Straight from the Library: Straight Browsing from the Library: In Between Days by Anne Jamison

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Chicago suburbs, 1985. The high school. The mall. The blood-stained Mercedes. Misogyny. Homophobia. Class warfare. Cocaine.

(And the first semester isn’t even over yet.)

The Jocks with their pastel Izods. The Barbies. The loser Burnouts.

High school in the 1980s had rules. Barbies and Jocks can mix. Barbie cheerleaders steer clear of the losers. Punks want to burn it all down.

Samantha Ward doesn't love the rules, but she plays to win. So when a snarky Burnout goes after her in a face-off, of course she fights back. Of course she fights mean. She may not get his sex joke, but she knows he made one. About her. In front of the entire cafeteria. And what's worse, she feels a tingle when she looks at bad-boy Jason.

How could she know her mean girl put-down would launch a war? Or that the school she knows hides a darker world she never even dreamed of?

In Between Days is a pitch-perfect story of first love, friendship, and enemies; of loyalty, betrayal, and the power of secrets. This darkly funny, suspenseful tale is perfect for fans of The Outsiders and The Breakfast Club.

"GRIPPING AND UNPUTDOWNABLE." --Christina Lauren, international bestselling authors of Dating You/Hating You “THIS WAS a bittersweet tumble into eighties high school nostalgia, with all the angst, sexual tension and emotional confusion involved with first love, and so well done it was a non-stop read to the end.… (Oh, and one of the best first kisses I have EVER read...),” says one reviewer.

Author's Note: This is a historical novel that contains period language that is, and was then, and should be, offensive.

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If Samantha hadn’t already folded her knees to her chest, Jason Devlin would have tripped on her. For the second time that day, she found herself wishing for the improved circumstances of total hell, but as before, hell totally failed her.

Stagnita grunted. “Miss Ward. No sitting in the hallways.” He shoved Jason a little further. Jason turned to look at her. He looked at her, so hard.

She looked back.

She felt so tired, and so angry, and so punched in the gut by this boy, and there he was, getting punched in the gut back. And it didn’t even feel good. It made her feel sicker.

Because maybe it was one thing for her to tell Jason Devlin he didn’t matter. She was a girl and he was picking on her in disgusting ways. But it was another thing entirely for the vice principal to tell him that. It felt like walking in on her father with his secretary or something, like she’d stumbled in on some corner of her world she might have known was there all along, but seeing it made her feel gross and dirty and not saying anything about it made her feel like she’d had a hand in it herself.

It took away Samantha’s pure feelings of righteous indignation and muddied them. Like maybe it wasn’t even one thing for her to tell someone they didn’t matter at all. Like maybe it just wasn’t a thing to be said. To anyone. Period.

And then there was something in his face, as hard as it was, that hadn’t been there before. Jason was tall, and although lean, he was pretty broad. He was a good fighter, and a lot of people were afraid of him. Now, though, Jason Devlin looked angry, but he also looked frightened. And sad. And for a moment, you could remember he was only sixteen or seventeen, and he was looking at Samantha with something like a question and something like recognition, and something else she couldn’t even name.

Then just as fast as it had appeared, that look was gone, replaced by the bored sneer she knew from lunch. “Yeah, Miss Ward. Straighten those legs to standing position. Time for a new pose.”

She turned away. It was nothing, after all. Maybe even just her contacts acting up.

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