Pitch Wars ALT: DM-4: STARRY, STARRY NIGHT

MENTOR: Mónica Bustamante Wagner and Lindsey Sprague
ALTERNATE: Abigail Johnson 
TITLE: Starry, Starry Night
CATEGORY/GENRE: YA Contemporary
WORD COUNT: 89,000

PITCH:

After catching her mom undressing her life-long crush, sixteen-year-old Jill is left with Mom’s post-it goodbye note and a suddenly-cryptic dad. Jill tries focusing on rebuilding her dream car, but escape isn’t at Dad's garage; it’s with her impulsive neighbor hiding his own scarred past. 

EXCERPT:

My mother left on a Tuesday. I remember because Tuesdays were taco night and Dad and I ended up eating cereal. Also because that was the night I fell out of love with Sean Addison.

Winter was old and wheezing by late February. The lingering chill in the air bit at my skin after sunset, making it hard to remember that in a few months it would be hot enough for the soles of my sneakers to stick to the asphalt.

Tourists from back east flocked to Arizona during the winter months, so the snowbirds, as we called them, were still thick on the roads and in Dad’s shop. I’d personally changed enough oil that year to fill a swimming pool, and that particular Tuesday, I was drowning in motor oil. The plastic smell of it clung to my hair and coated my lungs when I inhaled. My red coveralls were splashed with the same greasy stains that turned my hands that ineffable shade of zombie gray. All of which I intended to remedy in forty-three minutes, according to the clock on the wall. 

Six o’clock meant the end of my shift, which brought me that much closer to the only thing I’d ever wanted (apart from a 1970 Triumph Spitfire Mark IV): Sean Addison.

“Jill?” Dad’s voice echoed around the garage, popping my daydream bubble before I could grow it into a perfect first kiss.

“Under the Civic.” I rolled out on my creeper, spinning to face him in a way that made me grin like a four-year-old.