Seventeen-year-old Tessa is definitely not the overachieving golden child her older sister is, and she’s certainly been involved in enough messy situations—like totaling her mom’s new car—to be considered a Screw Up. If there’s one thing she’s got a solid grip on, though, it’s drumming for her punk band. Too bad her mom thinks it’s a noisy time suck and the jerks at the club treat her like a cute gimmick instead of a serious musician. Which is exactly why she plans to enter her band into an opening act competition for a chance at studio time and a summer tour. Maybe then she’ll get the recognition she deserves. With plenty of time to create a kickass demo, and her best friend Derek by her side (and on guitar), she’s positive they’ll rise to the top.

But then Derek keeps ditching practices to hang with some girl, and their bassist quits the band, taking three of their four songs with him. Tessa can feel the competition slipping out of reach before it’s even begun. Unwilling to give up, she begs Derek’s older brother to fill in on bass, and convinces Derek to invite his new girlfriend to practice. Problem solved. When the new girlfriend turns out to be none other than Grace McGuire—who made fun of Tessa throughout middle school—she expects Derek to dump her. Tessa and Derek have been an inseparable duo since his family moved next door at the end of eighth grade; he knows how much the bullying sucked for her. And yet, he wants her to forgive and forget! Tessa tries to play nice, but Grace is prissy and rude, and Derek is so love-struck he doesn’t take Tessa’s complaints seriously, as if she’s the problem. If Tessa can’t make this awful situation work, she risks losing her best friend, band, and her chance to prove herself. But there’s only so much she’s willing to put up with.