What if the best day of your life turns out to be the last day of your life?
And what if there is no one who cares enough to find out what really happened, except your best friend?
Fifteen-year-old Vickie Bartolucci knows the Blueberry Hill Home for Troubled Youth is where all the rich families quietly warehouse their kids. Raised by a working-class, single mother, Vickie is half Korean, half Italian, and one hundred percent herself.
Convinced she doesn't have a chance of fitting in, the last thing she expects is to find a friend who likes her for who she is. And, like a bodega cat, once Vickie is your friend, you have to try hard to get rid of her. Yep, you have yourself a friend for life, a friend to the end.
When teenagers disappear from Blueberry Hill and her new best friend dies, Vickie and her reluctant band of fellow patients must discover what's happening before one of them is next. It's a motley crew, but all she's got . . .
Tracy, the heartthrob
Eagen, the Goth kid
Squirt, the nerd
Annie, the weird one
Julie, the pretty one
If nothing else, Vickie owes it to her friend to do everything she can to find out the truth, even if it means risking her own life-or worse.
That's what friends do.
Savage, I.: - I. Savage is a bestselling author and creative consultant, specializing in helping clients move their careers and dreams forward. Born and raised in Kittrell, North Carolina, he earned his BA in TV/Film/Communications from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MA in Psychology from City College, but the fearless educators at Zeb Vance Elementary were among the first to nourish his love of storytelling. In third grade, he'd disappear for hours into the class storage room with his friend Sharon. Together, they created plays that stretched the bounds of their imaginations. Scraps of fabric became flowing robes, broomsticks shrunk into scepters, and paint brushes morphed into magic wands. Rather than admonishing the class defectors, Mrs. Haithcott asked them to cast the rest of the students in their stories and perform the plays for parents and other invited guests. And so it began! He continued to create every day after school while waiting for his mother, the school's administrative assistant, to finish her workday. Kids who missed the bus (sometimes on purpose) were cast as actors in the months-long, serial playground dramas that picked up right where they left off from day to day. Currently, I. Savage lives in New York City with his family, where he indulges in macaroni and cheese, red wine, hors d'oeuvres of every kind, sci-fi, nature, and all things Italy.
