Victory Lap

Victory Lap

Josh doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, which is exactly why he’s taking a fifth year of high school while his girlfriend goes to university. (Well, that and the fact that his best friend basically forced him into it.) The only thing he’s sure about is the love of his life—who promptly breaks up with him.

High school senior, Kiki, quietly started transitioning over the summer to an audience of herself, her best friend, and her vaguely unsupportive parents. Now she has to deal with coming to her school as a new person, and when she’s partnered with Josh in Writer’s Craft, she finds herself developing maybe a little bit of an enormous crush.

Everyone just wants to make it out of high school in one piece, but Josh and Kiki’s last year might not be so simple.

Victory Lap is an own voices young adult novel about growing up in a world that expects teenagers to have everything figured out by the time they leave high school.

Victory Lap was inspired by the likes of modern YA authors such as Rainbow Rowell, Becky Albertalli, and John Green, as well as classic, angsty teen dramas like Degrassi and Dawson’s Creek.

Content Warning

Teens need a variety of books that represent them. And while some teens probably lead wholesome lives without trauma or substance use or sex, that was not our experience, or the experience of many of our friends. Because of that, Victory Lap contains some heavy language, drug and alcohol use, sex, mentions of self-harm, gender dysphoria, homophobia and transphobia, and an uncomfortable sex scene where partners fail to communicate their needs and end up in a place of grey-consent. The book’s audience is between the ages of 16-19, but we fully believe that the reader determines what type of content they are ready to read. If you are a teen who has questions after reading our novel, please talk to an adult you trust about Victory Lap’s mature themes. Similarly, if you are an adult in charge of raising teens, we encourage honest and open communication with kids, even—or especially—when it’s difficult.

Bonus Content

After a disastrous senior year—thanks to her Mom’s death and her piece of shit boyfriend subsequently abandoning her for worldly adventure—Mel’s taking a victory lap to get her life back on track. Only problem is, school sucks. So she skips just this once (sorry, Josh!) to go on a date. And then the date fucking suckssss.

And that’s the whole problem: how’s a girl supposed to turn her life around when everything is awful?

Pledge $5 or more and experience Victory Lap as it was originally written. Featuring pivotal Victory Lap scenes from Mel’s point of view and all new chapters, The Lost Chapters is an extra 20 000 words/87 pages of Victory Lap content.