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.I hang back for a moment.Jagger stands behind me, arms circling my waist.“Tell the truth, Val.”His larynx, bruised by the rope, has all but healed.The rasp in his voice is just about gone.So is his arrogance.Jagger has plenty of saucy comebacks, but they’re no longer mean.It makes everyone, including Marci, love him so much more.“Tell the truth about what?”He gestures toward the trophy.“You’re not the least bit jealous?”It takes a moment to sort through the rush of feelings.“Maybe a little.” He squeezes me.“Okay! A lot.”Jagger laughs.“I might be more sympathetic if I hadn’t heard there’s other news to cheer about.”I whirl around.“Who told you?”“Who do you think?”I pull the email from my pocket.I’ve read it so many times since printing it out this morning that the page is already crinkled.“Bethany’s almost more excited than I am! I was planning to tell you at lunch, so we’d have a little more time to…celebrate.”He extends an arm, takes the paper and reads the words I prayed so often to hear.“Congratulations! The Syracuse University Admissions committee is pleased to offer you…”Jagger lifts me up and swirls me around.“I am so proud of you, Val!”In that moment, it’s triumph, as well as understanding, that shines through.It doesn’t matter whose names are on the trophy.It never did.Jagger and I, along with the rest of our team, did more than break a story.We broke through the barriers that trapped us all.If some walls are invisible, so are some masks.The actual masks MP wore weren’t all that different from the ones we hid behind.Reporter, Slacker, Queen of the Sloths… We all had our roles and we played them well.They protected us from feeling adrift in hallways and classrooms—but they also kept us apart.If Bethany had come to me—or I to her—she never would have had anything to do with the ugliness of MP.Marci and I should have invited my sister to Tony’s for pizza; we could have hung out with her at the Video Arcade.Instead, my sister found her own place to belong—until it all came crashing down.After the night on the dock, everyone in MP blamed everyone else.It wasn’t until the police confiscated Arnold’s journal that the court understood: Bethany and the rest were pawns in Arnold’s increasingly sick game.Months of community service are a lot better than the time he’s spending in juvenile hall awaiting sentencing.And then there’s Jagger.Hiding behind arrogance was his way of protecting himself—until even he grew sick of it.If he hadn’t tried, and tried some more, to knock down walls and make amends, we would never have gotten here.The lessons learned, the love found.Second period is about to begin.The students taking Mr.Carleton’s Intro class swarm into the room.There will always be stories to report and deadlines to meet.For now, however, I don’t want to think about anything except the warm hand holding tight to mine.AcknowledgmentsMy sincere thanks to Sally Nemeth and C.Leigh Purtill, YA writers who have kept me out of the weeds too many times to count.Dr.Marilyn Mehlmauer made sure my characters were properly diagnosed.Zack Blatt, John McGorty and Robert Leventer were my skater/fireman/legal consultants.Genna Rosenberg, along with Adam Wilson, Janis Van Tine and Stephanie Carroll, helped in myriad ways.The Cashin-Maeby-Tanzman families provided spaces on the East Coast for quiet writing time.At Harlequin Teen, T.S.Ferguson did the heavy editorial lifting, for which I am extremely grateful; Natashya Wilson’s keen eye made an impact throughout the writing process.Erin Craig and Tara Scarcello created the sophisticated art design and are among many on the Harlequin Teen team who helped guide the book throughout its journey.As always, fellow writers Jack and Liana Maeby managed to provide just the right advice, as well as laughter, when it was most needed.* * * * *We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin ebook.Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!Subscribe to our newsletter: Harlequin.com/newslettersVisit Harlequin.comWe like you—why not like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/HarlequinBooksFollow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/HarlequinBooksRead our blog for all the latest news on our authors and books: HarlequinBlog.comISBN: 9781459234642Copyright © 2012 by Carol M.TanzmanAll rights reserved.By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen.No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.This is a work of fiction [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]