Off The Record
212 Views · Ongoing · Odili Nanyapat
Marlowe Vega has a three-step plan for senior year: keep her head down, save enough cash to escape this town, and never, ever make eye contact with Leo Beckett.
Leo is the star quarterback, the king of the hallway, and the reason people like Marlowe—plus-size, too smart, and too quiet—are invisible. Or worse, a punchline. But when a desperate need for a summer writing program scholarship lands Marlowe in the Beckett's basement as a live-in nanny for Leo's little sister, the invisible girl suddenly lives in the one place Leo can't escape: his own home.
Leo Beckett isn't the monster Marlowe expected. He's something far more dangerous to her plan. He's exhausted. He moves through his own house like a ghost, crushed under the weight of a father who only sees a trophy and a learning disability he'd rather fail than admit. The only time Marlowe sees him breathe is when he's watching her draw dragons for his sister in the dim light of the nursery.
The rules were simple: ignore him at school, tolerate him at home. But when a late-night blackout traps them in the basement together—a boy who is seen too much and a girl who is never seen at all—the walls come down. Suddenly, hating him is easier than admitting that the real terror isn't being bullied by his world; it's being seen by him.
But wanting the quarterback is a betrayal of everything Marlowe has built to protect herself. And for Leo, defending the nanny means losing the only identity his father—and his teammates—will allow him to have.
In a house full of secrets, the hardest person to be is yourself.
Leo is the star quarterback, the king of the hallway, and the reason people like Marlowe—plus-size, too smart, and too quiet—are invisible. Or worse, a punchline. But when a desperate need for a summer writing program scholarship lands Marlowe in the Beckett's basement as a live-in nanny for Leo's little sister, the invisible girl suddenly lives in the one place Leo can't escape: his own home.
Leo Beckett isn't the monster Marlowe expected. He's something far more dangerous to her plan. He's exhausted. He moves through his own house like a ghost, crushed under the weight of a father who only sees a trophy and a learning disability he'd rather fail than admit. The only time Marlowe sees him breathe is when he's watching her draw dragons for his sister in the dim light of the nursery.
The rules were simple: ignore him at school, tolerate him at home. But when a late-night blackout traps them in the basement together—a boy who is seen too much and a girl who is never seen at all—the walls come down. Suddenly, hating him is easier than admitting that the real terror isn't being bullied by his world; it's being seen by him.
But wanting the quarterback is a betrayal of everything Marlowe has built to protect herself. And for Leo, defending the nanny means losing the only identity his father—and his teammates—will allow him to have.
In a house full of secrets, the hardest person to be is yourself.
