THE
HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice
Prologue
by Wednesday Mackintosh
I
was walking into my freshman year at Sunrise High when I looked up from my
locker only to notice Darcy Donovan, the new senior I’d been told about. He was
totally hot just as my friends had warned me. I made a choice right there and
then not to act like just another fan girl. Besides, he threw me when he
bestowed a charitable smile, turned away and said in an Aussie voice loud
enough for both me and his friend to hear, “Girls stalk me via Twitter now. I’m
so over it.”
My name’s Wednesday Mackintosh by the way
and from that first day, I started writing this story about him. I originally
began writing it with this line:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged,
that a new guy in possession of even the slightest bit of hotness thinks
everyone in his orbit is a potential fan...” but then I changed it, obviously.
Yes, I know any normal person would raise
an eyebrow at this romantic topic du jour when as teens we live in a century of
constant war, animal activism, global human rights issues and unlimited options
but this statement deserves to be re-stated.
Why?
Because in Darcy’s case, it’s definitely
true. And I should know. I just overheard that the only reason Darcy’s even
looking for a girlfriend (he’s “so over relationships”) is because he needs to
hook up to receive his share of his grandfather’s ‘gift’ – a cattle ranch (he
called it a cattle ‘station’) to be bestowed upon him at eighteen. It’s
priceless, but he only gets it if he proves he’s emotionally ‘stable’ and in a
functioning relationship. How bizarre is that?
Let’s just state, for the record, I’d just
discovered it was more important for a guy like Darcy to have a steady girlfriend
than anyone could imagine. Anyone, that is, except his best friend Ryan. Oh,
and me, of course.
But let’s start before the introductions and
pretend this is like a scene from The Sound
of Music (without the singing of course). Sunrise is a cul-de-sac that
photographs like an old fashioned picture postcard filmed in long shot…
(For those of you who don’t already know, this
town is a picturesque and hilly enclave, located near enough to Beverly Hills
to be ritzy, but far enough from Bel Air to be not quite ritzy enough.)
This is mostly where our story takes
place… at least in the first instance. Now, to begin again…
