A First Look at Becoming (YA Novel)

What is Becoming?

Becoming follows Catalina Torres, a young teenage girl determined to make it through high school without losing herself to the weight of her past. Set in the colourful city of Montreal, this coming-of-age Canadian novel explores the importance of human connection as Catalina learns what it means to become someone entirely her own.

Why am I writing this story?

I have had this story written in my head for many years now. Every time I had an interesting conversation with someone or discovered something fascinating in my city, I would take mental notes and store them away in hopes of writing about it someday. Becoming is more than a typical teenage story; it is my way of capturing what life felt like growing up as a Latina in Montreal between 2012 and 2015. Being educated in both English and French allowed me to meet people from many cultural backgrounds, while learning from incredible professors, mentors, and friends. Each of these experiences and connections shaped the story into what it is today.

Why is this story set in 2012-2015?

Montreal is a fast-growing city, and having lived here for over fifteen years allowed me to witness changes in its aesthetics, its people and the places that make it unique. I chose this particular time period since, in my opinion, it was the best time to live here and get the most out of this city, not to mention a memorable era for pop culture. Unfortunately, many businesses and familiar places shut down or disappeared due to rising costs, urban changes and the effects of the pandemic. Through Becoming, I hope to preserve those memories and create a time capsule to relive what is now missed.

Chapters 1 - 2 Excerpts

The following excerpts are selected scenes from the first chapters of my YA novel, Becoming. More can be found on Wattpad or on YouTube under audiobooks.

[1]

I rolled down the window of the backseat of the car, watching the sunset glow over the city. The distant laughter of my parents and siblings, as they listened to the radio music from Beat 92.5, slowly faded while I was lost in thought. I plugged my earphones into my white iPod and rested my arm on the open window as I traced my finger along the car door mindlessly, remembering what I was once excited about. My old life, my old school, the old routine, and the smell of that brand-new uniform. That was, of course, before what had happened. 

“CATA!” My older sister shouted. Man, I forgot she existed. I turned around, unplugging an earphone with a sigh. 

“What do you want? You scared the hell out of me! "

“Stop acting emo; that’s so 2006. I’ve been trying to call your name three times now! I want to know if you can help me decorate my new room for my YouTube videos?” A small grin covered her face. 

“Okay, first of all, you listen to My Chemical Romance, which isn’t even trendy anymore, just to impress your stupid boyfriend, and you don’t even like it! And two, why would I help you decorate your room when you always shut me out?” I sucked my teeth, folding my arms. 

“I know, I’ve been a terrible sister… but I wanna make it up to you, sis. We recently moved out, and I wanna start over,” she murmured, looking down. There was a strange sincerity coming from her.

“Fine, I’ll help you; you asking me something like this is already a start.” I gave her a thoughtful smile. 

As our car passed by Decarie Boulevard, I couldn’t help but stare at the gigantic orange ball up far. I lived here most of my life, yet Montreal never ceased to amaze me. I suddenly approached my mother from the backseat, pulling her shirt, 

“Mami, what is that?” she turned around, resting her big black rounded sunglasses, that I was secretly dying to have, on her head,

 “I’m not sure; I was told it's a place to buy all sorts of juices? You should go sometime with your friends.” 

“I see…” I leaned back. What friends? I tightly wrapped the cord of my earphones around my index finger until the tip turned purple, then pressed my forehead against the glass window. I didn’t understand how friendships worked or what they were about anymore.

***

 “Koi fishies! I wanna see koi fishies now!” Dani moaned, as he held his cherry-flavoured lollipop with one hand and pulled my sister’s hand with the other.

“Alright, alright, we’re almost there, just stay close to me.” We soon made our way to the entrance. As soon as we entered the mall, there was the smell of pretzels, perfume and popcorn mixed as families wandered through the bright yellowish corridors. I'd never been to this mall before, yet it somehow felt like home. After we had watched the fish at their local pet store, we headed to multiple stores like Ardene, Garage, Dollarama and Winners to buy all the room decorations my sister had in mind, and of course, a few more for me. Eventually, we sat on a big swirly bench with fake plants behind and rested for a while.

