Thirteen Reasons Why (33 page)

JAY ASHER got the idea for
Thirteen Reasons Why
at a museum. While taking an audio tour, he was struck by the eeriness of the voice in his ear—a woman who described exactly what he was looking at, but wasn't there. Jay lives on the central coast of California.
Thirteen Reasons Why
is his first book. Find out more about him at
www.jayasher.blogspot.com
.

A new novel

 

by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

 

Coming in November 2011

 

Fifty awards and honors;

 

Well over a million copies of their books sold—and counting;

 

And one unforgettable idea:

 

 

Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future.

 

Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

 

Josh is her best friend.

 

They power up and log on—and discover themselves on Facebook fifteen years in the future.

 

Everyone wonders what life has in store.

 

 

 

The status bar is still chugging along, so I take a shower and then settle into my papasan chair to read notes for my Biology final. I'm just finishing a sample question when I look up and see that the download is finally complete. I follow the prompts and then restart my computer. The modem crackles and beeps as it connects to the internet.

My top email choices are taken, so I settle on
[email protected]
. In the box for password, I consider a few things and then type
Millicent
. Last summer, when Kellan and Tyson were groping each other at every opportunity, Josh and I made fun of them by pretending we were a lovesick middle-aged couple named Millicent and Clarence who ate Hamburger Helper for breakfast and drove around town in a beat-up ice-cream truck. Kellan and Tyson never thought it was funny, but it sent Josh and me into hysterics.

I click Enter and the same AOL screen on Kellan's computer now appears on mine.

“
Welcome!
” chimes an electronic voice.

A bright light flashes on the screen, but this time a small white box with a blue border appears in the middle of the screen, demanding my email address and password again.

EmmaNelson4Ever,
I type.
Millicent.

For about twenty seconds, my computer freezes. I'm about to push the power button when a new webpage slowly loads. It has a white background with a blue banner running across the top that says
Facebook
. A column down the center of the screen is labeled
News Feed
and under that are tiny photos of people I don't recognize. Each photo is followed by a brief sentence.

I circle the mouse around the screen. I have no idea who Jason or Kerry or Mandy are or why they're talking about spider webs and cupcakes, and I'm confused by the chaotic jumble of graphics and words. My eyes dart all over at the page. I have no idea what all of this means,
Status
and
Friend Requests
and something called
Pokes
.

I suddenly panic that this is a virus. Did Josh give me a corrupt CD-ROM that's going to ruin my new computer? I'm beginning to get upset when I notice something that makes me shiver.

Under the blue banner, next to a small picture of a woman sitting on a beach, it says
Emma Nelson Jones
. The woman is maybe in her thirties with curly brown hair and brown eyes with lots of mascara. My stomach tingles because this woman looks familiar.

I lean forward and squint at the photo.
Too
familiar.

Why does this woman with curly brown hair and brown eyes have my name, only with Jones stuck on the end? And what is she doing on my computer?

When I move the mouse over her name, the tiny white arrow turns into a hand. I click the mouse and another page slowly loads. This time, the woman's picture is larger and there's all this other information, so much I can barely process it. As I study the page more closely, I notice that in the center column, next to a smaller version of the same woman's picture, it reads:

I scan the screen some more and my breath seizes. This Emma Nelson Jones woman went to Lincoln High School.

That's where I go. She's married to a guy named Jordan Jones Jr. and she was born on July twenty-fourth. She doesn't list the year, but July twenty-fourth is
my
birthday.

My heart starts pounding and my head feels woozy. I sink my forehead into my hands and attempt to take some deep breaths.

My bedroom window is open and I hear Josh skating up the street and into his driveway. Without thinking, I bolt down the stairs and burst out the front door.

I squint my eyes into the bright sun. Feeling unsteady, I clutch the railing on the front porch and scream, “Josh!”

He looks at me, a confused expression on his face. I hadn't meant to shout his name so loudly.

“What's going on?” he asks, kicking his skateboard into his hand.

“It's . . . I . . .” I pause and the wind chimes ring through my silence. “Something happened after I downloaded AOL. I don't know how to describe it. It's. . . .”

I suddenly don't want to say it out loud. Josh stares at me from his driveway, waiting for me to continue.

“Do you think you could come upstairs?” I ask.

Josh blinks and looks down at the ground. It's been a long time since he's been inside my house, much less my bedroom.

“Please,” I say.

Josh shrugs and follows me into the house.