Hi everyone. In case you didn't hear, Hazards is releasing early! It's new release date is May 21st, only six weeks away! I thought it was a great time to share the prologue. I hope you guys enjoy your first introduction to Juliet!
Prologue
Skinny
dipping was the last thing on my list. Of the five items, it was the hardest
one for me. It wasn’t a bucket list or anything like that—I wasn’t thinking
about death. It was a things-to-do-before-college list my cousin, Amy, made for
me.
Now, I
know what you’re thinking. This is going to be one of those stories about the
death of a loved one spurring a girl down a path of self-discovery. It’s not.
My cousin is alive and well, and at the time of this story was in Malawi with the
Peace Corps. The list was her way of preparing me for the wilds of college (her
words, not mine). Amy was under the impression that I was entirely unprepared
for the life of a coed.
I
still remember her exact words. We were hanging out in her room at her parents’
house while she packed. “Juliet, sweetheart, you know I love you, right?”
I
glanced at her apprehensively. “Yeah…”
“So
know that, when I say this, it’s out of love.” She tossed a huge pile of t-shirts
into her large black duffel.
I
tensed. “Should I be scared?”
“No.” She
smiled her million-dollar, brings-guys-to-their-knees smile, and I knew I
should actually be terrified.
“Okay.”
I clasped my hands together, refusing to look at my chipped nail polish.
She
flipped long, dark hair off her shoulder. “I’m worried about you.”
“Worried?”
“I
don’t want you to totally drown next year.” She shoved a small, pink envelope
into my hand. “Here, don’t open this until after graduation.”
“But
you won’t be here. You leave tomorrow.”
She
gave me her signature ‘duh’ look. “I’m well aware. Just open it, and do exactly
what it says.”
“This
kind of feels like the beginning of a YA novel.”
She
laughed. “No. Trust me. The contents of this letter are not YA appropriate.”
My
stomach dropped. What was Amy getting me into?
I
brought the envelope home and stared at it about four times a day for the next
two weeks. Obviously, I could have just opened it, but I’m usually kind of a
rules person. Each time I started to tear open the envelope, I chickened out. I
kept picturing Amy’s perfectly made up face yelling at me. I know that
description doesn’t quite fit with a girl who joined the Peace Corps, but if
you knew Amy, you’d understand. She was just Miss Perfect. It wasn’t until I
got home from a graduation party at a friend’s house that I finally opened it. As
I unfolded the pale pink paper, a Georgia driver’s license saying I was
twenty-two fell into my lap. I set aside the fake ID and read the note.
Juliet’s Must-Do Before College List
1) Get drunk (and no, a buzz from sugary drinks
does not qualify as drunk).
2) Go to a bar. Any bar will do, but you need to
at least know what they look like inside.
3) Wear something you know would give your father
a heart attack if he saw it.
4) Kiss a random guy, and don’t let it go further.
5) Go skinny dipping.
I’m
sure you expect me to detail how I crossed the first four items off my list,
but this story isn’t about the first four. It’s about what happened when I did
number five.
