Quiet and imaginative, Derek O'Reilly spends a lot of time watching a movie in his head. His fiancé Nathan wonders why Derek hasn't taken any interest in their wedding planning, and Aunt Fran -- his spiritual guru -- would like to know when her guilt-tripping nephew became a kept boy. When she drops Derek's childhood journal on his lap, he's forced to remember the name he's been trying to forget since he was twelve years old. Nicolai Lund. Nick was Derek's neighbor ... and first love. Weeks before Derek's engagement party, a chance meeting with Nick catapults Derek into the past. But Nick isn't that seventeen-year-old rebel anymore. He's a man hardened by invisible scars. A man struggling with grief. As Derek reads through his childhood diary, he realizes what Nick was to him, still is today, and yet might be ... NOTE: This edition has been expanded and substantially edited.

Split

I got a bag out from under the sink, those grocery bags we use for the kitchen garbage, and some cotton balls from the medicine cabinet. I didn’t know how many he wanted, so I grabbed two handfuls and put those in the bag.


I snuck out the back door and walked to school. The fence was locked, so I climbed over it, being carefulnot to rip my gym shorts.


I found Boone and JF crouching behind the dumpster. “Finally,” Boone said, looking up at me.


“What took you so long, Carrot Head?” JF eyeballed me.


I hate JF. I guess he hates me, too, but he can’t do anything about it because Boone doesn’t let him bemean to me.


“Shut up, JF,” Boone snapped. “Besides, O’Reilly’s hair isn’t even orange, you dimwit, it’s red.”


I smiled victoriously and handed Boone the bag full of cotton balls. “What do you p—plan on doing withthis stuff any—anyway?”


Chapter 7