Intro; Cover; Praise; Also by Sarah Grace McCandless; Title Page; Copyright; Dedication; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1The Family Reunion; Chapter 2The First Day of School; Chapter 3Happy Birthday to Me; Chapter 4Trick or Treat; Chapter 5Parent-Teacher Conferences; Chapter 6The Thanksgiving Day Parade; Chapter 7Ice Fishing; Chapter 8The Last Monday in November; Chapter 9Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow; Chapter 10Graceland; Chapter 11New Year's Resolutions; About the Author;As a lowly freshman named for "The King," Presley Moran walks high school corridors paved with the stuff of family legend. Her cousin Barry, a senior heartthrob and brainy varsity letterman, insists that looking good on paper is the key to success. But Presley's young aunt Betsi, a former homecoming queen, has her own ideas about good looks and how to use them. "Can you keep a secret'" Betsi asks Presley, who, at age fourteen, is eager for entrEe into the adult world of beauty, attraction, and romance. But as Presley is about to discover, some secrets should never be revealed. Will the illicit thrill of being a trusted confidante, privy to the details of muddled entanglements and incompatible desires, be worth the consequences of guilt by association' Propelled by the crash of falling idols, The Girl I Wanted to Be is a timeless and true portrait of passion, loss, and hard-won wisdom.