{"id":479,"date":"2008-09-21T19:41:50","date_gmt":"2008-09-22T00:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/\/?p=479"},"modified":"2008-09-21T19:41:50","modified_gmt":"2008-09-22T00:41:50","slug":"its-all-about-us-the-fruit-of-my-lipstick-by-shelley-adina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=479","title":{"rendered":"It’s All About Us & The Fruit of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s the 21st, time for the Teen FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Click the button!) Every 21st, we will feature an author and his\/her latest Teen fiction book’s FIRST chapter!<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

Shelley Adina<\/h2>\n

and her books:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s All About Us: A Novel<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

FaithWords (May 12, 2008)<\/strong><\/p>\n

and<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Fruit of My Lipstick (All About Us Series, Book 2) <\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

FaithWords (August 11, 2008)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plus a Tiffany’s Bracelet Giveaway<\/em><\/span>! Go to <\/span>Camy Tang’s Blog <\/span><\/a>and leave a comment on the Teen FIRST All About Us <\/em>Tour and you will be placed into a drawing for a bracelet that looks similar to the picture below. But the winning FaithWords Tiffany’s bracelet will be a double heart charm.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Shelley Adina is a world traveler and pop culture junkie with an incurable addiction to designer handbags. She knows the value of a relationship with a gracious God and loving Christian friends, and she’s inviting today’s teenage girls to join her in these refreshingly honest books about real life as a Christian teen–with a little extra glitz thrown in for fun! In between books, Adina loves traveling, listening to and making music, and watching all kinds of movies.<\/p>\n

It’s All About Us<\/a> is Book One in the All About Us Series. Book Two, The Fruit of my Lipstick<\/a> came out in August 2008, and Book Three, Be Strong & Curvaceous<\/a>, comes out in January 2009.<\/p>\n

Visit the author’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s All About Us: A Novel<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Product Details:<\/p>\n

List Price: $9.99
\nPaperback: 256 pages
\nPublisher: FaithWords (May 12, 2008)
\nLanguage: English
\nISBN-10: 0446177989
\nISBN-13: 978-0446177986<\/p>\n

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:<\/span> <\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter One<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SOME THINGS YOU just know without being told. Like, you passed the math final (or you didn’t). Your boyfriend isn’t into you anymore and wants to break up. Vanessa Talbot has decided that since you’re the New Girl, you have a big bull’s-eye on your forehead and your junior year is going to be just as miserable as she can make it.<\/p>\n

Carly once told me she used to wish she were me. Ha! That first week at Spencer Academy, I wouldn’t have wished my life on anyone.<\/p>\n

My name is Lissa Evelyn Mansfield, and since everything seemed to happen to me this quarter, we decided I’d be the one to write it all down. Maybe you’ll think I’m some kind of drama queen, but I swear this is the truth. Don’t listen to Gillian and Carly\u2014they weren’t there for some of it, so probably when they read this, it’ll be news to them, too.<\/p>\n

But I’m getting ahead of myself. When it all started, I didn’t even know them. All I knew was that I was starting my junior year at the Spencer Academy of San Francisco, this private boarding school for trust fund kids and the offspring of the hopelessly rich, and I totally did not want to be there.<\/p>\n

I mean, picture it: You go from having fun and being popular in tenth grade at Pacific High in Santa Barbara, where you can hang out on State Street or join a drumming circle or surf whenever you feel like it with all your friends, to being absolutely nobody in this massive old mansion where rich kids go because their parents don’t have time to take care of them.<\/p>\n

Not that my parents are like that. My dad’s a movie director, and he’s home whenever his shooting schedule allows it. When he’s not, sometimes he flies us out to cool places like Barbados or Hungary for a week so we can be on location together. You’ve probably heard of my dad. He directed that big pirate movie that Warner Brothers did a couple of years ago. That’s how he got on the radar of some of the big A-list directors, so when George (hey, he asked me to call him that, so it’s not like I’m dropping names) rang him up from Marin and suggested they do a movie together, of course he said yes. I can’t imagine anybody saying no to George, but anyway, that’s why we’re in San Francisco for the next two years. Since Dad’s going to be out at the Ranch or on location so much, and my sister, Jolie, is at UCLA (film school, what else\u2014she’s a daddy’s girl and she admits it), and my mom’s dividing her time among all of us, I had the choice of going to boarding school or having a live-in. Boarding school sounded fun in a Harry Potter kind of way, so I picked that.<\/p>\n

