Of All the Stupid Things - Softcover

When a rumor starts circulating that Tara's boyfriend Brent has been sleeping with one of the guy cheerleaders, the innuendo doesn't just hurt Tara. It marks the beginning of the end for an inseparable trio of friends. Tara's training for a marathon, but also running from her fear of abandonment after being deserted by her father. Whitney Blaire seems to have everything, but an empty mansion and absentee parents leave this beauty to look for meaning in all the wrong places. And Pinkie has a compulsive need to mother everyone to make up for the mom she's never stopped missing. This friendship that promised to last forever is starting to break under the pressure of the girls' differences.

And then new-girl Riley arrives in school with her long black hair, athletic body, and her blasé attitude, and suddenly Tara starts to feel things she's never felt before for a girl--and to reassess her feelings about Brent and what he may/may not have done. Is Tara gay--or does she just love Riley? And can her deepest friendships survive when all of the rules have changed?

Alexandra Diaz grew up in a bilingual Spanish/English-speaking family in various parts of the US but has also lived in Puerto Rico, Austria, and Great Britain, where she's currently based. She graduated magna cum laude with a BA in English and Communications from Lake Forest College and then went on to be awarded an MA on the prestigious Writing for Young People course at England's Bath Spa University. Her writing has appeared in newspapers, literary magazines, children's magazines, Web sites, and anthologies. Although writing is the only career she ever wanted, Alexandra has worked as a nanny, teacher, Web designer, financial administrator, and waitress, to name but a few.