Sinful Secrets

She writes me back. I didn't expect that. She tells me she's a lover of chicken pizza and video games, a hot sorority girl with the nickname Sloth. She wants to know something about me in return. She says I owe her. This is how she saves my life. She doesn't even know it.

It should have been simple. Easy come, easy go, and in between, atonement. She was not who I would have chosen. Gwen was delicate and lovely: a former model with a ruined life, living loudly in the quiet of the Smoky Mountains, healing injured bears. When she laid her hands on me, she healed me too. That's how it began. That's where it went wrong. I knew she could never be mine. But I sinned. I sinned.

Homer Carnegie. Admit it - you know my name. Your kid's got my e-trading card. Your husband sits up straighter when I stroll onto the TV screen. He knows I'm going to crack the bat and save the day. It's not my fault women line up at the door. Believe me, everybody wins. At least they did - until the video. The only folks who didn't watch with eager eyes? Red Sox management. They want me benched, or worse, shipped off to rehab. It's a long story, what happens next. How I end up on a boat, bound for the world's most remote island....

My new stepbrother is insufferable. You'd think it wouldn't matter since I won't be here for long, but this guy gets under my skin like no one ever has. All-American, baby-faced, blue-eyed band dork and star soccer player. Everything about him is the picture of perfection—unlike me. I don't think Do Gooder knows I'm starting senior year late. And he definitely doesn't know why. I've got secrets I'm taking with me to the grave.