LITMIR.BIZ

      To the one and only Miss Barden…Liz

       With lots of love and best wishes

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Prologue

      A different time, a different place

      Darcy Tremayne hadn’t expected her senior prom to be a dream evening. But neither had she expected it to be the beginning of a lifelong nightmare.

      It started with Hunter being a total jerk.

      She wasn’t sure what started their argument, only that it escalated into him saying that he didn’t intend to speak to her again until she apologized. She told him he’d better not plan on speaking to her again ever then, because she hadn’t the least intention of apologizing. She hadn’t done anything, other than suggest that despite the fact that he had been given an award in drama club, he hadn’t needed to kiss his leading lady quite so long, or so deeply, in the auditorium, in front of the world. Or their small part of it anyway—the entire high school. When he left her house that afternoon, she assumed that he’d call her and be the one to say that he was sorry.

      The call never came. She heard the next morning that he had invited his leading lady, Cindy Lee, to the prom.

      She avoided her friends, and allowed herself to indulge in some well-earned tears. She argued with herself all afternoon. Hunter was going to head straight out to California after graduation and try to make it big in Hollywood. She was heading to NYU, and she had been ecstatic about her acceptance there and the small scholarship that would allow her to go. Eventually, living across the country from one another, she and Hunter would have most probably fallen apart. She should have accepted the fact long ago that Hunter had an eye for other girls. He was young. So was she. They should spend some time without commitment.

      But she didn’t really want to split. She had been in love with Hunter since ninth grade. They had shared the years since. Very long, good years, or so it had seemed.

      In the end, Hunter did call her. He was so sorry. He’d ruined everything, but he couldn’t get out of going to their prom with Cindy Lee.

      She accepted his apology with a maturity her mother assured her was beyond her years. And it was her mother who suggested that she ask her friend, Josh.

      “Josh!” she’d said with surprise.

      But it was only momentary. Josh was a loner. He was a genius with computers, math, and science. He was painfully shy himself, but delighted when she wanted to try out a song, a dance move, or a monologue on him. They had lived down the street from one another in their rather rural area for years, and had long ago become friends. They didn’t run in the same social circles, but Darcy had steadfastly maintained her friendship with him, no matter what anyone else thought. Over the years, some of her friends had accepted him.

      And amazingly, Josh had been able to warn her about many of the pratfalls she might have encountered in life. Go with Hunter tonight for ice cream, he had urged her once. Don’t let him go alone. And she had done so, and Cindy Lee had been there, flirting with Hunter, until she had realized that Darcy was with him. There were other things. He’d made her stop her father from driving to the store one day when it turned out that his brakes were bad. Both her folks listened to Josh. She had learned to do so, too.

      Other people, she knew, were frightened by some of his predictions. He had known when Mrs. Shumacher down the street was about to die of cancer. He had known when Brad Taylor was going to break his leg during a football game. A lot of the kids called him a freak. But despite her little spat with Hunter, she had always held her own in school. She could bring Josh to the prom, and he’d be accepted, because he’d be with her. Oh, they’d talk about her—and him—behind their backs, but what did she care? Hunter had already hurt her just about as badly as she could be hurt; she was cut right to her eighteen-year-old heart.

      And besides, the whole high school thing was over. A new life was about to begin.

      Josh hemmed and hawed at first, skeptical. “Darcy, I’ll just look like the geek you dressed up and brought along.”

      But she’d laughed and assured him, “Josh, honestly, you’re a good-looking guy. Tall, lean, great eyes, and if you don’t mind, we’ll shop together. But if you’d feel uncomfortable, we won’t go. We’ll just see a movie or something that night. I mean, if you’re willing to keep me company.”

      He’d smiled at that. “I’d rather be in your company than anyone else’s, that’s for sure. But you don’t have to take me. Half the school would go with you.”

      “That’s doubtful and it doesn’t matter. If you don’t want to go, I don’t want to go.”

      At that, Josh had given her a strange smile. “If you want to go to the prom with the class nerd, lady, I wouldn’t dream of stopping you.”

      To her amazement, the planning was fun. Although he usually dressed like a couch potato himself, Josh had a good eye for clothes. Hand in hand they went shopping together. They ran into a number of her friends at the mall, and she was delighted to see their eyes widen at first, and then seem to focus more deeply on Josh. He was able to help Cissy Miller with a math problem she’d been dragging

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