PROLOGUE
CHAD
SOMETIMEIN THE PAST
“WHATARE YOUdoin’?”
“Writin’,” Molly replied simply, not bothering to look upfrom the notepad she’d asked my mama for.
Icast my gaze over, through the trees and toward the pool. I could taste thechlorine and feel its pleasant coolness on my skin, now baking in the summersun. The water sparkled underneath its rays, and to me, it looked like athousand diamonds had been scattered over the surface, now twinkling in thelight. That made me think of Mama, who was lazily floating along in her brightpink, flamingo-printed lounge. I narrowed my eyes with jealousy and turned backtoward Molly, still scribbling in that dang notepad.
“Youwannagoswimmin’?”
“Nope.”She shook her head for effect, then brushed a loose tendril from off herforehead, putting it back with the rest of her curls.
Witha heavy sigh, I flopped back against the grass. “Come on, Molly. I’m bored.”
“Youcan goswimmin’ if you want,” she weakly compromised,while keeping her eyes on her writing. She knew I’d never do that. I wasn’tgonnajust leave to have fun without her. And besides, Inever did have much fun without Molly, anyway.
So,I continued to wait. I plucked at the blades of grass and practiced whistlingwith a few of the thicker pieces I found, like I used to do when we wereyounger. I feigned fascination as a caterpillar crawled over one of my palmsand across to the other in a continuous loop, until I set it down on a nearbytree trunk. Every couple of minutes, I glanced in Molly’s direction, only tofind her still writing, and I’d let loose a sigh I hoped she didn’t hear.
Finally,she dropped the pencil to the ground and clambered to her feet. “Okay. Done.Wannaswim?” She ran toward the pool. Just like that. Likeshe hadn’t been ignoring me the past thirty minutes.
“Whatwereyawriting?” I called, pulling up to my feet tohurry after her.
Mollystopped at the pool’s edge and looked over her shoulder. Eyeing me withskepticism, as though unsure if she should divulge. “You’ll make fun of me,”she stated, before jumping into the deep end.
“No,I won’t!” I dove in after her and the impact disturbed Mama on herflamingo’dfloat.
“Chad!”I heard her muffled reprimand from beneath the water’s surface and Iimmediately popped back up to apologize. She was wiping the water from hersunglasses when I looked at her and she tilted her lips in a reluctant smile.“Just take it easy, okay?”
Realizingshe wasn’t going to scold me, I nodded hastily and found Molly, practicing herdoggy-paddlearound the perimeter of the pool. “Hey,” Isaid. “Tell me. I promise I won’t make fun of you.”
“Yeah,right.”
“Iswear,” I insisted, pressing a hand over my heart.
Mollystopped swimming and sighed before turning her back to me and leaning her armsagainst the bricked edge. I went to her side and waited as she mustered theconfidence to continue.
“Wishes.”
Mybrow furrowed. “Wishes?”
“Yeah.”She nodded impatiently. “You know. We’re alwayswishin’on the stars and I thought I should write ‘emdown.”
“Why?”
Molly’scheekspinkedbeneath her freckles. “Sothey’ll come true.”
Ididn’t think I could crumple my forehead any further as I considered thesentiment. Write them down so they’ll come true? Was she for real? Should I bewriting mine down too? Make sure I’d finally get that PlayStation 3 for myeighth-grade graduation? What about the one about being famous one day? Wouldthat come true if I didn’t put it down on paper?
Itseemed like such an immature thing to think about—we were almost in highschool, for crying out loud—but there I was, with a heart-stopping panicjittering through my veins as I made a mental note to write them all down later.But right now, Molly was looking too worried and serious for my liking. Shepicked at her fingernails and wouldn’t meet my eye, and I had to fix that. So,using my feet, I pushed away from the side of the pool and declared a race. Iswam past Mama, delighted to hear Molly laughing and splashing behind me.
***
“Whatwere you and Mollytalkin’ about earlier?” Mamaasked, stopping in the doorway of the bathroom as I brushed my teeth.
“Huh?”I turned to her, toothbrush hanging out of my mouth.