Sigh. That was before I realized how lonely it is being the New Girl. Before the full effect of my breakup really hit. Before I knew about Vanessa Talbot, who I swear would make the perfect girlfriend for a warlock.<\/p>\n

And speaking of witch . . .<\/p>\n

“Melissa!”<\/p>\n

Note: my name is not Melissa. But on the first day of classes, I’d made the mistake of correcting Vanessa, which meant that every time she saw me after that, she made a point of saying it wrong. The annoying part is that now people really think that’s my name.<\/p>\n

Vanessa, Emily Overton, and Dani Lavigne (“Yes, that Lavigne. Did I tell you she’s my cousin?”) are like this triad of terror at Spencer. Their parents are all fabulously wealthy\u2014richer than my mom’s family, even\u2014and they never let you forget it. Vanessa and Dani have the genes to go with all that money, which means they look good in everything from designer dresses to street chic.<\/p>\n

Vanessa’s dark brown hair is cut so perfectly, it always falls into place when she moves. She has the kind of skin and dark eyes that might be from some Italian beauty somewhere in her family tree. Which, of course, means the camera loves her. It didn’t take me long to figure out that there was likely to be a photographer or two somewhere on the grounds pretty much all the time, and nine times out of ten, Vanessa was the one they bagged. Her mom is minor royalty and the ex-wife of some U.N. Secretary or other, which means every time he gives a speech, a photographer shows up here. Believe me, seeing Vanessa in the halls at school and never knowing when she’s going to pop out at me from the pages of Teen People or some society news Web site is just annoying. Can you say overexposed?<\/p>\n

Anyway. Where was I? Dani has butterscotch-colored hair that she has highlighted at Biondi once a month, and big blue eyes that make her look way more innocent than she is. Emily is shorter and chunkier and could maybe be nice if you got her on her own, but she’s not the kind that functions well outside of a clique.<\/p>\n

Some people are born independent and some aren’t. You should see Emily these days. All that money doesn’t help her one bit out at the farm, where\u2014<\/p>\n

Okay, Gillian just told me I have to stop doing that. She says it’s messing her up, like I’m telling her the ending when I’m supposed to be telling the beginning.<\/p>\n

Not that it’s all about her, okay? It’s about us: me, Gillian, Carly, Shani, Mac . . . and God. But just to make Gillian happy, I’ll skip to the part where I met her, and she (and you) can see what I really thought of her. Ha. Maybe that’ll make her stop reading over my shoulder.<\/p>\n

So as I was saying, there they were\u2014Vanessa, Emily, and Dani\u2014standing between me and the dining room doors. “What’s up?” I said, walking up to them when I should have turned and settled for something out of the snack machine at the other end of the hall.<\/p>\n

“She doesn’t know.” Emily poked Dani. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell her.”<\/p>\n

I did a fast mental check. Plaid skirt\u2014okay. Oxfords\u2014no embarrassing toilet paper. White blouse\u2014buttoned, no stains. Slate blue cardigan\u2014clean. Hair\u2014freshly brushed.<\/p>\n

They couldn’t be talking about me personally, in which case I didn’t need to hear it. “Whatever.” I pushed past them and took two steps down the hall.<\/p>\n

“Don’t you want to hear about your new roommate?” Vanessa asked.<\/p>\n

Roommate? At that point I’d survived for five days, and the only good things about them were the cr\u00e8me brul\u00e9e in the dining room and the blessed privacy of my own room. What fresh disaster was this?<\/p>\n

Oops. I’d stopped in my tracks and tipped them off that (a) I didn’t know, and (b) I wanted to know. And when Vanessa knows you want something, she’ll do everything she can not to let you have it.<\/p>\n

“I think we should tell her,” Emily said. “It would be kinder to get it over with.” “I’m sure I’ll find out eventually.” There, that sounded bored enough. “Byeee.” “I hope you like Chinese!” Dani whooped at her own cleverness, and the three of them floated off down the hall.<\/p>\n

