Sam@WLABB
Written on May 29, 2015
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Charlie Hanson has a clear vision of his future. A senior at Brighton School of Mathematics and Science, he knows he'll graduate, go to MIT, and inevitably discover the solutions to the universe's greatest unanswerable problems. He's that smart. It's only a matter of time before there's a Nobel Prize in physics engraved with his name. The future has never seemed very kind to Charlotte Finch, so she's counting on the present. She would rather sketch with charcoal pencils, hang out with her best friend, sing in her pitch-perfect voice, or read her favourite book than fill out a college application. Charlie's future blurs the moment he reaches out to touch the infinity tattoo on Charlotte's neck. She's not impressed by the strange boy pawing at her until she learns he's a student at Brighton where her sister, Ms. Finch, has just taken a job as the English teacher. At Charlotte's request, Charlie orchestrates the biggest prank campaign in Brighton history. But in doing so, he puts his own future in jeopardy. By the time Charlie learns Charlotte is ill and that the pranks were a way to distract Ms.
Finch from Charlotte's illness, Charlotte's gravitational pull on him is too great to overcome. Soon he must choose between the familiar formulas he's always relied on, or the girl he's falling for (at far more than 32 feet per second).
I pull a box of cereal from the pantry, trying—and failing—to ignore the flickering light from the TV in the family room. But then Charlotte laughs, and I'm done for. Attracted to her laughter like a month drawn to the TV's soft light, I drift into the family room.
As a result, [Charlotte] (and her tempting long legs) have practically moved into my house
True sign of a geek: my heart just stuttered at the idea of taking time away from school.
Engineer? I stare at her for a second longer before looking at my pitiful wall. Of course it's falling down. I'm just grabbing at stones and stacking them, but if I were to apply some geometry and basic physics, adjust the angle of the stack, and add some drainage to reduce internal pressure... My brain starts to race as I pull down the bit of wall I've already built. I run to the car for paper and a pencil to sketch a plan.
"We're going out," James says, grabbing his sweatshirt.
"Where?" I ask.
James stops in the middle of tugging his sweatshirt over his head. "Good question," he says, muffled from inside the fabric. Pulling his head out he asks, "Where do teenagers go, and why don't we know this?"
"Those are the ugliest fucking flowers ever. Where did you steal those? You better have stolen them. Please do not tell a dying woman you paid good money for those crappy excuses for roses. Didn't I teach you anything? Get them out of here."
There were huge blank spaces, completely blank pages, and every chapter beginning had some kind of pattern on it and I would have to turn the page three times to get to the actual text. My Kindle even crashed once!