You Go First

by Erin Entrada Kelly

  “You don’t seem like the type who would throw something. Then again, my dad doesn’t seem like the type who would watch reality television, and it’s all he ever does when he’s not at work. The greatest mystery of people isn’t learning what they are, but learning what they aren’t.”

  “Which poet said that?”

  “Magda Rivera.” She poked Sphinx with her finger. “You should really consider throwing something else instead next time. Like, a sock or something.”

  Charlotte lifted her head and put Sphinx in her pocket.

  “Hey,” she said. “Do you wanna come over and play Scrabble?”

  “Sure.”

  When Charlotte pulled the board from the closet, dust misted down with it. But not as much as she expected. She carried it to the dining room table, Magda at her heels.

  “Are you any good?” Magda asked, sitting in the chair underneath the pear.

  “I’m currently number two on the online leaderboard,” Charlotte said, setting up the game board. “But playing online is a lot different than playing face-to-face.”

  “I can’t remember the last time I played a board game.” Magda pulled a rack toward her and shook the bag of letters. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.

  “It’s a lost art,” Charlotte said. She sat down, too.

  The grid stretched between them.

  Technically, players were supposed to pull tiles from the bag and whoever got the earliest letter from the alphabet started the game.

  But today Charlotte motioned toward the bag and smiled. She felt lighter, somehow.

  “You go first,” she said.

  About the Author

  ERIN ENTRADA KELLY is also the author of Blackbird Fly, The Land of Forgotten Girls, and Hello, Universe. She was raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but now lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

  www.erinentradakelly.com

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  YOU GO FIRST. Text copyright © 2018 by Erin Entrada Kelly. 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.harpercollinschildrens.com

  Cover art © 2018 by Isabel Roxas

  Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc’h

  Names: Kelly, Erin Entrada, author.

  Title: You go first / by Erin Entrada Kelly.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2018] | Summary: Charlotte, twelve, and Ben, eleven, are highly skilled competitors at online Scrabble and that connection helps both as they face family issues and the turmoil of middle school.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017047338 | ISBN 9780062414182 (hardback)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Middle schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Heart—Surgery—Fiction. | Divorce—Fiction. | Bullying—Fiction. | Scrabble (Game)—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Friendship. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Bullying. | JUVENILE FICTION / Family / Parents.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.K45 You 2018 | DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017047338

  Digital Edition APRIL 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-241420-5

  Print ISBN: 978-0-06-241418-2

  18 19 20 21 22 CG/LSCH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Greenwillow Books

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