When We Were Worthy

On a crisp, fall football Friday night in Worthy, GA, the Wildcats play to win and the whole town shows up to watch. Afterward, three of the four elite varsity cheerleaders, Mary Claire "M.C"; Brynne; and inexperienced, nervous designated driver Keary, pile into a car on their way to celebrate. Graham, who didn't make the team even as the son of a Worthy Wildcat legend, gets in his new car for the first time and heads out as well. When the vehicles collide, the deaths of all three girls fracture the town. Cheerleader Leah, who was not in the car, struggles to explain why she wasn't there, and Graham, the lone crash survivor found guilty by the jury of public opinion, face the questions and wrath of devastated families and friends. This tale is told alternately by Leah, Graham's mother, M.C's mother, and Ava, a substitute teacher, as each grapples with secrets that, if made public, could lead to healing or ruin.