Empress of the World

Nicola Lancaster is spending her summer at the Siegel Institute – a hothouse of smart, articulate, intense teenagers living like college students for eight weeks. Nic’s had theatre friends and orchestra friends, but never just friend friends. And she’s certainly never had a relationship.

But on the very first day, she falls in with Katrina the Manic Computer Chick, Isaac the Nice-Guy-Despite-Himself, Kevin the Inarticulate Composer… and Battle.

Battle Hall Davies is a beautiful blond dancer from North Carolina. She’s everything Nic isn’t. Soon the two are friends – and then, startlingly, more than friends. What do you do when you think you’re attracted to guys, and then you meet a girl who steals your heart?