a t t h e e d g e o f t h e w o r l d
9 2
Advance Reading Copy
When I finish a plate of bagels and lox and strawber-
ries and have had a couple of glasses of champagne, I excuse
myself and head back outside to tell Ivan I’m leaving with
Bea and Katia. The boys are still in the hot tub, staring at the
stars. I make my way around the hot tub until I’m standing
next to Ivan.
“I’m going,” I say. There are so many things I’m not
saying with those words. Many things.
“Aw, come on, why? The evening’s just getting going.”
“You’re drunk.”
He looks at me and frowns. “No I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Yeah, I am. Come get drunk with me.” He pats the seat
next to him, but his head lolls unappealingly on the side of
the hot tub, and I back away.
“Whatever, Ivan. I’ll see you later.”
Enough with the drunk boys. Bea and Katia and I head
to Bea’s house, on the other side of the harbor. We’ve taken
a bottle of champagne with us for the walk.
“Ivan’s really hot, Maddie, you should totally go for him,”
Katia says. She’s been saying this since about the eighth
grade, so I ignore her.
“He is,” Bea says.
“You know we’re like, best friends,” I say to them. “I’ve
known him since forever.”
“So what? All the better.” Katia shoves my shoulder play-
fully, and I stumble into the road.
