Big Mouth and Ugly Girl

There are two main characters in this book. Big Mouth is Matt, a high school boy who tends to say things without thinking first about what he's saying. An offhand remark he makes about blowing up the school is overheard and reported, resulting in his suspension, dealing with the police and a lot of negative publicity for his family. Even when it's decided that he didn't really mean what he said he runs into a lot of students at school who now hate him, especially after his family decides to sue the school for defamation of character. His "friends" were the ones who goaded him on and now they abandon him.

Ugly Girl is sort of a punk-type girl, studs in her ears, tall, big (but not fat), and very, very independent. She calls herself Ugly Girl, though, it's not the other students that are doing that. She'll stand up to anyone and anything, warrior-women Ugly Girl, as she puts it.

She ends up dropping off the basketball team after not doing well in a game, but that's not her major problem. Her major problem is that she also overheard what Matt says and she's the one to convince the principal that Matt should be forgiven and allowed to return to school.

What she doesn't count on is that she begins to actually be attracted to Matt, and for a girl who's been operating independently of what other people want and think, it's sort of a hard thing to deal with. Throw in some hate messages, an abducted dog and things like that and you have a story that's rather different and interesting. Worth reading.

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