Page 42 of The Summer of Everything

“Yes. It’ll be work, but we can.”

Yeah, Wes sounds like a self-help book.Six Ways to Save Your Dream Slacker Job. But he believes every word of the wishful thinking he’s spitting out.

“Each of us needs to come up with a promotional idea. Then we’ll plan it out. Kyra can help,” he says adamantly.

Across from him, Zay shrugs. “I’m down. I’ve helped with fundraising ideas at my church.”

“I’m in,” says Anna.

“Yes! Save the bookstore. Damn the man.” Cooper thumps a fist on the table.

“This is going to be so bad,” Ella says under her breath, but Wes ignores her homegrown pessimism.

He stares at Nico, attempting to maintain a smile. “Come on.” He squeezes Nico’s shoulder. “You kick ass at group projects.”

“You were the worst lab partner.”

“But we didn’t fail.”

“No thanks to you.” Nico closes his eyes. “Fine. I’m in.”

Wes silently screams. He’s not a born leader, but he knows something’s happening. It’s all very adult.Adult-ish. “But we can’t tell Mrs. Rossi about this. She has enough on her plate.”

Since Wes’s return, she’s been in the store less and less. Yesterday, she only worked half a shift, claiming the flu. She was ghostly pale when she left. Wes thinks it’s the stress of watching her business collapse on top of her. She deserves a break.

“Isn’t that kind of wrong? It’s her store, after all,” Zay says.

“No. It’ll mean more if we manage to save the bookstorefor her. She’ll know how important she is to this community,” Wes insists.

“Whoa. Are we going rogue? Like that oneStar Warsmovie?” Cooper looks ready to burst. “Can we come up with a cool group name? Like Chronic Club?”

“This world’s future is in very capable hands,” Ella mutters.

Constantine returns with two pitchers of Coke, a stack of plastic cups, and a basket of garlic breadsticks. He hovers for a minute, staring at Ella. She crunches into a breadstick, avoiding eye contact. “Pizza will be up shortly,” Constantine says curtly, then disappears into the kitchen.

“Awkward,” Cooper says, snickering.

“Shut up,” Ella says between bites.

Zay pours; Anna passes. Wes savors his small victory. They’re all in.

Ella raises her cup. “To you losers,” she says. “Let’s kick some ass while we still have time.”

“Cheers!”

“To friends,” Wes says, cup still raised. He half turns to Nico. He hopes having the courage to save the bookstore won’t take too much time away from planning to tell Nico how he feels.

“To friends,” Nico repeats with a smile that doesn’t reach past his cheeks.

Maybe people like Wes only get one summer miracle.

Chapter Ten

Destiny introduced itself to Weson his eighth birthday. Its name wasBlackest Night. Until then, Wes had a childlike appreciation for comic books. When he read them, he always closed his eyes at the end and imagined himself flying or shattering a brick wall or saving someone from the villain. He saw himself, occasionally, in the pages, but mostly he just loved the idea of wearing a cape and kicking ass.

TheBlackest Nightcrossover series centered around the Green Lantern Corps fighting off undead heroes and unifying enemies and allies alike for one goal: saving the universe. Yes, the series was dark and twisty, and he fell asleep with the lights on so many times Calvin almost banned him from reading the newest issues. But Wes found something else in those books: emotion, conflict that reached beyond good and evil, inner struggles to be something great when all you want is to survive.

Though their expression of it is sometimes radical and inappropriate, Wes understands the love his mom’s readers have for her books. Books are an escape. They’re a trapdoor into emotions and feelings and how the smallest events can be the most life-changing.

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