So I thought, Great, maybe they’re having dim sum today for lunch, though what that had to do with my new roommate I had no idea. At that point it hadn’t really sunk in that conversation with those three is a dangerous thing.<\/p>\n

That had been my first mistake the previous Wednesday, when classes had officially begun. Conversation, I mean. You know, normal civilized discourse with someone you think might be a friend. Like a total dummy, I’d actually thought this about Vanessa, who’d pulled newbie duty, walking me down the hall to show me where my first class was. It turned out to not be my first class, but the teacher was nice about steering me to the right room, where I was, of course, late.<\/p>\n

That should’ve been my first clue.<\/p>\n

My second clue was when Vanessa invited me to eat with them and Dani managed to spill her Coke all over my uniform skirt, which is, as I said, plaid and made of this easy-clean fake wool that people with sensitive skin can wear. She’d jumped up, all full of apologies, and handed me napkins and stuff, but the fact remained that I had to go upstairs and change and then figure out how the laundry service worked, which meant I was late for Biology, too.<\/p>\n

On Thursday Dani apologized again, and Vanessa loaned me some of her Bumble and bumble shampoo (“You can’t use Paul Mitchell on gorgeous hair like yours\u2014people get that stuff at the drugstore now”), and I was dumb enough to think that maybe things were looking up. Because really, the shampoo was superb. My hair is blond and I wear it long, but before you go hating me for it, it’s fine and thick, and the fog we have here in San Francisco makes it go all frizzy. And it’s foggy a lot. So this shampoo made it just coo with pleasure.<\/p>\n

You’re probably asking yourself why I bothered trying to be friends with these girls. The harrowing truth was, I was used to being in the A-list group. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t fit in with the popular girls at Spencer, once I figured out who they were.<\/p>\n

Lucky me\u2014Vanessa made that so easy. And I was so lonely and out of my depth that even she was looking good. Her dad had once backed one of my dad’s films, so there was that minimal connection.<\/p>\n

Too bad it wasn’t enough.<\/p>\n

jolie.mansfield<\/strong> L, don’t let them bug you. Some people are
\nthreatened by anything new. It’s a compliment
\nreally.<\/p>\n

LMansfield<\/strong> You always find the bright side. Gahh. Love you,
\nbut not helping.<\/p>\n

jolie.mansfield <\/strong>What can I do?<\/p>\n

LMansfield<\/strong> I’d give absolutely anything to be back in S.B.<\/p>\n

jolie.mansfield<\/strong> :(<\/p>\n

LMansfield<\/strong> I want to hang with the kids from my youth group.
\nNot worry about anything but the SPF of my sun
\nblock.<\/p>\n

jolie.mansfield<\/strong> It’ll get better. Promise. Heard from Mom?
\nLMansfield No. She’s doing some fundraiser with Angelina.
\nShe’s pretty busy.<\/p>\n

jolie.mansfield<\/strong> If you say so. Love you.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2008 by Shelley Adina<\/p><\/div>\n

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&<\/p>\n

The Fruit of My Lipstick (All About Us Series, Book 2) <\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Product Details:<\/p>\n

List Price: $9.99
\nPaperback: 256 pages
\nPublisher: FaithWords (August 11, 2008)
\nLanguage: English
\nISBN-10: 0446177970
\nISBN-13: 978-0446177979<\/p>\n

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:<\/span> <\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter One<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

chapter 1<\/p>\n

Top Five Clues That He\u2019s the One<\/p>\n

1. He\u2019s smart, which is why he\u2019s dating you and not the queen of the snob mob.<\/p>\n

2. He knows he\u2019s hot, but he thinks you\u2019re hotter.<\/p>\n

3. He\u2019d rather listen to you than to himself.<\/p>\n

4. You\u2019re in on his jokes\u2014not the butt of them.<\/p>\n

5. He always gives you the last cookie in the box.<\/p>\n

THE NEW YEAR. . . when a young girl\u2019s heart turns to new beginnings, weight loss, and a new term of chemistry!<\/p>\n

