good vibes like this were rare for me. There was once a time when I never felt them at all. But I had made progress and these days I made a point of living in the moment whenever I felt good.
Still, feeling good wasn't the same as feeling free.
That was something I hadn't reclaimed from the evil overlords.
Speaking of which, I had to report to one of the study rooms in the library before class. That was where the student council held their meetings. And guess who made up the student council?
Yep. The overlords.
Meet Katrina Kalloway. Everyone calls her Kat. At first glance, you would think she's a tomboy with her oversized crew neck sweaters, high socks, and worn out sneakers. But her long, glossy dark hair, effortless makeup, and professionally manicured nails gave her away as the princess of perfection.
Kat was student body president, captain of the Honeybrook coed swim team, and the ringleader of the plan to ruin my life back in seventh grade.
Kat also had her henchmen. Mandy Gordon — treasurer. Hannah Yi — secretary. Luis Gomez — VP. And Will Thompson — historian.
So you're probably wondering why in the hell I decided to stain the very beginning of the first day of school by shutting myself inside a tiny conference room with this horde of greedy vultures.
Simple. In addition to being a perfectionist, Kat was also a monolithic control freak. She made it her business to oversee all of the club presidents and other school ambassadors, including peer mentors. It just so happened that I was one of these peer mentors.
Let me clarify that the student body president was not in charge of monitoring club activities until Kat got the position. No matter how hard I tried to avoid her, she always found a way to remind me that Honeybrook was her playground while I was just one among many of the slides, swings, and monkey bars – only there for her amusement.
