Chapters (95)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Video #1
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Video #2
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Video #3
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- The Final Video
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
Or maybe I faked the whole thing. That’s what some people say. I drove into a tree and bashed my own head and did something terrible to Chloe. Then walked five miles to the hospital in the dark. With a concussion.
As we make the drive to school, my hands grip the wheel tight. This is only the second time I’ve driven since…since that night. I stop extra long at every stop sign. I look both ways even when a light turns green. I’m wrong to make fun of the old ladies. Their behavior makes sense to me now.
Olivia is in the passenger seat, texting away, her feet tucked underneath her. She’s clearly not worried about my driving. Her thumbs move over her phone like a video in fast-forward.
She spends every ride to school texting this way. But I want to talk. Maybe I’m more anxious than I realize. Maybe dad is right. Maybe I should lay low. After those comments on YouTube, who knows what people will say in person?
“Aren’t you going to see Gabriela in less than five minutes?” I ask.
“I need to plan where we’re meeting. I haven’t seen her since yesterday.”
“Wow. So long.”
She lowers the phone to her lap. “Oh, shit. Am I being an asshole for texting Gabby while Chloe’s missing? I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”
“I wasn’t saying that.” And I wasn’t. “I was just teasing you. You know, the way I always do.”
“Are you sure? I’ll stop.”
“You don’t have to stop. I’m glad you have Gabriela. You’re lucky.”
“I know,” she says dreamily. “And it’s almost our three-month anniversary. So let’s talk about something happy.” Olivia turns and looks out the window. We’re driving through a neighborhood near ours. Rows and rows of brick ranch houses that Chloe called midcentury modern. The yards are full of leaves, and a lot of the porches have been taken over by pumpkins and cornstalks and plastic skeletons. “Look at all the Halloween stuff. Isn’t it awesome? Gabriela and I are taking her little cousin trick-or-treating. Did I tell you that?”
“No, you didn’t. Or maybe you did, and I can’t remember.”
“No worries. We’re all going to dress like zombies. You know, all pale and deathly and shit.”
Pale and deathly. That makes me think of something…
“Livvy, about the video…”
“Don’t worry about Dad, Hunter. He can be such an asshole sometimes. It’s like when I try to talk to him about Mom, and he’s all like, ‘I just don’t want to think about that, Livvy.’ Can you believe he says that to me? By the way, I told him fifty times to stop calling me Livvy. I’m not a little kid.”
“I call you Livvy all the time.”