PitchSlam #7: Stumped, YA Contemporary

Genre: YA Contemporary

Title: STUMPED

Word Count: 81 000

Song: It’s an album actually, Various Failures by World of Skin (AKA Swans)

PITCH: To prove he can still be a man in a wheelchair, sixteen-year-old Ozzy struggles to dump his virginity, but discovers the difference between sex and intimacy has a price higher than a sex worker’s fee.

FIRST 250: I splash on too much of my brother’s aftershave and it’s like stepping into a rental car. Shit.  I reek of whatever this stuff is supposed to smell like. Pine trees, maybe?  I never smelled a pine tree that stank like this.  No wonder Finn left it behind when he went to college.  It does mask the scent of chlorine that clings to me after a four-hour practice this afternoon. I rub my palm across my face and sniff it…nope.   I can’t go meet Lainey smelling like this.  She won’t be able to get anywhere near me.  Not without choking.  I can’t stay near me.  God, this stuff’s awful.  I glance down at my watch.  It’s after six, but I guess I have time for another shower.  I have to have time.

I shuck the towel from around my waist and turn the shower back on.  The bathroom’s filled with steam from the one I took ten minutes ago.  At least the water’s still hot.  I climb in and let the liquid sluice over me.  I don’t know if that’s enough to get rid of the awful aftershave, so I grab the soap and scrub my face and neck until they feel raw.  That’ll have to do. For good measure, I soap the rest of me again too.  Look at me, Mr. Clean.  I lean back against the wall and think about Lainey.  Those shorts she was wearing this morning should be illegal.  At least on her.