Whew! Got that little squee out of my system. But you may as well know right now that science and music are what I do, and they tend to come up a lot in conversation. Sometimes my friends think this is good, like when I\u2019m helping them cram for an exam. Sometimes they just think I\u2019m a geek. But that\u2019s okay. My name is Gillian Frances Jiao-Lan Chang, and since Lissa was brave enough to fall on her sword and spill what happened last fall, I guess I can\u2019t do anything less.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m kidding about the sword. You know that, right?<\/p>\n

Term was set to start on the first Wednesday in January, so I flew into SFO first class from JFK on Monday. I thought I\u2019d packed pretty efficiently, but I still exceeded the weight limit by fifty pounds. It took some doing to get me and my bags into the limo, let me tell you. But I\u2019d found last term that I couldn\u2019t live without certain things, so they came with me. Like my sheet music and some more of my books. And warmer clothes.<\/p>\n

You say California and everyone thinks L.A. The reality of San Francisco in the winter is that it\u2019s cold, whether the sun is shining or the fog is stealing in through the Golden Gate and blanketing the bay. A perfect excuse for a trip to Barney\u2019s to get Vera Wang\u2019s tulip-hem black wool coat, right?<\/p>\n

I thought so, too.<\/p>\n

Dorm, sweet dorm. I staggered through the door of the room I share with Lissa Mansfield. It\u2019s up to us to get our stuff into our rooms, so here\u2019s where it pays to be on the rowing team, I guess. Biceps are good for hauling bulging Louis Vuittons up marble staircases. But I am so not the athletic type. I leave that to John, the youngest of my three older brothers. He\u2019s been into gymnastics since he was, like, four, and he\u2019s training hard to make the U.S. Olympic team. I haven\u2019t seen him since I was fourteen\u2014he trains with a coach out in Arizona.<\/p>\n

My oldest brother, Richard, is twenty-six and works for my dad at the bank, and the second oldest, Darren\u2014the one I\u2019m closest to\u2014is graduating next spring from Harvard and going straight into medical school after that.<\/p>\n

Yeah, we\u2019re a family of overachievers. Don\u2019t hate me, okay?<\/p>\n

I heard a thump in the hall outside and got the door open just in time to come face-to-face with a huge piece of striped fiberglass with three fins.<\/p>\n

I stood aside to let Lissa into the room with her surfboard. She was practically bowed at the knees with the weight of the duffel slung over her shoulder, and another duffel with a big O\u2019Neill logo waited outside. I grabbed it and swung it onto her bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome back, girlfriend!\u201d<\/p>\n

She stood the board against the wall, let the duffel drop to the floor with a thud that probably shook the chandelier in the room below us, and pulled me into a hug.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so glad to see you!\u201d Her perfect Nordic face lit up with happiness. \u201cHow was your Christmas\u2014the parts you didn\u2019t tell me about on e-mail?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe usual. Too many family parties. Mom and Nai-Nai made way too much food, two of my brothers fought over the remote like they were ten years old, my dad and oldest brother bailed to go back to work early, and, oh, Nai-Nai wanted to know at least twice a day why I didn\u2019t have a boyfriend.\u201d I considered the chaos we\u2019d just made of our pristine room. \u201cThe typical Chang holiday. What about you? Did Scotland improve after the first couple of days?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fre-e-e-e-zing.\u201d She slipped off her coat and tam. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t just mean rainy-freezing. I mean sleet-and-icicles freezing. The first time I wore my high-heeled Louboutin boots, I nearly broke my ankle. As it was, I landed flat on my butt in the middle of the Royal Mile. Totally embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s a Royal Mile? Princesses by the square foot?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis big broad avenue that goes through the old part of Edinburgh toward the queen\u2019s castle. Good shopping. Restaurants. Tourists. Ice.\u201d She unzipped the duffel and began pulling things out of it. \u201cDad was away a lot at the locations for this movie. Sometimes I went with him, and sometimes I hung out with this really adorable guy who was supposed to be somebody\u2019s production assistant but who wound up being my guide the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough job, but someone\u2019s gotta do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI made it worth his while.\u201d She flashed me a wicked grin, but behind it I saw something else. Pain, and memory. \u201cSo.\u201d She spread her hands. \u201cWhat\u2019s new around here?\u201d<\/p>\n

