Showing results by author "Jessica McHugh" in All Categories

The intoxication from a pint of vodka, the electric buzz from snorting cocaine, the warm embrace from shooting heroin - drinking and drugging provide the height of human experience. It's the promise of heaven on earth, but the hell that follows is a constant hunger, a cold emptiness. The craving to get high is a yearning as intense of any blood-thirsty monster. The stories inside feature the insidious nature of addiction told with compassion yet searing honesty.

A week at Camp Wakonda is exactly what Darla Decker needs. Having said good-bye to sixth grade and her best childhood friend, she’s ready to create new memories and meet new people. Unfortunately, entering summer camp on a whopper of a lie and a fight with a fellow camper isn’t the best way to begin. Aided by her schoolmate Nate, Darla navigates the twists and turns of life at summer camp while pretending to be Wakonda’s only “undercover counselor”.

Seventh grade starts on a hopeful note when Darla Decker and the Fairmount Fifteen are invited to the State Show Choir Competition at Coaster Kingdom. Although she’s made a no-dating bet with Nate, she’s jealous of her friend Reggie’s cell phone, and her parents are constantly at each other’s throats, Darla remains determined to make seventh grade the best year ever.

Surviving sixth grade is tough enough with an annoying older brother, a best friend acting distant, and schoolwork. After adding instructive kissing games and the torturous wait for a real date with her biggest crush, Darla is perpetually torn between behaving like an adult and throwing temper tantrums.