Page 39 of Wonderstruck

unless writing your number on girls hands is something you do multiple times a night then letting you know who i am was useful

sorry i think you’ve got the wrong number. unless you’re looking for the staten island erotica store then how can we help?

oh god no, sorry. i have the wrong number

i’m kidding. it’s finn.

that wasn’t funny

maybe a little funny.

no. it wasn’t.

you’re telling me you didn’t evensmirk?

no.

not even now?

will saying yes satisfy your ego?

always

alright fine it was a little funny.

nice to know you’re smiling, greene.for a moment there i thought you weren't capable.

do you want to pass french or not?

oui

anyway, i just wanted to tell you that i accept your offer.

i’m glad to hear it. i’ve got practice tomorrow at four so the rink should be free after six.

unless that’s too soon. take all the time you need.

no, tomorrow is fine.

see you tomorrow then. text me if you need anything

1. Why did I eat two tubs of caramel corn?

2.Dear Lord!

chapter eleven

i'm bambi on ice. literally.

I'd never imagined feeling so guilty about grabbing a coffee on my walks before, but here I was, holding back tears as I stared into latte art growing cold in my hands.

But I suppose it was because everything still feels so wrong.

Normal life feels wrong.

It feels like I shouldn’t be going aboutmy daily routine when I’m dying on theinside. Going to class and coming home to the girls feels so wrong that I almost want to stop and sit right here in the corridor, and only start moving when enough time has passed that people don’t judge me for being normal when my life is anything but.

It’s hard to explain if you’ve neverfelt it, but calling it survivor's guilt feels right. How the final girl feels as she sits in the back of an ambulance after all her friends have been hunted, and slaughtered. You constantly ask yourself why it wasn’t you. What had I done to live and my dad had done to die? Was it just his health? Was it planned to be this way? Was it mom?

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