Tuesday, July 9, 2013

THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (prologue)


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…