Peer Pressure can be difficult as an adult. But can you remember it as a teenager? It was really unpleasant. That horrible feeling of being pressured into doing something you didn't want to do, that you knew wasn't right, but felt you had to for fear of being shunned by your "friends".

Man, I remember it. It might have been 30 years ago, but that awful feeling of betraying my sole for what I thought was the greater good, comes back when I look upon my poor little pimpled, teenage face. I remember that drive to want to fit in. The feeling of not liking myself, of wishing I was everyone BUT who I was. And the need to do whatever it took to have the other girls like me. I don't think I felt liked by anyone. Not even my boyfriend/s. It's amazing how a poor self-image can run that deep. *shudder* I wouldn't want to go back there for anything.

Which is why I love writing Contemporary YA novels. I want today's girls to know what I didn't: that they have other choices. And that, in fact, the choices they make in terms of who their friends will be, can have a huge impact on how well (or not) their teenage years will play out. In the first few years as a pre-teen and teenager, I chose badly. I want other girls to choose differently. I want to help them know how to choose differently and to see why it is important that they do so. In some cases, having no friends is better than having the wrong ones.

At least when you have no friends, new friends know to come looking for you.

Do you have a teenager struggling with choosing who will be the best kind of friends for herself? Does she know how to find her tribe? Maybe The Boy in the Hoodie would be a good stocking-filler for her this year.

Here's an excerpt from the end of chapter one from The Boy in the Hoodie:

But no, she brought us alcohol. Her Mum's favourite, she'd said. She took another swig, then passed it around for us all to drink from again. Keira and Megan took bigger sips this time.

I waited my turn with a dry mouth. I tried to convince myself that I had a choice; I didn't have to drink it again. Surely if I didn't, my friends would understand. And with time, they would forgive me. Eventually, we’d move on.

But then again, would it hurt to have another sip? No one else would ever know. It would be our group’s secret; a stupid story to laugh about.

There was more than one way that this scenario could play out, but which choice—to drink or not to drink—had the least consequences?

I was quite sure I just hadn't anticipated the one that actually happened.

The bottle was pretty much empty by the time it got back to me. Only one mouthful left, at best. I toyed with the bottle for a moment, looking at it, rolling it in the palms of my hands. Three sets of eyes watched me closely. I could see the words forming on Paige's lips: Mary. Her narrow eyes were telling me to hurry up and drink it. I stared down at the bottle. The first sip, I hadn't known what I was doing. This time, I'd be knowingly drinking alcohol at school.

And so when Mr Wally walked around from behind to row of pine trees that lined the school boundary, I froze. It hadn't occurred to me to empty the bottle, to tip it over, even just to hide it behind my back. I had still been in the process of deciding whether I was even going to drink from it again.

I'd never been good at getting caught out. Mum reckoned she could always tell when I was guilty even before she asked the question.

Why exactly Mr Wally felt the need to inspect the bottle, I don't know. Maybe it was Paige's reputation. Maybe there was a smell in the air. Maybe it was the bewildered look on my face. But suddenly I was suddenly being marched toward the Principal's office.
And Mr Wally had a bright pink drink bottle in his hand with my fingerprints all over it.

Available now from:
Booktopia
My publisher, Rhiza Press
My distributor, NovellaDistribution
KoorongBookstore
Or at your local bookstore. If they don't have it in stock, ask them to get it in for you!

Thanks for reading. If you’re interested in connecting with Catriona, you can look her up on Facebook, or find out more at her website: catrionamckeown.com.au