There’s a place between hope and despair. If I still despaired, I’d cry. I’d still be raging against the dying of the light—I love that poem, I do, but I don’t feel it anymore. I don’t feel it when Death Cab for Cutie makes promises to follow me into the dark—that belongs to someone else, now. It all belongs to someone else now, and that’s all right.
We don’t know what we are while we still are. Maybe some of us get a glimpse of it. I’m pretty sure Beyoncé has a grasp on her place in the social consciousness. The Prince of Cambridge knows that one day, he’s the king, the next link in a chain of time that stretches back—but forward, too.
The Appalachians are old for mountains. The Rockies are young. They’re real, I can tell you that, because I’ve seen them both. They’re more real than you or me, because they’ll last. That’s a fact that lives in that place between hope and despair. In the place without fear, without hurt, without hesitation.
You’re going to turn the next page, because you still have hope. You hope there’s a little something more, and it’s nothing personal. People do it at the end of every book. I think that’s why publishers put in all those extra pages. So you have a chance to shuffle and flip through them while it sinks in. It’s over. The trip is done.
You know it’s over, but you’re going to turn the page anyway.
I’ll tell you right now, there’s nothing on it.
(O)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RORY HARRISON lives in the American Midwest and is sorted into Slytherin. She’s a geek and a gamer: she and pop culture are >>likedis<<. Some of her favorite games include Skyrim, Dragon Age 1 & 3, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 1 & 2, Life Is Strange, Goat Simulator, and whatever else strikes her fancy at the moment. When she’s not reading, writing, or gaming, she’s having very strong opinions about things. Visit her online at www.roryharrison.com.
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BOOKS BY RORY HARRISON
Looking for Group
CREDITS
Cover art and lettering © 2017 by TIMOTHY GOODMAN and LEAH SCHMIDT
Cover design by SARAH CREECH
COPYRIGHT
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
LOOKING FOR GROUP. Copyright © 2017 by Rory Harrison. 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.
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ISBN 978-0-06-245307-5 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © April 2017 ISBN 9780062453099
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FIRST EDITION
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