The Greatest Hit

by Will Kostakis

Genres: Young Adult; YA LGBT & Pride

Synopsis

People look at Tessa and see her biggest mistake. While everyone else her age is taking their bold first steps into adulthood, she's just trying to outrun a song that went viral when she was fourteen. But now - an opportunity. A profile as one of The Five Most Forgettable Internet Celebrities of the Decade So Far gives her the chance to right a wrong, and the courage to sing her greatest hit as it was originally written. But will it be enough to win back the person she hurt? An exclusive story for AUSTRALIA READS from one of Australia's leading YA writers.

Release date: October 27, 2020

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Print pages: 96

Sample

I used to love introducing myself. At the beginning of every year in primary school, whoever our teacher was at the time would make us introduce ourselves with a fun fact. I would always come up with something new. Others would recycle the same line year after year or waltz into class prepared for it. I wouldn’t. Whatever my fun fact, I came up with it in that room, on that day. I wouldn’t even let myself consider mine until others started reeling off theirs. It was exciting. Dangerous. There was the risk that somebody would say what I was planning to, and I would have to think up something new. But they never did. I used to love introducing myself. And I was exceptional at it.

We weren’t asked for fun facts in high school. I figured we were too old. Then, come my first uni tute, Introduction to Media Studies, the practice was revived.

The ceiling fan rattled like it was two spins away from coming apart. The desks were arranged in a rectangle, so people were either staring at the stranger sitting opposite or pretending to be intensely fascinated by their fingernails. I was doing neither. I was watching people introduce themselves, excitement building as the distance between me and the speaker shortened. It felt like it had in primary school. Granted, the fun facts weren’t half as interesting. They started off strong (Jasmine knew pi to forty decimal places and didn’t hesitate to prove it), but as soon as somebody mentioned their professional goal (Quentin, a job in PR), that’s all people shared. Copywriter. Newsreader. Editor.

When my turn came, I sat up taller. ‘I’m Tessa and at my first job, I made a burger for a member of the British royal family.’

Mine was definitely the best fun fact. Not that it was a competition or anything, but people stopped pretending their fingernails were fascinating. The eyes of the room were on me. The guy beside me didn’t speak. At first, I figured everybody wanted details – how far the British royal was from the crown, what their special demands were, if an imposing man wearing an earpiece watched me prepare the burger, that sort of thing. I started rambling, but stopped myself when I heard someone ask their friend if I was the chick who …

My heart sank. Nobody cared about my fun fact. The tutor’s lips curled into an encouraging smile. I knew what he wanted to hear. I cleared my throat and caved. ‘Oh and, um, a clip of me went viral a few years—’

Quentin was singing now. ‘I love him, I love him, I love him, him, him.’

I grimaced. ‘That’s the one.’

Jasmine squinted at me. . .