Who’s afraid of clowns?
If we were together in a large room, there would likely be enough enthusiastic hands up in the air for a passerby to assume free tacos were offered. Depending on circumstances, many of us fear clowns. There’s even a term for it: Coulrophobia.
But what about our main character, Abbey?
“I’ve never cared for clowns, but I’m definitely not afraid of them. When you’ve seen what I’ve seen…”
For a 14-year-old, Abbey has had a strange life. For as long as she can remember, she’s lived with ghosts intruding in her life. The dead are attracted to her like she’s a spook magnet. Some are timid, while others rain terror in her otherwise everyday teen life. Some want justice or help navigating their way to the next phase, while others are too angry and confused to want anything but chaos.
A peculiarity of seeing the dead is Abbey doesn’t always know they’re dead.
I’ll let that sink in for a moment.
Imagine that you’re studying in the library on a cold December evening, and someone takes the seat opposite from you. They don’t say anything. But that’s not unusual, it’s the library, after all. A surreptitious glance tells you it’s not someone you know or recognize. Her hair’s pulled severely into a bun and she’s wearing black-rimmed glasses and a periwinkle cardigan. Not your fashion, but it’s high school. Fashion is all over the map. You go back to studying geometry until your friend Lexi shows up and proceeds to sit in the same chair as the girl. The cardigan girl holds your gaze as she fades out of existence.
This is Abbey’s life.
But it’s turned even further upside down when clowns enter her life. Like most nightmares, it began at the circus.
The man, made up in full clown makeup, was exactly what scared people about clowns. Wearing dark shades of crimson and black, his eyes were sunken pools of fury. The expression on his face—meant to be a painted smile—was a grimace of hate. His body was coiled, seemingly ready to lash out at anyone who got in his way. The other men parted and moved away, looking to put space between them and the dark performer. As the men stepped into the light, I recognized them for who they were. Despite the variety of appearances, they all had one thing in common. They were clowns. The most terrified group of clowns I’d ever witnessed.
Soon after this harrowing incident, she spots a clown in a deserted hallway at school. Even though Abbey is a new Pine Ridge High School student, she expected it would be like any other high school. It should have the same general rules, goals, and types of students—which would mean no clowns, right?
Wrong. Dead wrong.
CLASS CLOWN unapologetically asks the tough questions. Why are there so many clowns at her high school? Are these clowns live or dead? When two of her teammates go missing with possible clown involvement, what will Abbey do about it? What if she’s responsible for her school’s clown apocalypse? Read CLASS CLOWN today for the spellbinding story.