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Back Their Last Secret
Chapters (97)
  1. Cover
  2. Back Cover Text
  3. Praise
  4. Booklist
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Sixty-Six
  73. Sixty-Seven
  74. Sixty-Eight
  75. Sixty-Nine
  76. Seventy
  77. Seventy-One
  78. Seventy-Two
  79. Seventy-Three
  80. Seventy-Four
  81. Seventy-Five
  82. Seventy-Six
  83. Seventy-Seven
  84. Seventy-Eight
  85. Seventy-Nine
  86. Eighty
  87. Eighty-One
  88. Eighty-Two
  89. Eighty-Three
  90. Eighty-Four
  91. Eighty-Five
  92. Eighty-Six
  93. Eighty-Seven
  94. Eighty-Eight
  95. Eighty-Nine
  96. Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
  97. Excerpt

After Nikki’s father died when she was younger, her mother, who was a cashier at Eternity Market Mart, began drinking and gambling, running up massive debts until she couldn’t pay the bills. She met a man named Telforde, a contract painter at the bar, and they moved in with him. That was her family. Nikki smoked, drank her mother’s alcohol, read dark books and listened to bands like Exact a Toll and Kill Me Now.

As for Marie, she had beautiful skin and soft brown eyes. She was a smart-dumb girl, a genius at math and science but always missing the obvious in real life. She was self-conscious about being a little heavy. A few years ago, her little brother, Pike, had choked on a piece of apple when the family was having a picnic by the creek. He died right in front of her. Marie felt safest with Janie and Nikki. They allowed her to love NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys and maintain her crush on one of the Hanson brothers. She was always humming “MMMBop,” because Pike had loved it.

Janie’s battle with zits didn’t detract from her almond-shaped eyes and high cheekbones. Of the three girls, Janie’s personality was the sweetest. She loved French fries, Coke, ice cream and Elton John. She liked all kinds of music, even—to Nikki’s horror—country. But the weird thing was all three of them loved one particular song, an old one, “Ring of Fire.” They sang it together, belting out the chorus because for each of them something was burning inside.

The girls had known each other all their lives and while Janie was not sure what she wanted to do with hers, she was resolute in her desire to one day get as far away from Eternity as possible. To move someplace like New York, London or Paris. She was already working on her dream by saving her babysitting money.

Janie and her friends were determined to leave this town for their own painful reasons. But today, they just wanted to escape boredom.

“We haven’t been to the cemetery in a while,” Nikki suggested, once more forgetting about Marie, not seeing the hurt in her eyes.

Nikki liked counting the graves, guessing how people had died. Once she jumped into a freshly dug grave and lay in it for a while. “It’s cold in here.” Janie and Marie had to help her climb out.

It was during the last time they’d gone to the cemetery and Nikki was doing her Empress of the Dark thing when Marie couldn’t take it anymore.

“I hate it when you do this crap. I don’t like coming here like this.”