I shrugged. \u201cI just walked in myself a few minutes ago. You probably passed the limo leaving. But if what you really want to know is whether the webcam incident is over and done with, I don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

She turned away, but not before I saw her flush pink and then blink really fast, like her contacts had just been flooded. \u201cLet\u2019s hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou made it through last term.\u201d I tried to be encouraging. \u201cWhat doesn\u2019t kill you makes you stronger, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made one thing stronger.\u201d She pulled a cashmere scarf out of the duffel and stroked it as though it were a kitten. \u201cI never prayed so hard in my life. Especially during finals week, remember? When those two idiots seriously thought they could force me into that storage closet and get away with it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we left, I heard the short one was going to be on crutches for six weeks.\u201d I grinned at her. Fact of the day: Surfers are pretty good athletes. Don\u2019t mess with them. \u201cMaybe it should be, \u2018What doesn\u2019t kill you makes your relationship with God stronger.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat I\u2019ll agree with. Do you know if Carly\u2019s here yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer dad was driving her up in time for supper, so she should be calling any second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure enough, within a few minutes, someone knocked. \u201cThat\u2019s gotta be her.\u201d I jumped for the door and swung it open.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, chicas!\u201d Carly hugged me and then Lissa. \u201cDid you miss me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike chips miss guacamole.\u201d Lissa grinned at her. \u201cGood break?\u201d<\/p>\n

She grimaced, her soft brown eyes a little sad. Clearly Christmas break isn\u2019t what it\u2019s cracked up to be in anybody\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad had to go straighten out some computer chip thing in Singapore, so Antony and I got shipped off to Veracruz. It was great to see my mom and the grandparents, but you know . . .\u201d Her voice trailed away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d I asked. \u201cDid you have a fight?\u201d That\u2019s what happens at our house.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d She sighed, then lifted her head to look at both of us. \u201cI think my mom has a boyfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEwww,\u201d Lissa and I said together, with identical grimaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always kind of hoped my mom and dad would figure it out, you know? And get back together. But it looks like that\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hugged her again. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Carly. That stinks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d She straightened up, and my arm slid from her shoulders. \u201cSo, enough about me. What about you guys?\u201d<\/p>\n

With a quick recap, we put her in the picture. \u201cSo do you have something going with this Scottish guy?\u201d Carly asked Lissa.<\/p>\n

Lissa shook her head, a curtain of blonde hair falling to partially hide her face\u2014a trick I\u2019ve never quite been able to master, even though my hair hangs past my shoulders. But it\u2019s so thick and coarse, it never does what I want on the best of days. It has to be beaten into submission by a professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I liked his accent most of all,\u201d she said. \u201cI could just sit there and listen to him talk all day. In fact, I did. What he doesn\u2019t know about murders and wars and Edinburgh Castle and Lord This and Earl That would probably fit in my lip gloss tube.\u201d<\/p>\n

I contrasted walking the cold streets of Edinburgh, listening to some guy drone on about history, with fighting with my brothers. Do we girls know how to have fun, or what? \u201cBetter you than me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d have loved it,\u201d Carly said. \u201cCan you imagine walking through a castle with your own private tour guide? Especially if he\u2019s cute. It doesn\u2019t get better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUm, okay.\u201d Lissa gave her a sideways glance. \u201cMiss A-plus in History.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d I had A-pluses in AP Chem and Math, but with anything less in those subjects, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to face my father at Christmas. As it was, he had a fit over my B in History, and the only reason I managed to achieve an A-minus in English was because of a certain person with the initials L. M.<\/p>\n

