Goodbye, Amanda the Good

Book excerpt: Amanda Bates, older sister of Joshua T. Bates, has always been a "good girl," gotten good grades, and played by the rules. But now that she's in junior high, Amanda is discovering that those rules have changed. Her friends have all gone to other schools, her body's changing, her moods are up and down . . . she doesn't even recognize herself! Amanda decides that her only chance to fit in is to join "the Club," so she dyes her hair purple, changes her name to Cheetah, cuts school, and starts dating an older boy with a shady past. It's as if she's two different people: the one doing all these things she knows are wrong and the one watching them happen--and before long, she's going to have to choose between them.