The roar came closer. Headlights turned the corner from the highway onto the street where Lakeesha and Nancy stood. They looked at each other and then turned in unison to look toward the headlights. Nancy saw a long stick emerge from the window of the oncoming car. The engine roared, and the car leaped forward. Nancy froze in space and time. Her mind floated somewhere just above her motionless body. "Broom handle," Nancy thought calmly, watching it move in exquisite slow motion toward Lakeesha. That second stretched out like a rubber band, hours long. A brilliant flash of light made Nancy duck and blink. Then the broom handle hit Lakeesha with an awful crack. Nancy heard it even over the growling car that sped toward her and the ugly shouting from inside it. The stick disappeared inside the window. Another flash of light came from somewhere behind her. The car swerved. Nancy came back to life and jumped away as it shot past her

The roar came closer. Headlights turned the corner from the highway onto the street where Lakeesha and Nancy stood. They looked at each other and then turned in unison to look toward the headlights. Nancy saw a long stick emerge from the window of the oncoming car. The engine roared, and the car leaped forward. Nancy froze in space and time. Her mind floated somewhere just above her motionless body. "Broom handle," Nancy thought calmly, watching it move in exquisite slow motion toward Lakeesha. That second stretched out like a rubber band, hours long. A brilliant flash of light made Nancy duck and blink. Then the broom handle hit Lakeesha with an awful crack. Nancy heard it even over the growling car that sped toward her and the ugly shouting from inside it. The stick disappeared inside the window. Another flash of light came from somewhere behind her. The car swerved. Nancy came back to life and jumped away as it shot past her

El Campbell just wants to have fun over the summer between high school and college. She's in charge of several girls at a North Carolina summer camp, and El hopes they interfere with her as little as possible, especially after she meets Arthur, a muscular world-class kayaker.

But Tiffin, the governor's daughter, arrives and instantly begins to make El's life miserable. Tiffin refuses to follow rules, won't set tables, won't stay in her cabin at rest period, talks back, defies the older campers, and vandalizes a cabin in her own unit. She tortures animals, bites other campers, and blows spit bubbles.

When word leaks out around camp that Tiffin's sister drowned a year or so earlier, some campers begin to whisper that Tiffin must have killed her. As the pressure mounts, El is sucked into Tiffin's downward spiral. Can El pull Tiffin out of her self-destruction and still save herself?