by Kat Spears
“Graduation is also a beginning. It’s the beginning of adult life, the beginning of college, the beginning of the real world.
“But I think, when we look at life as a series of beginnings and endings, we miss the things that are really worth commemorating. We forget to care that all of those parts are important. We celebrate graduations and retirements and births and deaths, and we forget to celebrate all of the parts in between. And that’s really sad.
“So, that’s all I wanted to say to you today. By all means, celebrate graduation as an ending, or as a beginning. Celebrate it as whatever you want. But don’t forget to celebrate the moments in between, because those are the moments that really matter.
“Goodbye, graduating class of ___, and Godspeed.”
Ophelia takes off her graduation cap and, with a whoop, throws it high into the air. The sun catches her cap as it sails through the air, and leaves the perfect outline of the tassel and board etched in my mind like a memory that just might stay there.
ALSO BY KAT SPEARS
The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker
Breakaway
Sway
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KAT SPEARS grew up moving every few years and is still looking for her hometown. Kat writes realistic, edgy, honest, sometimes heartbreaking, often funny books about and for young people. Being a teenager sucked for Kat, and she’s still trying to write her way out of it. She spends her free time rearing caterpillars, vacuuming up dog hair, and writing letters the old-fashioned way. Her favorite job, ever, is being the mother of three perfect and hilarious humans. She is the author of Sway, Breakaway, and The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Epigraph
Act I: Conscience Makes Cowards of us All
Act II: For in this Sleep of Death What Dreams May Come
Act III: Thus Bad Begins, and Worse Remains Behind
Act IV: There is Nothing Either Good or Bad, But Thinking Makes it So
Act V: We Know What We are, But Know Not What we May Be
Also by Kat Spears
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by Wednesday Books, a division of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
THE TRAGEDY OF DANE RILEY. Copyright © 2021 by Kat Spears. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.wednesdaybooks.com
Cover design and illustration by Jonathan Bush
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Spears, Katarina M., author.
Title: The tragedy of Dane Riley / Kat Spears.
Description: First Edition. | New York: Wednesday Books, 2021.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020056432 | ISBN 9781250124807 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250124814 (ebook)
Classification: LCC PS3619.P4343 T73 2021 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020056432
eISBN 9781250124814
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: 2021