SARAH DUNES, WEIRD PERSON

Sarah Dunes thinks she's weird, or thinks that other people think she's weird, because she's tall and plays hockey on the junior high team--but, as backup goalie to a boy, never gets into a game except once when he's injured. She's taunted in the school paper after a losing game that all the other players got to play in, and she's sick of hearing that she'll lose her teeth playing hockey. ""Boys don't want to kiss girls with false teeth,"" says friend Connie. But when Sarah does mess up her teeth it's in a fall, when she rushes out of the house after blowing up at her family: Mom works late too often; Dad is doing free-lance work for Mom's competitor; a feminist Aunt has discarded her principles for a new man; and once more Sarah feels accused of weirdness. Mechanically and instantly, though, Sarah is fixed up: she'll get two new teeth, her parents' marriage is okay, and the lead goalie shows more than a teammate's interest. Besides being undeveloped, arbitrary, and utterly inconsequential, this is burdened by a lot of extraneous and boring day-to-day trivia.