“C’mon Cata, let’s take a selfie!” Vale quickly grabbed me by the shoulder before I could answer and gave a quick shy smile while she made a duck face close to my face. 

“Lovely! What do you think?” she covered the screen from the sunlight streaming through the mall's windows with one hand so I could peek better at the photo. I had my wavy chestnut hair down, wearing a white headband, a white cami underneath a long neon pink tank top with a jean skirt and black Converse.  

“Aww, you look so cute,” she noted. I cringed.

“I don’t want to look cute; I want to look cool.” I folded my arms and legs at the same time with a pout. 

“Why do people always make it seem bad to look cute if it’s part of what makes a woman charming?” she leaned back a bit, with her elbows on top of the bench we were sitting on, and shook her head. A phone suddenly rang from my sister’s purse. 

“Oh, that must be my boo, he must be on break right now. Hey, why don’t you go and get ice cream for us while I stay here with Dani?” she lent me ten dollars from her purse, and I walked toward Laura Second. There was surprisingly a long line for a Monday, with about three customers ahead of me. I grabbed my own compact mirror from my little black purse and fixed my hair a bit, noticing a guy walking up to me from behind. He wore a white oversized graphic tee with brown cargo pants and white sneakers. I turned around, taken aback.

“Hello?” I asked. 

“Hi, how are you doing?” he asked. His green eyes distracted me, and I hadn’t noticed the obvious grin I was showing. 

“I’m doing fine…And you?” he smirked, making eye contact. 

“I’m good. I saw you from afar. I think you’re beautiful. I was wondering if I could maybe get your number and hang out sometime?” he asked, putting his hands in his pockets, leaning back and forth timidly. I opened up my mouth a bit, my cheeks tinted a soft pink as I passed a strand of hair behind my left ear. It had been a while since a guy showed genuine interest in me. He appeared to notice as he gave me a handsome smile in return. He was light-skinned and had dark, coily hair that made me fantasize about how it would feel to touch it.  

“I would love to…but wait, how old are y-” I was quickly interrupted by my sister, coming from behind with my brother.

“Hey YOU! Why are you talking to my sister? Aren’t you like my age or something?” she glared at him, squinting her eyes. 

“I’m eighteen, wait how old are you?” The young man frowned, pointing at me.

“She’s fourteen! So you better get going now.” My sister didn’t hesitate to respond. I covered my face and wanted to disappear. The guy apologized, thinking I was sixteen, and ran off in embarrassment. My head boiled up with rage. 

“VALERIA, how could you do this to me!! I was going to tell him off myself!” I shouted with tears running down my cheeks. My sister tried wrapping her arms around me.

“I’m sorry hermanita, I only wanted to look out after y-” I shoved her away from me. “NO! I’m not a child! You could’ve done it differently. When will you stop being so intense and dramatic?!” I winced. For a moment, she briefly opened her mouth and stared at me, lost in thought, as if somebody had stabbed her heart. I rarely yelled at Vale, but this time, it felt like my words had touched something deeper than our argument.  

“You know, if you had let me deal with the situation on my own, I would have felt more mature and would have had more time to enjoy the fact that a cute guy thought I looked older!” I shouted.

“Who cares what he thought of you? He’s almost an adult! Come on, Dani, let’s go home. It’s getting late,” she murmured, grabbing our brother’s hand and walking off with her bags. I hated that she couldn’t understand where I was coming from, like most people I knew. A wave of sadness drenched me. I followed her from behind while listening to music in silence.

[2]

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading this far; more chapter excerpts, story details and behind-the-scenes content coming soon. My blog is a growing community, so I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment or a review, and don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter so I can send you monthly writing prompts and other fun updates!

All credits belong to abril blogs. Thank you for respecting my work.

[1] Photo taken by the author.

[2] Photo found on the Internet; credit goes to the respective owner.