Falling into Place (22 page)

Later, when Liz had seen Kennie crying by her locker, she had wanted, so much, to go and put her arms around her. But Liz knew she would let something slip. Kennie knew her too well. She would suspect. So Liz had turned and walked away.

Her mother, of course, was flying home, but as Liz drove out of the parking lot, she called her anyway. The call went straight to voicemail, but she listened to her mother's voice one last time. She wanted to say sorry. She had so many things to be sorry for. Instead, she hung up.

But in the end, she took only one detour. On her way to the crash site, twenty minutes from the end, Liz turned onto an exit ramp and drove to the state park.

She didn't get out, only stared at the very tip of the scenic tower peeking over the trees. She thought of all the wishes she had made up there. She thought of her father racing her to the top, letting her win. She remembered how desperately she had once loved the sky, and finally she said those two small words that had been fighting to reach the air for so long now.

“I'm sorry.”

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L
ennie is still there when the beeping begins.

Soon there are doctors and nurses rushing into the room, saying things that Kennie doesn't understand, and she's sobbing because something terrible is happening and she doesn't know what.

The nurse with the pink dinosaurs takes Kennie's hand and pulls her out of the way.

“What's happening?” Kennie sobs, hysterical. “What's going on?”

The nurse folds Kennie into her arms and says, “Oh, honey. Her heart is failing again. It . . . it doesn't look good.”

“No,” Kennie blubbers, fighting out of the nurse's grip. “It isn't true. Liz!” she screams. “Liz, you are not fucking doing this to us.
You will pull through this
. Liz.
Liz!
”

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S
he remembered me.

She remembered the little girl she once was, the one who believed in magic and love and heroes, the one who held funerals for worms she found dried out on the driveway. She remembered a time when she was happy and the world was bright, and she remembered the imaginary friend she once had.

Since this was the end anyway, she imagined that I was in her passenger seat. She imagined that my hand was over hers, that it was warm over her cold one, that it was holding hers steady.

In those last moments, she was not alone.

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“S
omeone get Dr. Sampson on the phone. Tell him that her pulse is erratic—”

“What happened? She was fine a second ago—”

“Well, she isn't now, is she? Get that blood—he must have overlooked something, something's hemorrhaging—”

“Oh, for the love of god, get her out of here!”

Someone takes Kennie by the arms and drags her away.

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F
or the last time, Liz Emerson wished to fly. There were no snowflakes or dandelion seeds this time, but as she closed her eyes and jerked on the wheel, she made her wish.

She did not fly.

She fell.

She thought,
Hello, gravity
, and tried to spread her arms so that it would catch her.

Hello, good-bye
.

But the world did not fade completely.

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“W
hat's going on?” Monica flies out of her chair, and the room erupts as three male nurses drag Kennie into the waiting room. Julia looks up. Her heart drops through her body and keeps going.

One of the nurses pulls Monica aside and tells her what has happened. The rest of the room is quiet, watching, and when they see Monica's face crumple, they hug each other and grab tissues and begin to cry.

Except Kennie. Kennie goes to Julia and grips her hand with all her might.

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M
r. Eliezer concluded their review on Newton's laws of motion like this:

“Right. Remember, all of Newton's laws are about the theory of motion. In this class, we're assuming that friction, air resistance, and all other factors are negligible, but very rarely can Newton's laws be wholly applied in the real world. Things just aren't that simple.”

And when the class had yet again expressed its indignation that they were studying something that couldn't even be applied, Mr. Eliezer just smiled and said, “There's more to life than cause and effect.”

Things just weren't that simple.

In that moment, everything
clicked
.

And Liz Emerson closed her eyes.

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T
he nurses hurry back to Liz's room. Monica comes over and puts her arms around Kennie, and Julia holds her hand as though she never means to let go.

The rest of them watch. They wait for an ending. They wait for a world where Liz Emerson does not exist.

Jake Derrick sits quietly in a corner, his head in his hands. Of course, he had been sitting like that ever since the hot nurse had left and people had started pointing at his black eye, but when the news about Liz came, his head dropped a little lower.

Matthew Derringer goes outside and reorders the flowers he had canceled earlier.

Liam sits frozen, steam drifting up from his coffee.

Then, suddenly, Kennie raises her head. Her hair is twisted and tangled around her shoulders, her cheeks are black from her mascara, her eyes are red. She scans the room and finds Liam, and she says his name.

Liam turns his head warily, the entire room watching him.

Kennie doesn't break his gaze.

After a small eternity, Liam gets slowly to his feet. He takes silent, measured steps to Kennie, and for a moment he only looks at her, this small girl who has the potential to be so cruel but holds just as much sadness as he does.

He takes her hand.

Julia takes his other hand. He glances at her, and she manages a very small smile through her tears. Monica gives him a look that makes him forget how awkward he feels to be holding hands with two of the most popular girls in their grade.

They stand there in that tight, bizarre circle, all thinking the same thing.

If she's determined to pull through this, she will
.

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I
sit behind the brown couch where she left me, holding snapshots.

Her, pretending to fly, her arms wide as she runs through the park, my hand in hers. The fairy dust she tossed over me lifts my feet ever so slightly off the ground.

Her, making snow angels. Two of them, so that we can lie side by side, our wings touching.

Her, chasing me through the backyard, the summer grass warm beneath our bare feet.

Her, forgetting.

Me, watching all of the years go by.

Then the silence of the big house is broken by the crunch of car tires pulling into the driveway. I hear the garage door open with a mechanical whir, and then a turning lock.

“Careful,” Monica says. “Watch your crutches.”

The answer is an automatic one. “I'm fine, Mom.”

There is a pause, a small silence.

Then Monica says, “Honey. Do you need help?”

Another pause.

Then, very, very quietly, Liz Emerson says one word.

“Yes.”

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AMY ZHANG
attends high school in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. This is her first book.

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Front cover art and design © 2014 by Matt Roeser

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This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.

F
ALLING INTO PLACE
. Copyright © 2014 by Amy Zhang. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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The text of this book is set in 12-point Garamond 3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data TK

ISBN 978-0-06-229504-0 (trade ed.)

EPub Edition March 2014 ISBN: 9780062341556

14 15 16 17 18
TK
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

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