Having trouble following directions? Started reading but forgot where you left off? Here are some direct links to important decisions and major plot points in the series.
“Matthew Van Der Boot! I’m talking to you.”
7:36 AM
You jolt upright in your desk, the paperback you’ve been reading sandwiched between your chest and the algebra book you’ve been using to conceal it. “Oh, uh, Sorry.”
You should have ditched PE and hung out in your art teacher’s room.
8:13 AM
Today, the class is playing baseball. The coach takes attendance and then sends you out to the girls’ field. Actually, it’s softball, because there are no gloves. Not that the game of softball is played without a glove, but no one else seems to be questioning this.
Dude, everyone has that shirt.
8:13 AM
The art room is in a high-ceiling studio with large, uncovered windows that let in the sun. You love being in here, all the natural light, the smells of paper and paint, soap and wood, the artwork on the walls, the big work tables with all of their scratches and stains. You miss it. There wasn’t space in your schedule for art this year, but the teacher, Ms. Avery, lets you hang out here sometimes, no questions asked.
I’ve been watching you.
9:15 AM
“Hey, Matthew,” someone says. “It’s Matthew, right?”
You look up from where you are sitting. It’s the girl from first period.
“Are you okay?” she asks. “You’ve been sitting here for a while.”
Unsuited limbs and appointments?
9:32 AM
When you enter fourth period, Ms. Jensen is reading to the class, “… toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion that the Prince Prospero entertained his—” she stops abruptly and stares at you over the rims of her reading glasses. You know better than to open your mouth or do anything less than move quickly to your desk and take out the anthology waiting for you in the tray below your seat. As soon as you stop turning pages, she begins again. “…that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.”
You are such an idiot. Okay, let’s hope she’s worth it.
10:47 AM
Ten minutes later, the five of you are parked on the side of a gas station mini-mart.
“You going in, Tony?” asks Joanne. “You look twenty-one, at least.”
“No way,” he says. “Everybody knows me. I’ll be busted as soon as I try.”
No one asks where you’re going.
10:48 AM
When you get to the ambulance, it’s already surrounded by a mob of fourth period PE students. No coaches are in sight, not even the school’s single security guard is there clearing a path for the paramedics and their gurney. You should be in English right now. Of all your subjects, you hate it the least…
Baby’s First Time
11:39 AM
You look up just as Tony brakes and makes a hard left off the street and onto a narrow path leading into a grove of citrus trees. The glossy green leaves rush by on each side as the car bounces and shudders over the uneven road beneath it. “Fuck,” says Tony, “I just washed this.”
Is this safe?
1:07 PM
As soon as you are all in the car again and back on the street, Bobby says, “I need food.”
“I could eat,” says Joanne, “but how ‘bout we score some weed first?”
“You know someone?”
You hate taking the bus home.
2:05 PM
A few of your fellow riders are from your neighborhood, sure, but your friends all live on the other side of town, and most of the people on your bus are from streets you’ve learned to avoid. The front of the bus is the safest. Less elbows, less projectiles, less threats. The farther back you have to go to find a seat, the less welcome you are.
Wait until your father gets home.
4:36 PM
“Matthew, what are you doing on your brother’s bed. Were you asleep?”
You open your eyes to find your mother standing in the open door of your bedroom with your little brother on her hip. You stare back at her, uncomprehending. Are you late for school?
Got a date and I can’t be late!
7:26 PM
You close the front door behind you and lock it with the key. Your dad is too tired and your mom too busy to walk you out or check on your story. Still, you linger in the front, making sure one of your sisters doesn’t decide to peek through the curtains and complicate your plans.
So … do you wanna dance?
7:58 PM
“So,” your dad says once you are in the car and heading down the highway. “This dance you’re going to. Are you meeting someone there? Is this a date?”
“I guess,” you say, staring at the taillights of the car ahead. “Mom told you?”
“Well, maybe, but the cologne is kind of a giveaway.”
I’ll ditch my friends if you ditch yours.
8:32 PM
“I’ll ditch my friends if you ditch yours,” you say.
She looks toward the entrance to the gym and back, then smiles. “Okay.”
You take her by the hand and pull her with you across the parking lot to your car.
I think I’m going to be sick.
8:32 PM
You look down at your hand in hers. It’s true what you said, you feel bad about Claudia, but you don’t regret meeting Sam at all. In fact, she’s almost too good to be true. Maybe you just need more time to screw this up.
“There she is,” you hear someone say.
What, No Goodnight Kiss?
8:47 PM
“No, I’ll stay.”
She smiles, dimples lifting her round, apple cheeks.
“Be right back.” You turn and make your way toward Eric’s car in the parking lot. As you draw closer, the muted humming you are hearing begins to take on a familiar, chugging rhythm and you recognize Mötley Crüe’s “Live Wire” vibrating from within the little yellow hatchback. The passenger-side window lowers before you get there and Gus leans his head out. “Dude,” he nearly shouts over the rattle and buzz of the car’s humble speakers. “No goodnight kiss?”
The Most Beautiful Girl You’ve Ever Seen
8:47 PM
“I should probably go.”
Claudia shrugs. “Okay, then.”
“I uh, had a…” You’re not sure how to end this. The truth is, you don’t really want to leave. Sure, the majority of this evening was spent wishing you were somewhere else, but talking with Claudia out here has been fun. Suddenly you don’t want it to end. There is that very loud voice in your head though, urging you to get out while things are still good because the longer you stay the more likely you’ll mess this up, do something embarrassing, or say something stupid and scare her away. “I mean, this was nice.”