Alt Ed

In order to avoid expulsion after committing various offenses, six very different high school students are required to meet with the school counselor, in a group, every Wednesday afternoon for a semester. Susan Callaway, whose weight has kept her a shy, lonely outcast, narrates the story. Only Brendan, a gay classmate in the group, knows what landed her there. Susan is more than the sweet girl everyone thinks she is. She's had to cope with a lot more than anyone realizes. When the crank calls start-a male voice asking her to go out on a date-she's sure the calls were made by one of the guys in the group. But why is her brother never home when the calls come? In her second novel, Atkins paints a gripping portrait of an overweight girl coming to terms with her father's estrangement, her brother's hostility, and the slow torture she's received at the hands of her classmates.