laylalayla20
Freshman year was supposed to be about social climbing, AP classes, and survival. But in Maplewood, survival is literal.
Avery Keller has a plan for her first year at the prestigious Crescent Heights High: keep her grades up, her color-coded pens organized, and her anxiety in check. Along with her best friends-ambitious Mel, bubbly Bella, and shy Sierra-she's ready to navigate the shark tank of high school hierarchy.
But the town of Maplewood is rotting from the inside out. Two local girls have already vanished without a trace, leaving the town on edge. The darkness hits home when the group's close friend, Isaiah, disappears. Despite the police writing it off as a runaway case, Avery and her friends know the truth: Isaiah, the boy with perfect attendance who never breaks a rule, didn't leave-he was taken.
Realizing the authorities are useless, the girls decide to take the investigation into their own hands. But they can't do it alone. To uncover the secrets of a town that buries its problems, they need help from the most unlikely places: Able Cross, an infuriatingly arrogant academic rival who challenges Avery at every turn, and Orion Brooks, a chaotic rich kid who treats life like a joke.
Now, Avery must trade film theory for detective work, balancing biology homework with a hunt for a predator. In a town where everyone wears a mask, the truth is the most dangerous thing of all-and finding it might just make them the next target.