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Eureka hadn’t been on this road since before Diana died She’d turned here so casually, not thinking it would hurt, but suddenly she couldn’t breathe Every day sorief were the foxhole she would see no way out of until she died

She al, she didn’t think Her mind cleared, oak trees’ arms embraced her with their fuzzy Spanish , heart beating, ar far away

She thought of theuseful If she could just make it back to school in time …

The week before, the last of the heavy casts she’d had to wear on her shattered wrists (the right one had been broken so severely it had to be reset three ti and couldn’t wait to see it shredded But last week, when the orthopedist tossed the cast in the trash and pronounced her healed, it sounded like a joke

As Eureka pulled up to a four-way stop sign on the empty road, bay branches bent in an arc over the sunroof She pushed the green sleeve of her school cardigan up She turned her right wrist over a few ti her forearht arm’s circumference seemed to have shrunk to half the size of her left It looked freakish It made Eureka ashamed Then she became ashamed of her shame She was alive; her mother wasn’t--

Tires screeched behind her A hard buda lurched forward Eureka’s foot ground against the brake The airbag bloo her cheeks and nose Her head snapped against the headrest She gasped, the wind knocked out of her, as everymetal made the music on the stereo sound eerily new Eureka listened to it for athe lyric "always not fair" before she realized she’d been hit

Her eyes shot open and she jerked at the door handle, forgetting she had her seat belt on When she lifted her foot off the brake, the car rolled forward until she jerked it into park She turned Magda off Her hands flailed under the deflating airbag She was desperate to free herself

A shadow fell across her body, giving her the strangest sense of déjà vu So in

She looked up--

"You," she whispered involuntarily

She had never seen the boy before His skin was as pale as her uncasted arm, but his eyes were turquoise, like the ocean in Miami, and this made her think of Diana She sensed sadness in their depths, like shadows in the sea His hair was blond, not too short, a little wavy at the top She could tell there were plenty of ht nose, square jaw, full lips--the kid looked like Paul Newman from Diana’s favorite movie, Hud, except he was so pale

"You could help er He was the hottest guy she’d ever yelled at He uy she’d ever seen Her exclamation made hiers finally found the seat belt She turacelessly out of the car and landed in the roaned Her nose and cheeks stung froht wrist throbbed

The boy crouched down to help her His eyes were startlingly blue

"Never mind" She stood up and dusted off her skirt She rolled her neck, which hurt, though it was nothing compared to the shape she’d been in after the other accident She looked at the white truck that had hit her She looked at the boy

"What is wrong with you?" she shouted "Stop sign!"

"Sorry" His voice was soft and mellow She wasn’t sure he sounded sorry

"Did you even try to stop?"

"I didn’t see--"

"Didn’t see the large red car directly in front of you?" She spun around to exae, she cursed so the whole parish could hear

The rear end looked like a zydeco accordion, caved in up to the backseat, where her license plate was noedged The back as shattered; shards hung froly icicles The back tires were twisted sideways