Ascent — Brian Smith

16-year-old Amy Hale suffers from a multitude of problems: her parents impending divorce, cascading grades and a nagging suspicion why her best friend is her friend at all. To make matters worse, she just received the most demanding after-school job in the history of teendom. After her cherished uncle Harry dies in a car crash, his clothing company, Ascent, is left to her to run in the midst of monopoly rumors, falling profits and a hounding, unscrupulous media.



Amy, who struggles with self-esteem, boys and would rather be left alone to fade away from everything in her life, is thrust out into the national spotlight. After enduring an unfortunate and very public underwear incident, Amy attempts to dive head first into the company and help continue her uncle's tradition of coming up with the next “big thing.” Standing in her way is company executive Miranda Ming, who deplores Amy's sudden stature and is hell-bent on stripping the company bare in order to sell it to rival CEO Wyland Dullard. As Amy wrestles with the expectations put on her by herself, the media and her uncle's own business genius, she realizes a valuable lesson that sometimes we just need a little help from our friends.