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At the wooden shed, the coht, the left and then back to the right With a click, I unlatch the lock and open the door Sunlight streams in and dust particles dance in the bea out here?" Lincoln asks

"Reclai my pride" Stupid Stephen and stupid h oing to Florida, how he balked and then started talking about how scared I’d be once I moved He played me He playeddeep-down honest, though, Stephen’s prank was just the excuse I’d been searching for to drop Florida And I could includeto Florida in the fall in the pathetic-excuse category The truth is I’ve doubted going away to school because I’ve doubtedalone

I don’t kno to fix my fear, but I do kno to fix Stephen

Once rab ht It’s ti proactive It’s time someone turned the tables on the sliuns He raises his eyebrows once he realizes what he holds in his hands

"Shoot for their feet," I say "Their shoes cost two hundred and fifty dollars and they’d be pissed if they got stained"

His wicked smile answers that he understands the plan and that he’s on board "Have you ever used one of these?"

"Yep" But it’s nothing I’ve ever broadcast to the world "Have you?"

"It’s been a while"

Good "We’ve got six hours until sunset, and then it’s on"

Lincoln’s eyes travel overin love"

At the word love,to i a pair of ratty cutoff jeans and a T-shirt and cradling a paintball gun And then I wonder what it would be like if he really was falling for me, because Lincoln in real life is a million times more intense than Lincoln in lettersand I’o outside on the 28th and watch the : 3:00 am? But I think it will be beautiful Besides, it will be cool to know that you’re watching the sky at the same exact time as me

~ Lila

With a hip cocked in the door frame of Lila’s room, I watch as she towel-dries her hair Earlier, I witnessed Lila hit bull’s-eye after bull’s-eye with that paintball gun The girl ain’t playing Experiencing her Raht on some fear

I chuckle to myself It also turned me on

The late-afternoon sun floats into her bedroo a natural clih position in the trees Lila plans to be at ground level

She tosses the towel into a hah her hair "When will you have to leave?" she asks

"I called my parents while you were in the shower I told the" I also told thees when I finally did arrive ho to focus on my future, not on the past They weren’t happy I left so suddenly and that I didn’t graduate, but they weren’t irate

She bites her lower lip and sinks to her bed "So you’ll be leaving tolad you caazesinto someone else’s eyes "Will you be okay by yourself?"

She nods "I’ll probably wake to every little sound, but I’ll be fine"

"That’s irl" My eyes widen as I realize what I said Lila’s not irl I want her to be, but "I lances away, her hair swinging into her face

Could she possibly feel what I feel? Lila and I were once strangers who h letters, bonded by a shared dreae in another state, and then I fell for her Could she have also fallen forto head home, and the one lesson I learned from Josh’s death is that life has to be lived now; the future isn’t always guaranteed I have this one shot with her, and I’ to take it "This past fall you told h we’re hundreds of uess in shock that I remembered

"Well," I continue, "that’s what it’s been like for hts with so them with anyone else"

I pause, terrified to continue If I’ on this, I’ll ruin the relationship Lila and I share Lila fidgets with a strand of her wet hair and keeps those gorgeous innocent eyes locked onaway from this moment

"I like you, Lila Asand I think of you I go to bed at night and you’re the last thought in my mind I dreaet your letters"

She blinks once, her face frozen My stomach sinks "But if you don’t feel the same way, it’s okay I swear--"