by Tom Leveen
“Hey, this is Kevin, leave me a message. Later!”
“Hi, it’s . . .”
I stop. I don’t want to identify myself. It occurs to me that my number will obviously be on the phone’s memory again, but I still don’t want to say my name.
“. . . It doesn’t matter,” I say. “I just, I wanted to say . . . I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry, Kevin. It’s too late now, I know that, and . . . I wish I could go back. So I’m sorry. I really am. No matter what else, I just need you to know that somehow. If that’s even possible. I don’t know. But I’m sorry.”
I stop again, trying to figure out how on earth to end this call. How to summarize everything that’s happened.
I choose the simplest.
“Bye, Kevin.”
TOM LEVEEN is the author of manicpixiedreamgirl, Party, and Zero (a YALSA Best Book of 2013). A frequent speaker at schools and conferences, Tom was previously the artistic director and cofounder of an all-ages, nonprofit visual and performing arts venue in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is an Arizona native, where he lives with his wife and young son.
SIMON PULSE
Simon & Schuster, New York
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON PULSE
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Simon Pulse hardcover edition August 2014
Text copyright © 2014 by Tom Leveen
Jacket designed by Regina Flath
Jacket photograph copyright © 2014 by Yagi Studio/Getty Images
Author photograph by Alecia Brouwer
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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Book design by Regina Flath
The text of this book was set in Minion Pro.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leveen, Tom.
Random / Tom Leveen. — First Simon Pulse hardcover edition.
p. cm.
Summary: The night before going on trial in a sensational felony case that has ruined her life, sixteen-year-old Tori Hershberger receives a random phone call from a stranger contemplating suicide and she begins a race against time to save him.
[1. Suicide—Fiction. 2. Conduct of life—Fiction. 3. Bullying—Fiction.
4. Family life—Fiction. 5. Popularity—Fiction. 6. High schools—Fiction. 7. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.L57235Ran 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2013021006
ISBN 978-1-4424-9956-0
ISBN 978-1-4424-9958-4 (eBook)