Carly shrugged. \u201cI like history. I like knowing what happened where, and who it happened to, and what they were wearing. Not that I\u2019ve ever been anywhere very much, except Texas and Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d definitely have liked Alasdair, then,\u201d Lissa said. \u201cHe knows all about what happened to whom. But the worst was having to go for tea at some freezing old stone castle that Dad was using for a set. I thought I\u2019d lose my toes from frostbite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody lives in the castle?\u201d Carly looked fascinated. \u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome earl.\u201d Lissa looked into the distance as she flipped through the PDA in her head. Then she blinked. \u201cThe Earl and Countess of Strathcairn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCool!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVery. Forty degrees, tops. He said he had a daughter about our age, but I never met her. She heard we were coming and took off on her horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMo guai nuer,\u201d I said. \u201cRude much?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lissa shrugged. \u201cAlasdair knew the family. He said Lady Lindsay does what she wants, and clearly she didn\u2019t want to meet us. Not that I cared. I was too busy having hypothermia. I\u2019ve never been so glad to see the inside of a hotel room in my life. I\u2019d have put my feet in my mug of tea if I could have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, cold or not, I still think it\u2019s cool that you met an earl,\u201d Carly said. \u201cAnd I can\u2019t wait to see your dad\u2019s movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFilming starts in February, so Dad won\u2019t be around much. But Mom\u2019s big charity gig for the Babies of Somalia went off just before Christmas and was a huge success, so she\u2019ll be around a bit more.\u201d She paused. \u201cUntil she finds something else to get involved in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you meet Angelina?\u201d I asked. Lissa\u2019s life fascinated me. To her, movie stars are her dad\u2019s coworkers, like the brokers and venture capitalists who come to the bank are my dad\u2019s coworkers. But Dad doesn\u2019t work with people who look like Orlando and Angelina, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I met her. She apologized for flaking on me for the Benefactors\u2019 Day Ball. Not that I blame her. It all turned out okay in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExcept for your career as Vanessa Talbot\u2019s BFF.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lissa snorted. \u201cYeah. Except that.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of us mentioned what else had crashed and burned in flames after the infamous webcam incident\u2014her relationship with the most popular guy in school, Callum McCloud. I had a feeling that that was a scab we just didn\u2019t need to pick at.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need Vanessa Talbot,\u201d Carly said firmly. \u201cYou have us.\u201d<\/p>\n

We exchanged a grin. \u201cShe\u2019s right,\u201d I said. \u201cThis term, it\u2019s totally all about us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank goodness for that,\u201d she said. \u201cCome on. Let\u2019s go eat. I\u2019m starving.\u201d<\/p>\n

RStapleton I heard from a mutual friend that you take care of people at midterm time.<\/p>\n

Source10 What friend?<\/p>\n

RStapleton Loyola.<\/p>\n

Source10 Been known to happen.<\/p>\n

RStapleton How much?<\/p>\n

Source10 1K. Math, sciences, geography only.<\/p>\n

RStapleton I hate numbers.<\/p>\n

Source10 IM me the day before to confirm.<\/p>\n

RStapleton OK. Who are you?<\/p>\n

RStapleton You there?<\/p>\n

BY NOON THE next day, I\u2019d hustled down to the student print shop in the basement and printed the notices I\u2019d laid out on my Mac. I tacked them on the bulletin boards in the common rooms and classroom corridors on all four floors.<\/p>\n

Christian prayer circle every Tuesday night 7:00 p.m., Room 216 Bring your Bible and a friend!<\/p>\n

\u201cNice work,\u201d Lissa told me when I found her and Carly in the dining room. \u201cLove the salmon pink paper. But school hasn\u2019t officially started yet. We probably won\u2019t get a very good turnout if the first one\u2019s tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe not.\u201d I bit into a succulent California roll and savored the tart, thin seaweed wrapper around the rice, avocado, and shrimp. I had to hand it to Dining Services. Their food was amazing. \u201cBut even if it\u2019s just the three of us, I can\u2019t think of a better way to start off the term, can you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lissa didn\u2019t reply. The color faded from her face and she concentrated on her square ceramic plate of sushi as though it were her last meal. Carly swallowed a bite of makizushi with an audible gulp as it went down whole. Slowly, casually, I reached for the pepper shaker and glanced over my shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it isn\u2019t the holy trinity,\u201d Vanessa drawled, plastered against Brett Loyola\u2019s arm and standing so close behind us, neither Carly nor I could move. \u201cGoing to multiply the rice and fish for us?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNice to see you, too, Vanessa,\u201d Lissa said coolly. \u201cBeen reading your Bible, I see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHi, Brett,\u201d Carly managed, her voice about six notes higher than usual as she craned to look up at him.<\/p>\n

