Love, Heather
CBC Books | | Posted: October 30, 2019 9:00 PM | Last Updated: October 30, 2019
Laurie Petrou
Stevie never meant for things to go this far. When she and Dee — defiant, bold, indestructible Dee — started all this, there was a purpose to their acts of vengeance: to put the bullies of Woepine High School back in their place. And three months ago, Stevie believed they deserved it. Once her best friend turned on her, the rest of the school followed. Stevie was alone and unprotected with a target on her back. Online, it was worse.
It was Dee's idea to get them all back with a few clever pranks, signing each act Love, Heather — an homage to her favourite 1980's revenge flick. Despite herself, Stevie can't help getting caught up in the payback, reveling in every minute of suffering. And for a while, it works: it seems the meek have inherited the school.
But when anonymous students begin joining in, punishing perceived slights with increasingly violent ferocity, the line between villain and vigilante begins to blur. As friends turn on each other and the administration scrambles to regain control, it becomes clear: whatever Dee and Stevie started has gained a mind — and teeth — of its own. And when it finally swallows them whole, one will reemerge changed, with a plan for one final, terrifying act of revenge. (From Crooked Lane Books)
From the book
Lottie and I are in her room, listening to records. She is sitting on the floor with her eyes closed, and I am flopped on her red-and-blue-checkered bedspread, looking through a pile of albums. I look around me at the assorted piles of crap.
"God, your room is a disaster," I say.
She doesn't move, but chuckles. "I like to think of it more like a statement of self-expression. It's like an art installation."
"Uh-huh. And what's that cup of juice on the dresser, a science experiment?"
You could chart my life from the things in this house like rings on a tree. Lottie lives on a nice street, just one over from mine but prettier, happier. Huge trees, houses from the eighties. She has a great tree house that her dad built when we were kids, I think to make up for the fact that neither of us has siblings.
From Love, Heather by Laurie Petrou ©2019. Published by Crooked Lane Books.