Crunch Time - Softcover

Fredericks, Mariah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416939733 ISBN 13: 9781416939733

Verlag: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

Leo, Max, Jane, and Daisy don't have much in common. But when they all blow off their SAT prep in favor of forming their own study group, they actually begin to bond -- over why there's so much competition over a stupid test. And what it really measures, anyway.

Then it's revealed that someone has cheated on the SATs, and all eyes point to the study group. Everyone knows that Leo can't stand to lose. That Max is convinced he's a loser. That Jane couldn't care less about the whole thing. And that if Daisy doesn't clinch the right score, forget it -- she can't afford to go to college.

The pressure is on for the cheater to come forward. Who will fess up?

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Mariah Fredericks is the author of the bestselling novel The True Meaning of Cleavage, which Meg Cabot called "Laugh-out-loud funny and way twisted!" She is also the author of Head Games, Crunch Time, and two previous books in the In the Cards series, Love and Fame.

Mariah accepts that cats are her superior in every way and would never dream of insulting one by trying to own it. However, she has been reading tarot cards since she was a teenager, and while she knows that it is lame to believe in fortune-telling, her readings keep coming true, so she keeps doing them. She has even written a tarot guide called The Smart Girl's Guide to Tarot.

She lives with her husband, son, and basset hound in Jackson Heights, New York. Visit her online at www.mariahfredericks.com or www.myspace.com/mariahfredericks.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Crunch Time

By Mariah Fredericks

Simon Pulse

Copyright © 2007 Mariah Fredericks
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781416939733

Max

They never list the names. Just the numbers.

Every year the school posts the SAT scores in the lobby, where anyone can see them. But they don't put the names -- like Jeff Stein got 2340, Susie Chen got 1160. They just put the numbers and let you guess who got what.

Which, of course, is what everybody does.

It's easier than you think. Like some kids, the math geniuses and future physicists, you can pretty much figure out they're the 2300s. If someone gets 2400, it always comes out who it is. "Oh, don't tell anyone, but I got 2400." Yeah, right. Next day everyone's like, "He got 2400. He's going to Yale."

And it's not too hard to figure out who's at the bottom of the list. Who got in the 1200s -- when they give you 600 points just for writing your name. You think of the stoners, the jocks, kids who just say, "Screw it." Because some kids do. They say they don't care what they get, and they mean it.

Then there's everybody else, all clumped together in the middle. The pretty goods, the fines...also known as the not good enoughs, the not quite acceptables.

Last year when I took the PSATs for the first time, I told myself I wouldn't look at the list.

But I did. And there it was: my score. This is where you are, Max. This is how much you count for.

Sometimes I think, What's worse? Doing just okay, or totally bottoming out? There's a weird honor in completely screwing up, in scoring so low that no college'll take you except the ones that take everyone, including mental cases and paint eaters. The kid at the top has that spot all to himself. But so does the kid at the bottom.

When you're trying to figure out who got what, you remember -- who looked happy the day after you got the scores? Who looked bummed out, who was crying?

Mr. Crowley, our college adviser, always says, "The top colleges can only take so many kids from Dewey." Only a few of you, maybe even only one of you, are going to get to go to Yale or Harvard."

In other words, like it or not, you're all in competition with one another.

Part I

Pick Up Your No. 2 Pencil. Begin.

Leo

In New York everybody knows everybody else. Well, there are all these people you totally don't know -- like cabdrivers and the freaks in the park -- but they don't count. The people who count, the kids who go to your school or schools like your school, we all know one another. It's like a club. "Dalton, check. Prada, check. Summers in Europe or the Hamptons, check." We all want the same things and we all do the same stuff to get them.

Like college. You can pretend you don't want to go to Yale or Harvard or Brown -- but you do. Unless you're a nose picker. In life there are those who count and there are nose pickers. Very few people actually count for anything -- even though everybody likes to think they do.

Anyway, I'm not surprised when I walk into the SAT prep class in the last week of summer vacation and there's at least three other kids from Dewey.