He looked at her, puzzled, as if he\u2019d seen her before somewhere but couldn\u2019t place where, and gave her a vague smile. \u201cHey.\u201d<\/p>\n

I rolled my eyes. Like we hadn\u2019t spent an entire term in History together. Like Carly didn\u2019t light up like a Christmas tree every time she passed a paper to him, or maneuvered her way into a study group that had him in it. Honestly. I don\u2019t know how that guy got past the entrance requirements.<\/p>\n

Oh, wait. Silly me. Daddy probably made a nice big donation to the athletics department, and they waved Brett through Admissions with a grateful smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave any of you seen Callum?\u201d Vanessa inquired sweetly. \u201cI\u2019m dying to see him. I hear he spent Christmas skiing at their place in Vail with his sisters and his new girlfriend. No parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a day student.\u201d I glanced at Lissa to see how she was taking this, but she\u2019d leaned over to the table behind her to snag a bunch of napkins. \u201cWhy would he be eating here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see all his friends, of course. I guess that\u2019s why you haven\u2019t seen him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither have you, if you\u2019re asking where he is.\u201d Poor Vanessa. I hope she\u2019s never on a debating team. It could get humiliating.<\/p>\n

But what she lacked in logic she made up for in venom. She ignored me and gushed, \u201cI love your outfit, Lissa. I\u2019m sure Callum would, too. That is, if he were still speaking to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I barely restrained myself from giving Vanessa an elbow in the stomach. But Lissa had come a long way since her ugly breakup with a guy who didn\u2019t deserve her. Vanessa had no idea who she was dealing with\u2014Lissa with an army of angels at her back was a scary thing.<\/p>\n

She pinned Vanessa with a stare as cold as fresh snow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean you haven\u2019t told him yet that you made that video?\u201d She shook her head. \u201cNaughty Vanessa, lying to your friends like that.\u201d A big smile and a meaningful glance at Brett. \u201cBut then, they\u2019re probably used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanessa opened her mouth to say something scathing, when a tall, lanky guy elbowed past her to put his sushi dishes on the table next to mine. Six feet of sheer brilliance, with blue eyes and brown hair cropped short so he didn\u2019t have to deal with it. A mind so sharp, he put even the overachievers here in the shade\u2014but in spite of that, a guy who\u2019d started coming to prayer circle last term. Who could fluster me with a look, and wipe my brain completely blank with just a smile.<\/p>\n

Lucas Hayes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Vanessa, Brett.\u201d<\/p>\n

My jaw sagged in surprise, and I snapped it shut on my mouthful of rice, hoping he hadn\u2019t seen. Since when was the king of the science geeks on speaking terms with the popular crowd?<\/p>\n

To add to the astonishment, the two of them stepped back, as if to give him some space. \u201cYo, Einstein.\u201d Brett grinned and they shook hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi, Lucas.\u201d Vanessa glanced from him to me to our dishes sitting next to each other. \u201cI didn\u2019t know you were friends with these people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shrugged. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot you don\u2019t know about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat could change. Why don\u2019t you come and sit with us?\u201d she asked. Brett looked longingly at the sushi bar and tugged on her arm. She ignored him. \u201cWe\u2019re much more fun. We don\u2019t sing hymns and save souls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019ve heard. Did you make it into Trig?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course.\u201d She tossed her gleaming sheet of hair over one shoulder. \u201cThanks to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t keep quiet another second. \u201cYou tutored her?\u201d I asked him, trying not to squeak.<\/p>\n

He picked up a piece of California roll and popped it in his mouth, nodding. \u201cAll last term.\u201d He glanced at Vanessa. \u201cContrary to popular opinion, she isn\u2019t all looks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, gack. Way TMI. Vanessa smiled as though she\u2019d won this and all other possible arguments now and in the future, world without end, amen. \u201cCome on, Lucas. Hold our table for us while Brett and I get our food. I want to talk to you about something anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shrugged and picked up his dishes while she and Brett swanned away. \u201cSee you at prayer circle,\u201d he said to me. \u201cI saw the signs. Same time and place, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

I could only nod as he headed for the table in the middle of the big window looking out on the quad. The one no one else dared to sit at, in case they risked the derision and social ostracism that would follow.<\/p>\n

The empty seat on my right seemed even emptier. How could he do that? How could he just dump us and then say he\u2019d see us at prayer circle? Shouldn\u2019t he want to eat with the people he prayed with?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay, Gillian,\u201d Carly whispered. \u201cAt least he\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Vanessa isn\u2019t,\u201d Lissa put in with satisfaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not so sure I want him to, now,\u201d I said. I looked at my sushi and my stomach sort of lurched. Ugh. I pushed it away.<\/p>\n

And here I\u2019d been feeling so superior to Carly and her unrequited yen for Brett. I was just as bad, and this proved it. What else could explain this sick feeling in my middle?<\/p>\n

Two hours later, while Lissa, Carly, and I shoved aside the canvases and whatnot that had accumulated in Room 216 over the break, making enough room for half a dozen people to sit, I\u2019d almost talked myself into not caring whether Lucas came or not.<\/p>\n

And then he stepped through the door and I realized my body was more honest than my brain. I sucked in a breath and my heart began to pound.<\/p>\n

Oh, yeah. You so don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

Travis, who must have arrived during dinner, trickled in behind him, and then Shani Hanna, who moved with the confidence of an Arabian queen, arrived with a couple of sophomores I didn\u2019t know. Her hair, tinted bronze and caught up at the crown of her head, tumbled to her shoulders in corkscrew curls. I fingered my own arrow-straight mop that wouldn\u2019t hold a curl if you threatened it with death.<\/p>\n

Okay, stop feeling sorry for yourself, would you? Enough is enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, everyone, thanks for coming,\u201d I said brightly, getting to my feet. \u201cI\u2019m Gillian Chang. Why don\u2019t the newbies introduce themselves, and then we\u2019ll get started?\u201d<\/p>\n

The sophomores told us their names, and I found out Travis\u2019s last name was Fanshaw. And the dots connected. Of course he\u2019d been assigned as Lucas\u2019s roommate\u2014he\u2019s like this Chemistry genius. If it weren\u2019t for Lucas, he\u2019d be the king of the science geeks. Sometimes science people have a hard time reconciling scientific method with faith. If they were here at prayer circle, maybe Travis and Lucas were among the lucky few who figured science was a form of worship, of marveling at the amazement that is creation. I mean, if Lucas was one of those guys who got a kick out of arguing with the Earth Sciences prof, I wouldn\u2019t even be able to date him.<\/p>\n

Not that there was any possibility of that.<\/p>\n

As our prayers went up one by one, quietly from people like Carly and brash and uncomfortably from people like Travis and the sophomores, I wished that dating was the kind of thing I could pray about.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t think God has my social life on His to-do list.<\/p>\n

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author\u2019s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2008 by Shelley Adina<\/p>\n

This article is used with the permission of Hachette Book Group and Shelley Adina. All rights reserved.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

MY REVIEW:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Both It’s All About Us<\/a> and The Fruit of my Lipstick<\/a> are a realistic look at life in a private boarding school comprised mainly of well-to-do students. The primary characters in the two books are roommates Lissa and Gillian who are both Christians and who are in the minority among the other students. Like most girls of that age, Lissa and Gillian are very interested in fashion, popularity, and of course guys. They contend with jealousy, competition, mean girls, and most issues that confront today’s teens.<\/p>\n

The books do an excellent job of illustrating the challenge Christians have as they interact with other people. Both Lissa and Gillian each are forced to make difficult choices as they endeavor to win and keep the interest of the young man in their lives. The results of Lissa’s and Gillian’s choices should teach girls the importance of making the proper choices and the ramifications these choices can have on their lives.<\/p>\n

I would definitely recommend these books for teen girls. They are entertaining, realistic, but most important, have a serious message woven throughout.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s the 21st, time for the Teen FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Click the button!) Every 21st, we will feature an author and his\/her latest Teen fiction book’s FIRST chapter! Shelley Adina and her books: It’s All About Us: A Novel FaithWords (May 12, 2008) and The Fruit of My Lipstick (All About Us Series, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":484,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions\/484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}