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Chapter One

Rachel

Scientists say that we’re all made of pieces of stars

Never had that felt truer into my boyfriend’s shirt on the back of an old dirt bike as he increased his speed around the bend on Meadow Road When the motorcycle narrowly ainst the guardrail, I could have sworn I went sailing as high as those glittering pinpoints of light

Crashing down and leaving a trail of dust inthrough the heavens I reached for the proers only met my collarbone I was certain , as darkness descended uponinto a fine powder, and uniting with those incandescent wonders, like a dazzling supernova in the sky

And now here I was again, at another one of these field parties, the kind I hadn’t been to since high school Though it was good to see all of my old friends, some of them still didn’t knohat the hell to say to me And I didn’t knohat to say to thee, the division had become even wider It was now the sue, but to thely scar

My neck was stiff fros inside the bed of the truck and settled against a rolled-up sleeping bag It was flipping hot out here for eleven o’clock at night Beads of sweat formed above my lip and pooled down the center of my boobs

I located the North Star and stared at it until my vision blurred and the beat of the music took over my senses Shane Garity had had the same damn pickup truck since way back when It was old and rusty but the speakers could still crank out the tunes And everyone continued to seek out the field in the back of his parent’s house for impromptu parties just like this one

Soed

Dakota hadn’t returned froured she and Shane were up to their usual flirting ways He’d crushed on her all through high school, and she knew it and practically egged him on, except when her brother, Kai, was around He was Shane’s best friend and had let him know in no uncertain terms that his sister was off-limits

My elbow had knocked over her red Solo Cup and her syrupy wine had leaked into the rusty cracks of the truck bed It reminded me of the way the lovable me had trickled away as the trauether

Dakota was one our separate ways after high school, she easily folded ed me to stay at her expensive apart been blessed with the newest s, and incredible looks, she never acted like a spoiled brat She worked her ass off for her finance degree at the local private university and was motivated to make a name for herself

I figured it’d be an easy commute into the city fro business When Daddy divorced her the year after ot the house and the company But the location of Pure sucked It was smack dab in the htseers didn’t seem to be interested in handnets and bu so hot

Mom had remarried and moved to a s on to this damn business as if her life depended on it I always suspected she wanted to prove to Daddy that she’d e to the East End and she’d taken that as a sign that I’d help her make the move this summer

“Been studying astronomy in your spare time?” Shane asked

Dakota stood near the rear wheel next to Shane, whose hands were shoved deep in his pockets I gave the around The way his gaze roa stir insidefor someone I once loved But then it slid away and I chalked it up to the nostalgia of being around this place again

“The stars are brighter out here, asshead,” I said “You know that”

Dakota shook her head “God, I missed your face But your potty mouth? Not so much”

“I appreciate Rachel’s pottyhis eyebrows

“That’s a given,” Dakota said, rolling her eyes “Boys”

“I’e,” I said with a wink “Take it or leave it”

My effortless banter with my childhood friends was ree friends, Avery and Ella Except with Dakota and Shane, the easiness was real I was someone different with my friends from school Someone bolder and unattached—because if I was bold and unattached, I didn’t have to be led fire out of me, stripped me down to who I really was

Dakota fingered the yellowed, peeling sticker on the truck’s bue found everywhere—widely accepted, even—froreed it was a fair summation Apart from the fact that I’d cheated death, which meant that bitch had spared me, so maybe she wasn’t so bad after all

“You edly handsome, and he and Dakota would definitely make a sweet couple He was kind and cool and never an asshole, which endeared hiht I could see it in his eyes But it had been my decision to hop on the back of his bike with no helmet for the ride of my life with Miles—only to return as wrecked as the motorcycle

“It’s not like we’re in the boonies” Dakota snorted “The city’s only a train ride away and I’ht, Rach?”

“Only a change of scenery, really” I took a sip of

Dakota knew I’d left for college dejected, after Miles had broken things off while I was still laid up in the hospital I left for a place far ahere no one would know to treatsince my recovery

I’d gone through months of rehab by the tihtly off-balance gait, and nue suspected I’d suffered a near-fatal subdural hematoma—in other words, a brain bleed, caused by the impact of the accident

“Alanted to hang at the less touristy places,” Shane said “But Dakota didn’t invitewinter break”