In Case You Didn't Know

Book excerpt: Michael Cohen Gallagher, or MC for short, isn’t special. He doesn’t live next door to a girl who is both unrealistically dangerous and beautiful. He’s not wittingly intelligent and does not have self-repressed good looks. Apart from one peculiar habit, he’s just a typical teenager trying to survive the repression and monotony that is life in small-town suburbia. Although admission to a prestigious art school is MC’s ticket out, an unforeseen event threatens his future. Not only must MC navigate the dramatic changes to his family, he must survive: • the prank, which involves a bottle of ketchup and a tormented math teacher; • Alex Sulkinson, a jock known to his victims as the Incredible Sulk; • MC’s boss, Mr. Carney, who, despite looking like he belongs in a Tolkien novel, is more than he seems; • the antics of the RNC (the semi-affectionate acronym MC has for his friends); • a harrowing and somewhat illegal mission to regain a precious possession; and • an infatuation with Gretchen Werner, Seneca High’s resident Regina George, and the resulting conflict with a longtime friend and secret admirer. In Case You Didn’t Know chronicles MC’s struggle with identity and happiness when faced with circumstances beyond his control and understanding.