Any Red-Blooded Girl (19 page)

LIFE sucks and then you die, at least as far
as sixteen-year-old Flora Fontain is concerned anyway. Because at
the moment, just about everything in her averagely pathetic
universe has taken a gigantic leap into the Pit of Doom: She’s been
separated from the love of her life, gotten assigned the junior
year schedule from hell, gained like fifteen pounds in Twinkies
alone and, oh, the hot new foreign exchange student has a thing for
her, which wouldn’t be such a problem if Flora’s best friend didn’t
have a mad crush on the guy.

And just when things couldn’t possibly get
any more complicated, of course, they do. Because the moment Flora
starts to fall for the new hottie, her long-distance love-muffin
rolls into town, grinding her universe to a heart-stopping,
brain-wrenching halt.

If something doesn’t change, and pronto,
Flora just might end up six feet under—or, at the very least,
eating up valuable space in a rubber room. Either way.

MAGGIE BLOOM grew up in the ’80s, under the
influence of acid-washed jeans, hair bands, leg warmers, and John
Hughes films. She currently resides in coastal Maine with her
family (and the world’s smartest cat, Twinkle).