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"There’s so much I wanted to do," Lizbeth said "I’ve never even…" She choked back a sob "You know"

"I’ve got a feeling a lot of ‘you know’ is going on right now," I said "Probably right underneath these bleachers"

"You think?" She wiped her cheeks with the palm of her hand "What about you?"

"About ‘you know’?" I had no proble about sex as it related to me

"Oh, I know you haven’t ‘you know’ God! I’ht ere"

"I’ about our lives, Cassie! Jesus, this could be the end of the freakin’ world, and all you want to do is talk about sex!"

She pulled her phone out of my hand and fumbled with the battery cover

"Which is why you should just tell his of her hoodie

"Tell hat?" I knew exactly what shetime

"Ben! You should tell hirade"

"This is a joke, right?" I felthot

"And then you should have sex with him"

"Lizbeth, shut up"

"It’s the truth"

"I haven’t wanted to have sex with Ben Parish since the third grade," I whispered The third grade? I glanced over at her to see if she was really listening Apparently, she wasn’t

"If I were you, I’d go right up to him and say, ‘I think this is it This is it, and I’ll be day sex with you’ And then you knohat I’d do?"

"What?" I was fighting back a laugh, picturing the look on his face

"I’d take hiarden and have sex with hiarden?"

"Or the locker room" She waved her hand around frantically to include the entire school--or maybe the whole world "It doesn’t matter where"

"The locker room smells" I looked tn at the outline of Ben Parish’s gorgeous head "That kind of thing only happens in the movies," I said

"Yeah, totally unrealistic, not like what’s happening right now"

She was right It was totally unrealistic Both scenarios, an alien invasion of the Earth and a Ben Parish invasion of me

"At least you could tell hi my mind

Could, yes Ever would, well…

And I never did That was the last tiymnasium (Home of the Hawks!) tn from me, and only the back part of him He probably died in the 3rd Wave like almost everybody else, and I never told him how I felt I could have He kneho I was; he sat behind me in a couple of classes

He probably doesn’t remember, but in middle school we rode the same bus, and there was an afternoon when I overheard hi born the day before and I turned around and said, "My brother was born last week!" And he said, "Really?" Not sarcastic, but like he thought it was a cool coincidence, and for about awe had this special connection based on babies Then ere in high school and he became the star wide receiver for the tea him score from the stands I would see hiht the urge to run up to hiirl from the bus Do you re is, he probably would have Ben Parish couldn’t be satisfied with being the uy in school Just to tor one of the smartest And have I mentioned he was kind to small animals and children? His little sister was on the sidelines at every gaht to the sidelines, hoisted her onto his shoulders, and led the parade around the track with her waving to the crowd like a ho: his killer set me started

After another hour in the dark and stuffy gyave a little wave, like he showed up at ged Lizbeth and told her I’d call as soon as the phones started working again I was still practicing pre-invasion thinking You know, the power goes out, but it always co and I don’t re her that I loved her