Ask Me How I Got Here

Addie has always known what she was running toward, whether in cross country, in her all-girls Catholic school, or in love. Until she and her boyfriend-her sensitive, good-guy boyfriend-are careless one night, and she gets pregnant. Addie makes the difficult choice to have an abortion. And after that-even though she knows it was the right decision for her-nothing is the same. She doesn't want anyone besides her parents and her boyfriend to know what happened; she doesn't want to run cross country anymore; she can't bring herself to be excited about anything. Until she reconnects with Juliana, a former teammate who's going through her own dark places. Once again, Christine Heppermann writes with an unflinching honesty and a deep sensitivity about the complexities of being a teenager, being a woman. Her free verse poems are moving, provocative, and often full of wry humor and a sharp wit.