LEFTOVERS

Suburban teen girls take justice into their own hands.

Ardith and Blair come from opposite sides of the tracks. Despite their dissimilar socioeconomic status, the girls are kindred spirits. Both want to escape the hostility of their family lives and gain control of their future. Ardith’s parents live on the fringes of society. Her parents are substance abusers with extremely relaxed morals, and her older brother is a sexual predator. Always skirting the law, Ardith’s family is but a few infractions away from incarceration. Her spotless academic record and her virginity are Ardith’s only sources of strength and hope—until she meets Blair. The daughter of privilege, Blair is used as a pawn by her social-climbing parents. Caught up in her parents’ miserable marriage and political scheming, Blair learns to suffer in silence. Isolated and manipulated, Blair is desperate for attention and longs for power. Ninth grade brings the two girls together as they contend with first boyfriends and surging hormones. Lacking parental supervision, the girls start getting into trouble as they begin to experiment with sex, drugs and alcohol. Their cries for attention start small but escalate quickly. As their exploits get riskier, a kindly police officer gets tragically pulled into their messy lives. To set things right, the girls scheme to pay back all the adults who have slighted them. The climax is explosive, but it’s the feisty heroines who will resonate more.

Gritty drama from Wiess (Such a Pretty Girl, 2007) that will get teens and parents talking.