Worst-Case Scenario
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jan 20, 2026
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- $13.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An enemies-to-lovers romance about nemeses who are forced to share their school’s Queer Alliance presidency following a tie in the election, new from beloved author Ray Stoeve
Sidney has one goal for their junior year. Well . . . two, if they’re being honest. Number one: become president of their school’s Queer Alliance club. And number two: keep their self-diagnosed anxiety in check so their grades don’t tank like they did last year.
But when the election results in a tie with none other than Sidney’s arch nemesis, the class clown Forrest, the two are forced to share the presidency until a revote at the end of term. Sidney expects Forrest to be insufferable, but it turns out that working together is . . . kind of nice?
As surprising feelings for Forrest emerge, Sidney’s techniques for managing their anxiety stop working. With the reelection approaching and assignments starting to pile up, will all this pressure be too much for Sidney to handle on their own?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A hiccup in their plans to lead their school's Queer Student Alliance negatively impacts a teen's increasingly fragile mental health in this perceptive romance from Stoeve (The Summer Love Strategy). Nonbinary 16-year-old Sidney Walker is floored when transgender class clown Forrest Hirschler runs against them for president of the QSA; they're even more astonished when the vote ends in a tie, and it's decided they'll share the presidency. Though Sidney's pragmatic desire to create an educational advocacy space chafes against Forrest's fun-oriented approach, Sidney soon thaws to his infectious positivity. Simultaneously, Sidney navigates a fraught relationship with their alcohol-dependent father and worries about falling behind in school. As stress mounts, Sidney experiences increasingly frequent bouts of anxiety brought on by visceral visions of disaster. Enlivened by playful rom-com devices, empathetic prose and Sidney's vulnerable first-person narration vividly portray the protagonist's emotional distress, resulting in an honest unpacking of one teen's struggle to manage their spiraling mental health alongside authentic high school drama. Resources and a contextualizing author's note conclude. Main characters read as white. Ages 12–up.
