Graduate Thesis
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ABSTRACT HARMLESS by Kristen Elizabeth Grace This paper is a fictional account of Sadie, a high school soccer player, who is manipulated by Candace, the new girl, in to poisoning her best friend, Megan, using Megan’s severe peanut allergy. Sadie struggles with the need to please her peers, even when it comes in conflict with her own moral compass. Ultimately, Sadie decides to go through with the misdeed when she learns Megan is sleeping with the high school soccer coach, putting the season and Sadie’s soccer dreams in jeopardy. Although things begin to fall into place and Sadie’s life improves, in the end everything is revealed and Sadie is left alone with only herself to pick up the pieces. HARMLESS A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of English by Kristen Elizabeth Grace Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2012 Advisor________________________ Eric Goodman Reader_________________________ Joseph Bates Reader_________________________ Kay Sloan TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page i Table of Contents ii Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv HARMLESS 1 ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my mother and father, for never letting me quit. Not even once. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’d like to acknowledge my thesis adviser, Eric Goodman, for his continued encouragement and understanding, and my two readers, Joseph Bates and Kay Sloan, for being helpful and enthusiastic during my numerous rewrites. I’d also like to acknowledge my peers in my fiction workshop, who had to read the bad so that I could finally get to the good. iv 1 By the second day of class, it was widely known that two sophomore girls at McArthur High School were pregnant. Sadie didn’t know either of them. They were a grade below her, and according to her soccer team friends, only one was starting to show. Sadie took a bite of her tuna fish sandwich and listened to her lunch table’s rampant speculation. “This is why freshmen shouldn’t be allowed at prom,” said Alex, a sophomore defender sitting at the far end of the table. “Or allowed to date upperclassmen, period,” added Cindy, the tan midfielder sitting beside her. The girls nodded. “It’s so sad, they’re so young. Can you imagine having to tell your parents that?” said Marcy, the starting keeper and tallest girl at the table. Sadie was sitting next to her. She had to lean forward to see the rest of the girls at the table, almost all of them younger. The seniors went to the Subway across the street for lunch, and the only other junior at the table besides her and Marcy was her best friend, Megan, who sat across from them crunching on carrot sticks. She snapped one between her teeth and chewed quietly. “My parents would kill me if I ever came home pregnant,” said another girl. “They’d throw me in a ditch and pretend they never had a daughter.” Sadie bounced her leg under the table. Just thinking about how that conversation would go—the disappointed look, the heavy sigh, the months, or possibly years, of silent treatment— made her chest hurt. The last time Sadie brought home a paper with a grade lower than a B was in middle school and her mother wouldn’t even look at her except to shake her head and frown. It went on like that for a week, and when she did finally talk to Sadie, it was just to ask her what her late father would have said if he were alive to see her pitiful grades. She was convinced Sadie could never live up to his otherworldly expectations. “Maybe their parents will be supportive,” suggested Megan, tucking her auburn hair behind her ear. Her bangs fell in front of her eyes and she brushed them out of her face again, running her fingers through her long curls. Sadie tucked her own mousy brown hair behind her ears, feeling hyper-aware of how humid the weather was and how frizzy her hair had become. She wondered if Megan had some hairspray she could borrow. 1 “Well, I haven’t seen any MTV trucks outside the school yet, so maybe they aren’t going to keep them,” said Alex. “One is for sure,” said Cindy. “I don’t know about the other girl, but I’m pretty sure they’re both super Catholic.” “I still can’t believe it,” said Marcy. “I mean, my biggest decision this week will be which keeper jersey I’m wearing in our first game. They’ve gotta figure out what they’re gonna do with the rest of their lives.” Sadie kept her eyes on her baggie of cucumber slices. Not knowing the girls or their situations, she didn’t feel like she could comment, and it wasn’t like they were the first girls at the school ever to get pregnant. But the idea of deciding one’s whole life in the next few weeks made Sadie lose herself in thought. What would she do if it happened to her? It wouldn’t, she decided. She would never disappoint her mother like that. It just wasn’t something she would do. The lunch bell rang. “See you at practice,” said Marcy, jumping up to toss out her trash. The other girls slowly followed, not in a hurry to get back to class. “Hey Megan,” said Sadie across the table as they both stood up and gathered their empty plastic bags. “Do you have any hairspray in your locker? I feel like my hair is super frizzy.” “You look fine,” said Megan, barely lifting her eyes from the table. “You okay? You’ve been really quiet today.” “Just really tired. I had a bunch of errands to run after practice yesterday.” “You gonna be okay for practice today? We could grab a snack at Subway before if you want.” “No, that’s okay, but thanks.” Megan smiled weakly. “I’ll be fine, just need a good night’s sleep tonight, you know?” “Alright, see you later then.” Sadie dropped her garbage in the bins. Megan trotted off to her next class leaving Sadie on her own. What’s up with her, she wondered. It had been like that since right before tryouts in the last few weeks of August. Sadie figured she was just nervous about losing her spot on the team, not that she really had to worry. Megan had always been a standout player. Sadie assumed Megan would snap out of it once final cuts were made, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Was Megan avoiding her? 2 A group of freshman boys watched Megan as she was leaving the cafeteria, craning their necks to stare until she disappeared down the hall. Of course, thought Sadie, second day of school and she already has a fan club. Sadie let out a heavy sigh. Megan was constantly garnering attention for boys, and as much as Sadie tried to ignore it, there was always someone asking her for advice on how to woo her friend; a gentle reminder of just how few people desired her over Megan. Sadie walked past the freshman boys, glancing back to see if any of them were watching her. They didn’t seem to notice. She hung her head and scurried to the bathroom. Her hair, she decided, as she stood staring in the mirror, was a mess, and Megan was definitely mad at her. She used the elastic band she always kept on her wrist and threw her hair up in a ponytail. It would do for now, she thought. But her hair wasn’t the issue. Sadie leaned forward in her chair, notebook already out and pencil ready, waiting for pre-calc to start. The teacher, Mrs. Pruit, was a bony old woman who, on the first day of class, managed to lose her glasses and spent at least twenty minutes looking for them before realizing they were hanging around her neck. Sadie had considered saying something, but everyone was keeping quiet to kill as much time as possible, and she didn’t want to make any enemies that first day. It was bad enough the boy sitting behind her, Jimmy Powell, made a scoffing sound whenever she raised her hand to answer a question. Mrs. Pruit sat on a stool behind the overhead projector talking to a skinny, longhaired brunette Sadie had never seen before. New student, maybe? The girl reminded her of Megan, same petite frame, same perfect makeup on an already pretty face, same sense of style. She wore a very short blue skirt, not even close to passable by the school’s dress code, and a thin, white blouse. A little racy, thought Sadie, but it was her first day, she probably wanted to make an impression. The girl had a tiny black backpack slung over one of her shoulders and stood with her weight on one leg. She nodded while Mrs. Pruit spoke, but then glanced briefly over in Sadie’s direction, making eye contact and smiling. Sadie smiled back. First days are tough, she told herself, and she probably feels uncomfortable in a new school. “You can have a seat,” said Mrs. Pruit. 3 The girl walked over and sat in the seat next to Sadie, setting her book bag down and crossing her legs. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Candace.” “I’m Sadie. First day?” she said, offering another friendly smile, hoping to make Candace feel at ease. “Yeah, I missed yesterday because we were still unpacking.” “Where’d you move from?” “Just up north in Pennsylvania.” “That’s not too different than Maryland.