by Lamar Giles
“He took over a city with Batbots, or whatever you call them. Then sits back in his old-man smugness watching everyone, judging like some kind of—”
“God?”
She punched my shoulder. “Don’t start!”
The DJ mixed in another song, and Mya swayed in her gown, eyes on the dance floor. “Del, I gotta get in there. Hold my drink?”
I rolled my eyes, but complied. She hiked up her dress and skittered to the floor, leaving me and MJ to our conversation.
He said, “You probably should’ve followed her.”
“Why? For what?” My face felt suddenly hot.
“Uh-huh. She’s going to the After Prom. I saw her name on the list.”
I crossed my arms, swishing Mya’s drink around. “Um, thanks.”
MJ chuckled. “You know if you ever want to talk, get some advice, I’m here for you. Ask anything.”
This was sliding into uncomfortable territory. Questions and answers hadn’t worked out so well for me in the past. Though, now that he brought it up, one inquiry lingered. The story he never finished. “How’d you end up getting with your lady? After you’d said foul stuff to her in college.”
“Oh, that. I didn’t.”
I wrenched toward him, sloshing Mya’s drink. “You said her parents knew your roommate’s parents.”
MJ shook his head. “Naw, I said my roommate’s parents knew the parents of the girl I immediately keyed on. The one who when I saw her, I instantly crafted this story in my head about how I’d get with her. She. Was. Sexy! I was convinced that us meeting in that moment was some kind of sign. I messed it up by coming at her sideways, but no one could tell me that. At first.
“She’d brought friends with her. Two other girls. One of those friends eventually told me how much of a dick I was by pressing up on someone who wasn’t feeling me. Basically called me a harasser. I was pissed, too. Notice how you get most mad when the truth is something you don’t like?”
My eyes flitted to Kiera, who’d taken a break from dancing to snuggle with her date, his arm looped over her shoulder.
“That girl did me a favor by checking me. She did me more favors by always telling me the truth. Got to a point where I couldn’t imagine her not being there to tell me the truth. Fast-forward, you’ll be meeting her and our kid later tonight.”
“Wow, MJ. That story is kind of amazing.”
“Yes and no. Yes, that I’m so lucky. No, in that it shouldn’t have taken me so long to see what was right in front of me.”
The crowd around the dance circle was going crazy. Clapping, cheering. Mya was in the middle, moving in ways that shouldn’t be possible in that kind of gown, but the girl was killing it.
MJ said, “I’ll hold her cup if you want to go. The question is, do you?”
The answer: Hell. Yes.
I passed MJ that drink, and worked my way onto the dance floor with my friends, and my enemies, and everyone in between. Mya saw me coming—there was a glint in her eye, as bright as the party lights sparkling off her tiara. And, I swear . . .
It was the purest thing I’d ever seen.
Can I get an amen?
Acknowledgments
Here we go again. It’s always nice to see you here, but I gotta admit . . . this gets harder every time. This is novel #6. You’ve probably seen this is a whole new direction for me. And when you’re on your sixth novel, trying to do a bunch of different things, you require a lot of help. Let’s see if I can do all my fabulous family, friends, and colleagues justice. I’ll try to be brief. Special thanks to . . .
Dear Wife Adrienne, Mom, the siblings, nephews, niece, and the rest of the family . . . I love you all. Thanks for the support.
The team that makes sure I’m getting the best possible opportunities: Jamie Weiss Chilton, Eric Reid, Carmen Oliver, and Jennifer Justman. You’re all godsends.
Team HarperCollins: Karen Chaplin, Bria Ragin, Rosemary Brosnan; Erin Fitzsimmons and Molly Fehr in Design; Mark Rifkin and Liz Byer in managing editorial; Andrea Pappenheimer and the entire sales team; and everyone in marketing and publicity.
The people who helped usher this thing from a seed of an idea to a fully realized novel: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Nic Stone, Sheri Reynolds, Janet Peery, and John McManus.
As always, the many, many, many, many friends I’ve made along the way.
About the Author
Photo by Adrienne Giles
LAMAR GILES writes novels and short stories for teens and adults. He is the author of the Edgar Award finalists Fake ID and Endangered as well as the novels Overturned, Spin, and The Last Last-Day-of-Summer. He is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books, and he resides in Virginia with his wife. Check him out online at lamargiles.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Praise for Fake ID
“A taut, suspenseful thriller filled with unexpected twists. I loved Fake ID!” —Michelle Gagnon, author of Don’t Turn Around and Don’t Look Now
“From the first sentence to the last, this mystery delivers code-red, heart-thumping action.” —Crystal Allen, author of How Lamar’s Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy
“Fast action, judicious plot twists, and sufficiently evil teens and adults should keep thrill-seeking readers awake long into the night.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“[An] engrossing thriller.” —Publishers Weekly
“Conspiracy theorists and thriller fans alike will be guessing right up to the end of this exciting debut.” —Booklist
“Smart, punchy teen dialogue; a strong African American protagonist; and non-stop twists and turns make this mystery pop.” —The Horn Book
Praise for Endangered
“Fans of Giles’s Fake ID will be overjoyed to find his debut success was no fluke. This title delivers another skillfully devised plot, supported by a fully fleshed cast.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
“A dynamic, dangerously suspenseful, contemporary adventure that also leaves room for introspective soul-searching.” —SLJ
“Suspenseful and often wise.” —Kirkus Reviews
“[The] exploration of good and evil, justice and culpability, and anger and guilt gives this psychological thriller the thematic and emotional depth to match its full-throttle plot. A strong choice for lovers of suspense.” —The Horn Book
“Giles (Fake ID) crafts an unpredictable psychological thriller. . . . A timely and unsettling story . . . The novel’s strength rests in its underlying moral complexity.” —Publishers Weekly
“Giles writes a fast-paced, gripping suspense novel with an engaging whodunit mystery. . . . A good choice for reluctant readers and fans of strong female heroines.” —VOYA
Books by Lamar Giles
Fake ID
Endangered
Not So Pure and Simple
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Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
NOT SO PURE AND SIMPLE. Copyright © 2020 by Lamar Giles. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
Cover art © 2020 by Jordi Ros
Cover design by Moll
y Fehr
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Giles, L.R. (Lamar R.), author.
Title: Not so pure and simple / Lamar Giles.
Description: First edition. | New York : HarperTeen, [2020] | Audience: Ages 13 up | Audience: Grades 10–12 | Summary: High school junior Del Rainey unwillingly joins a Purity Pledge class at church, hoping to get closer to his long-term crush, Kiera.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019025683 | ISBN 9780062349194 (hardcover)
Subjects: CYAC: Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. | Christian life—Fiction. | High schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Family life—Virginia—Fiction. | African Americans—Fiction. | Virginia—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.G39235 Not 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019025683
* * *
Digital Edition JANUARY 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-234921-7
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-234919-4
1920212223PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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