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Back The Lucky Ones Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-one
  25. Chapter Twenty-two
  26. Chapter Twenty-three
  27. Chapter Twenty-four
  28. Chapter Twenty-five
  29. Chapter Twenty-six
  30. Chapter Twenty-seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-one
  35. Chapter Thirty-two
  36. Chapter Thirty-three
  37. Chapter Thirty-four
  38. Chapter Thirty-five
  39. Chapter Thirty-six
  40. Chapter Thirty-seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-one
  45. Chapter Forty-two
  46. The Letter
  47. Chapter Forty-three
  48. Chapter Forty-four
  49. Chapter Forty-five
  50. Chapter Forty-six
  51. Chapter Forty-seven
  52. Chapter Forty-eight
  53. Chapter Forty-nine
  54. Chapter Fifty
  55. Chapter Fifty-one
  56. Chapter Fifty-two
  57. Chapter Fifty-three
  58. Author’s Note
  59. Resources
  60. Acknowledgments
  61. About the Author
  62. What’s next onyour reading list?

I wish I had stayed in tonight. I wish I could go back to last summer: me, alone, blocking out my thoughts with the drone of the television, only coming back to reality when Lucy would come over and we’d plan another attack on Michelle Teller’s house. I only came alive that summer when we were out there, fighting against what happened in our own private way. Two girls against the world. I didn’t look past it; I didn’t want to. My entire existence was built on those moments. I didn’t deserve a future.

Now here I am, in my undeserved future, without Jordan, with Michelle Teller’s kid by my side.

Lost.

I grip the rail of the staircase in my shaking hand and make my way up to the second floor behind Zach, watching the back of his shirt rise and fall in time with his breath.

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-Two

When we get to the second floor, I realize that while the downstairs was cool, this part of the store is freaking awesome. In front of us, there’s a tilted bookshelf designed to look like it has books flying out of it like seagulls.

I peek over the railing, down to the first floor. It’s huge. Rows and rows of books and stacks of vinyl albums and all these people browsing: it reminds me of a long time ago when my dad was around—like, mentally speaking—and he would take me to the Northridge Mall on Sundays and let me roam around the bookstore there. Gwen was too little, and my mom was always working, even then, so the outings were always just him and me; we would spend hours together, not talking, at peace, lost in our separate worlds. Those are some of the last decent memories I have of my father.

I wander through a door and into a maze of bookshelves and then through this awesome little tunnel that’s built out of books. Beyond that, there’s another door, and I’m about to walk through when a hand grasps my arm. I’ve been so lost in my own thoughts that I jump in surprise and almost knock over a bunch of stacked books.

I turn back to see if May is as impressed as I am but she’s stark white—almost as bad as she was at the bar. And here I am, nerding out, ignoring her.

Great job, Zach. Way to show this girl you aren’t a jerk.

“Are you okay?” My voice cracks on the word okay, my worry seeping through.

She shakes her head. She looks like she might cry. Her face is crumpling, the bravery that she forced into it on our walk over from the club slipping.