Without even thinking, I size them up.

Daisy Stubbs. Plays b-ball, dates b-ball. Heavily into saving things, from the planet to the guy at the party who thinks it's a cool idea to mix tequila and schnapps. I've been to a lot of parties where Daisy's holding somebody's head while they puke. She's a lot of guys' dream, but I never saw the big deal.

Strictly state school. No threat.

Of course, next to Daisy is her best bud, Max. Max is a little guy. Those who can't play, write for the school paper. He'd probably tell you it's all about the game, but it's like, dude, girls in shorts? Who are you kidding?

Max is smart. He could be thinking Ivies. Maybe Columbia.

Then there's Jane Cotterell. When she came to our school last year, we were like, "Sweet, Julia Cotterell's daughter and she passes for a babe." But Jane speaks

to no one. Shy or stuck-up? Can't tell. Guess when your mom's a movie star, you don't mix with the little people.

Possible threat. But only because of Mom.

I take a seat, look around. No sign of the teacher, and it's almost time to start. While we wait, I open my notebook and start a list, "Five People I Don't Know Who Count."

1. Bill Gates

2. Quentin Tarantino (or Steven Soderbergh)

3. Bono

And maybe, just maybe, Jane Cotterell.

Jane

I really, really hope they don't make us go around and say our names. I hate that. Somebody always asks, "Hey, is your mom Julia Cotterell?"

I have two standard answers: "Um, yeah" or "No, but I get that all the time."

I hardly ever do "Um, yeah," because then you get, "Oh, I loved her in Persuasion," or "She totally deserved the Oscar that year." And then what do you say? "Thanks"?

My mom would be so on me right now. There are three kids from Dewey here, and she'd be like, "Why don't you say hi? Why don't you talk to them? They don't have fangs, for God's sake."

Mom, believe me, Daisy and Max would find me utterly boring, and Leo Thayer is a BP who talks only to other BPs.

Where is the SAT guy, anyway?

Max

Just when I'm thinking Is this class ever going to start? this bald guy sticks his head in the door and gasps, "Can't find the booklets. Stay put, I'll be right back...."

I feel Daisy's notebook nudge my hand. I look at what she's written.

"It's a sign. Let's split."

I write, "Can't. Must learn secrets of a, b, c, d, or e."

Daisy scribbles some more.

"a. This is lame.

b. This is boring.

c. This sucks.

d. All of the above.

e. LET'S SPLIT!!"

Last year Daisy and I both said prep was elitist and sick, and we swore we wouldn't do it. Then we got our PSAT scores, and well, I guess things change.

I tell myself everyone does prep. Even Tory McEwan, who got the one perfect score in the school last year, did prep. There's no shame in it.

I just feel...disgusting, that's all.

The SAT guy is back. He pants, "Just a few more minutes, I'm arranging for backup."

Then he disappears. Leo Thayer makes a big show of looking at his watch. "That's ten minutes gone. This one class costs a hundred dollars, this guy owes us each ten bucks."

A girl with pink fingernails who obviously thinks Leo is hot says, "Totally."

I tell myself I don't hate Leo Thayer because he's one of the Beautiful People and so many women think he's hot. I tell myself I hate Leo Thayer because he's an egotistical schmuck.

And I almost believe myself.

Then Daisy says loudly, "Screw the ten bucks. Let's just walk out."

Daisy

Well, someone had to say something.

I mean, God, we were all just sitting there like, Oh, please, Mr. Brilliant SAT Man, share your wisdom with us. We have paid you hundreds of dollars for the wonderful privilege.

And those who don't have hundreds of dollars, well, screw them.

And those who don't go to private school, screw them, too.

I said to my parents, "Doesn't it bother you, just a little, how unfair this is? How the whole system is completely and disgustingly rigged?"

And they were like, "Yeah, but you're going anyway."

Yay, principles.

Last...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1416939733
• ISBN 13: 9781416939733
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 336
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande