Allison Astorino

A Place to Stand Allison Astorino

As the start of summer approaches, four friends find themselves feeling nervous, excited, anxious, and angry. For the first time since forever, the four teens are about to spend their summers in very different places, all far away from each other. Sasha can't wait to experience some voluntary discomfort with her rich grandparents, Calliste is trying his best to please his father and toughen up at a military boot camp, Davey is about to see if the cousins on his mother's side can break him out of his church boy mold, and Melrose is competing to see how much liquor he can drink, and how many fights he can win. Their summer apart is unprecedented, and although each of them are trying for something new, there is something that none of them can escape, no matter how far they go. Amid their drastically different summers - losing gold, kissing under the Northern Lights, breaking jaws and spirits, and fighting to stay alive - lingering in the back of all of their minds is one thing that none of them can simply leave behind, run away from, become numb to, or ignore. It is the only thing that can bring them back together once more, to a place where the water cannot wash them away.