Cecily Paterson

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Thinking. My blurb.

Here's the blurb of my story Invisible. I'm sending off an enquiry to an agent this week - and I'm really, really nervous. Hopefully she'll ask to see the first few chapters and actually read them and consider it. Would you?

Jazmine Crawford doesn’t make decisions. She doesn’t make choices. She doesn’t make friends.

Jazmine Crawford only wants one thing: to be invisible.

For Jazmine, it’s a lot easier to take out her hearing aid and drift along in life pretending that nothing’s wrong than it is to admit that she’s heartbroken about her dad dying. She’s been drifting and ignoring her over-worried mum for four years now. But something’s got to give – and soon.

When bad girl Shalini and her mates adopt Jazmine, she follows along without thinking but quickly finds herself involved in more than she can handle. Sitting in disgrace in the principal’s office, Jazmine is offered a choice: become a ‘runner’ for drama teacher Miss Fraser in the upcoming production of ‘The Secret Garden’ or face a three week suspension.

It’s Miss Fraser who clinches the decision. “I believe in you Jazmine,” she says. “I know you can do this.” And Jazmine, terrified, disbelieving and elated all at the same time, joins the play and leaves her invisible life behind.

For a while it’s all good. Writing in her new journal connects her to the memories she has of her father. Drama star and chocolate aficionado Liam is friendly and Jazmine realises that making friends, talking to her mother and feeling her emotions isn’t as scary as she thought. In a final happy twist of fate, acting diva Angela breaks both her ankles and with only a week before the curtain goes up, Miss Fraser asks Jazmine to take on the main role of Mary.

But then Shalini returns from her suspension. In her mind, she has been betrayed. She’s out for payback, and she has just the ammunition she needs to force Jazmine to quit the play and go back to her old ways.

Will Jazmine be confident enough to stand up for herself against Shalini? Will Liam still like her if he finds out what she’s really like? And does she have the strength to face the truth about her father’s suicide?