The Rule of Won (23 page)

With these she could make every color in the rainbow. Even an aurora borealis.

And her pictures would never be garish. Not garish at all.

I really have no one to thank except the universe itself, since all I had to do was spend a lot of time picturing this book—one morning I woke up, and there it was!

Shoe-making elves could do no better.

But seriously, many thanks to publisher Emily Easton and editor Stacy Cantor for—aside from their hard work—the lunch conversation a year or so ago that solidified the character of Alyssa and gave me the idea for the
pro
and
epi
logues that I think add a lot to
The Rule
.

I'd be utterly remiss if I didn't also thank the long history of you-can-have-it-all books that have appeared over the last century, running the gambit from the
Science of Getting Rich
to Shirley MacLaine's
Out on a Limb
(it was in her work I first heard the odd notion that other people don't really exist) to the latest, and I'm sure not the last,
The Secret
.

As always, thanks to Sarah for her constant love and support, and my daughters, Maia and Margo, for never ceasing to surprise me with joy. You guys are swell.

Lastly, since before my work on the
X-Files
comic, on into my first self-published novel,
Making God
, and beyond, I've been lucky to be able to write about my fascination with the borderlands of what people believe and why; so, yes, many thanks to the universe, since it's really been pretty cool about the whole thing.

ALSO BY STEFAN PETRUCHA

Teen, Inc.

Copyright © 2008 by Stefan Petrucha
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

“Resume,” copyright 1926, 1928, renewed 1954, © 1956 by Dorothy Parker, from THE PORTABLE DOROTHY PARKER by Dorothy Parker, edited by Marion Meade.

Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First published in the United States of America in September 2008
by Walker Publishing Company, Inc. a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
E-book edition published in April 2011

www.bloomsburyteens.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Walker BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Petrucha, Stefan.

The Rule of Won / Stefan Petrucha. —1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: Caleb Dunne, the quintessential slacker, is pressured by his girlfriend to join a high
school club based on The Rule of Won, which promises to fulfill members' every “crave,” but
when nonbelievers start being ostracized and even hurt, Caleb must act.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-9651-6 • ISBN-10: 0-8027-9651-6 (hardcover)

[1. Success—Fiction. 2. Supernatural—Fiction. 3. Clubs—Fiction. 4. Cliques (Sociology)—
Fiction. 5. High school—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction. 7. Books and reading—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.P44727Rul 2008    [Fic]—dc22 2    008000255

ISBN 978-0-8027-2386-4 (e-book)