efore Carolyn Lessing came, nothing much had ever happened in Adamsville, Alabama. The blistering heat was never remarked upon, and the students had learnt to seek out air conditioning in the fast food restaurants in town. And every week, at dinner tables and in the high school assembly, everyone would pray for the football team to win. Its captain, Shane Duggan, went out with Brooke Moore, the 'hottest' girl in school, the cheerleaders never hung out with the swim team, seniors did not go out with freshmen and everything was as it had always been. Then the new girl arrived.
All Carolyn's social media could reveal was that she came from New Jersey, that she had 355 friends on Facebook and that she didn't have a relationship status. In beach photos with boys who looked like Abercrombie models she seemed beautiful, but in real life she was so much more. She was perfect.
This was all before the camera crews arrived, before people could no longer see the line between gossip and truth, and before the Annual Adamsville Balloon Festival, when someone swore they saw Shane with his arm around Carolyn and cracks began to appear in the dry earth.
