Okay, apologies again for the gap between newsletters... Mea culpa and all that.

Anyway, I thought I'd tease you with the opening to the next (and perhaps last?) book in the "Taboo in a College Town" series. I'm debating between titling it "Octet" or "Homecoming", but it starts like this:

*****

Remember how I was hoping that going to college all the way in New York might allow me to escape the Parkland notoriety which had spoiled my last year of high school?

Fat chance.

Word got out that I was a Parkland descendant within two weeks and the same razzing about being a motherfucker started all over again. If anything, it was worse, because there were no existing friendships to buffer it, absolutely nobody coming to my defense, plus no younger kids around to make anyone moderate their profanities. 

Of course, I had to fight the temptation to smile because it was actually true now. The retort of “Jealous?” was hard to hold back, more than once. I was severely tempted to just quit school, until Cassie pointed out that I’d be a lot less likely to be accepted as a student at Prescott if I quit at Bartlett. And Mom would never let me get a job with one of the Parkland companies if I didn’t earn a degree first. I would just have to endure things for a semester or even two, earn the credits and hope the transfer was approved.

*****

Okay, so what do you think? And which title do you prefer?