Excerpt from Women and Children First by Alina Grabowski, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

When I bike past the flags, like I am now, I don't look anywhere except the straight-ahead distance.

My turn comes up fast. Water sprays up my calves as I tilt to the right, and then I'm coasting down the hill to Sandpiper Coffee Roasters. There aren't any cars in their lot except for a white Jeep with a torn-up bumper sticker on its fender that says MILF: Man, I Love Frogs. The shredded bumper sticker is how I know it belongs to Olivia Cushing, because I saw her mom, who also happens to be our principal, trying to scrape it off with a razor blade in the school parking lot last fall. I ride past the big window on the side of the shop and see Olivia slumped in a corner booth, her face fully planted on the table, long hair pooling over her head like a dark puddle. She's a tornado—one of those girls who makes problems not only for herself but for everyone around her. I don't believe in pulling other people into your own mess.

Excerpted from Women and Children First by Alina Grabowski. Copyright © 2024 by Alina Grabowski. Excerpted by permission of Zando. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.