Richards - First Kiss

This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

An imprint of Little Bee Books, Inc.

251 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010

Text copyright 2019 by Dan Richards

Jacket illustration by Simini Blocker

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Yellow Jacket is a trademark of Little Bee Books, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Little Bee Books, Inc.

Manufactured in the United States of America LAK 0419

First Edition

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-1-4998-0891-9

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To the Tighty Writeysyou know who you are.

Thanks for everything!

Truth is, I dont know much about girls. Not that I should. Im only thirteen and I still keep a lightsaber tucked under my bed. Until recently, I was just a typical middle school kid without a care, or chin hair, in the world.

But sometimes life throws the unexpected at you. Like when a new girl comes prancing into your school and turns everything upside down. A girl unlike any girl youve ever known, who makes your mouth go dry, your words jumble up, and your thoughts go all wacky every time you see her. A girl who convinces you to do things, strange things you would never in a million years have done before, like agreeing to see Unbounded Love , the story of a soldier who loses his legs in the war, and the nurse who helps him learn to walkand loveagain.

Dont they make a perfect couple? Becca asked, leaning close.

I mean, I love going to the movies. But maybe I should have paid more attention to the title before agreeing to spend the first day of summer vacation trapped in a theater watching a war movie turn into a romantic pile of

Yeah, perfect, I lied.

Ben leaned close on my other side. He wiggled his butt until a wet, squelchy sound shook my seat.

Heres what I call

He scooched again. Another squishy sound gurgled up.

a perfect couple!

I should explain that Sequim, pronounced like squid but with an m at the end, is too small to have a real theater. Our only movie house is a converted Presbyterian church located next door to the library. The seats came from some famous turn-of-the-century theater that was being torn down in Seattle. Theyre so old they still have real leather covers with real metal springs that make real intestinal noisesif you know how to slide around just right. Bens an expert.

The two ladies seated in front of him turned with looks of disapproval. Kirsten punched his arm.

Youre disgusting, she whispered with a giggle. She slid back in her seat until a curdled hiss seeped out from beneath her.

Ben and I doubled over. Sometimes Kirsten was better at being Ben than Ben, especially when it came to intestinal noises.

I sat back up just in time to catch the climactic moment of the movie. The two main characters were locked in an embrace, their lips pressed together in an act of undying love.

Something primal stirred at the thought of Becca sitting only an armrest away. I glanced over. The curve of her lips perfectly matched the heroines lips on-screen. The zombie warlord in my chest immediately woke up and pounded out a message in Morse code on my ribs: R-U-N W-H-I-L-E Y-O-U S-T-I-L-L C-A-N.

I agreed wholeheartedly. If only my feet were listening. As usual, they were sleeping peacefully at the end of each slumbering leg, blissfully unaware of the danger looming above. I reached for my kneecap to slap some sense into it, but instead my hand brushed against Beccas. It froze there as if held by some magnetic force. Bens fist bumped my leg. I looked over to find him grinning.

You the man, he whispered.

Easy for him to say. Kirstens hand had been locked in his since the movie started. Seeing them that way made my stomach churn. Shouldnt we be doing something more productive right now? Like finishing level thirty-three of Death Intruders 4 ? Personally, Id rather face a ravenous army of the undead than sit here trying to stop my hand from fluctuating between arctic cold and Saharan sweaty.

At last, the movie ended. Beccas knuckles slipped away from mine as we got up to leave. I let out a breath. Im not saying I didnt like the electric charge of my hand being so close to hers. Im just saying next time I needed more warning so I could steady my nerves or at least slather my hands with antiperspirant.

We exited into the warm afternoon. My hand still tingled from where her skin had been in contact. Things were happening too fast. I needed to go home and think things over. Maybe if I could slow it all down I could make sense of how a guy could be lured to see a war movie and, instead, end up almost holding hands during a kissing scene.

Lets go get ice cream, Kirsten suggested.

Yeah, Ben and Becca agreed.

So much for thinking things over.

It was a short walk to the ice cream parlor, just long enough for Ben to pull me aside.

Dude, you and Becca are getting serious.

Shut up.

He bumped my shoulder. No, for real. You know what comes next after holding hands?

Technically, we hadnt held hands. And anyway, of course I knew what came next: a long period of staying as far apart as possible. Far enough to figure out what was going on and how to make it stop. That would probably mean moving. Maybe overseas.

Shut up.

Ben eyed me closely. You dont know, do you?

He seemed to be trying to make a point, but not one I wanted to hear. The short walk suddenly seemed impossibly long. At the rate we were going, hed make sense before we got there.

He leaned close. Youre going to kiss, he whispered.

A bead of sweat ran down my forehead. In fact, I think my face literally melted and dribbled into the gutter.

Shut up! I said for the third time. I was beginning to wonder if those were the only words I knew. Around Ben they seemed to be all I needed.

Seriously, he continued. Thats the way it works. You start going out, you hold hands, and then you kiss. I figure Kirsten and I got one or two weeks max before its going to happen.

Bens voice rose with the same excitement it always did when sharing a bit of news bound to make me retch. Usually it involved something he had read in Ripleys Believe It or Not! , like the guy who had two heads that were always finishing each others sentences. But this was going too far. I could feel the words snaking inside my skull like a boa constrictor slowly squeezing my brain to death.