FIRST TIMES AND SECOND CHANCES by Carol Callicotte
For sixteen-year-old Jenni Taylor, a French immersion program in ooh la la, Antibes, France is a chance to escape her overprotective parents, meet new friends who haven’t known her all her life and therefore won’t still see her as the geeky seventh grader with braces and glasses, and maybe even meet a guy and finally have her first kiss; a milestone she hopes to reach before turning eighty and losing all her teeth. Getting on the bad side of gorgeous and conceited Alyssa Sutton, thus dooming herself to a summer of passive-aggressive torture, was not part of the plan. Danny Morgan, a quiet loner who shares Jenni’s passion for basketball, might make the Alyssa headaches worth the pain, only Danny seems to want nothing to do with Jenni.
To top it off, Jenni’s friendship with the coolest girl in the program, Chloe, is threatened by Chloe’s pressure to sneak out, drink, and party in the clubs, and Jenni’s French teacher keeps singling Jenni out and ridiculing her “affreux” American accent. Jenni has never been good at standing up for herself, but she may finally need to, no matter how terrifying it is.
Things start looking up when she and Danny forge a friendship. Danny is slow to open up, but when he confides that he is in France to escape the tragic end of his last relationship, something he is trying to keep secret, Jenni wonders if sparks between them might never fly. Still, she can’t fight the attraction she feels toward him. Trouble is, Alyssa knows Danny’s secret, and she wants Danny for herself. She’ll do anything to keep Jenni and Danny apart.
STATUS: Done and querying agents!
Carol Callicotte 
