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me.”
    “I know—I’m your best-friend.”
    “Yeah.”
    He seems kind of hurt. Like I was mocking him. And I don’t know, I guess I was. Now I feel bad.
    “Thanks for helping me home.”
    He sits at my desk, playing my Game-boy as I drift off to sleep, soothing me with his gentle promise, “I’m going to guard you until your mom gets home.”
     
    ***
     
    When I wake, there is a dark, shadowed figure sitting in the chair beside my bed. Instinctively, I know it isn’t Dakota.
    I rub my eyes, trying to dissipate the grogginess of sleep. “Dakota?”
    The figure shakes his head. “Your mother sent him home.”
    My heart gives a gigantic thump of pain. “Jeremy?”
    Even in the dark I can see him wet his lips. “I told you I would come for you.”
    His words fall flat, dead in my ears. Yes, he told me that. He told me he would come. I don’t remember when he said it, but I remember the words. They haunt me. “ If you leave me I’ll come for you .”
    And here he is.
    He’s come for me.
    “You said you were coming here only to say good-bye.” Jeremy sounds hurt, as though I betrayed him. “You promised if I let you go, you would come back to me.”
    Hearing him say this, I remember. I was with him, while I was in my coma. We were together. We held hands.
    “But … I don’t want to go back.”
    He shakes his head. “You don’t have a choice.”
    “Please. Jeremy, I want to stay.”
    Jeremy takes my hand. It’s warm. “ Lexi ,” he says. “You’re dead.”
     
    ***
     
    I’m cold. So cold. I’m freezing!
    With confusing effort, I open my eyes, only to be more confused.
    I’m in my bathtub, full of ice.
    “What the …? ”
    Mom comes into the bathroom carrying more ice. When she sees I’m awake, she drops the pack and runs to me, throwing her arms around my neck.
    “You’re awake,” she cries. “Oh, Lexi , I was so worried. I was so afraid! The ambulance that was dispatched for you had an accident.”
    “Ambulance?” I ask with chattering teeth.
    “Yes, Dakota called an ambulance. Then he called me.”
    Dakota’s beside me now, looking relived that I’m not in a coma again. “It was Jeremy,” he says, taking my hand. “He called me. He said you had a high fever due to internal injuries from the car accident. He said you were dying—almost dead. He said I needed to bring your fever down with ice.”
    Wait, what? Jeremy saved me?
    Ragan is in the bathroom now too. She throws her bucket of ice on me, even though I’m awake and my fever is gone. “Where is Jeremy?” she asks.
    Dakota shakes his head, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t know. He said he had to go.” Dakota looks at me, then hands me my iPhone . “He left you a message, though. I read it, sorry.” He stares into my eyes. “But what he said, it’s true.”
    I look at my iPhone and cringe. But Dakota urges me to take it, to read Jeremy’s message, so finally I do. I read it, then squeeze my eyes shut, and read it again. “I want you to be with me Lexi , but Dakota does too. He loves you. But know this Lexi , I love you too … enough to let you break your promise. Goodbye, 4now.”

THE ONE
     
     
    I was working at Posh, this upscale store in the mall. The moment it happened, I was bent over a rack of sweaters, straightening a wall display. That’s when he first spoke, catching me off guard.
    “Excuse me,” he said. “Could you help me?”
    He kind of laughed as he said the last part—the request part. Probably because his “excuse me” part made me jump a mile in the air. And let out a scream. Not a huge scream, more like a yelp-scream, but it was embarrassing, and only happened because I’m really focused and, you know, I was really into my work. I mean, I’d thought I was alone with the sweaters.
    Anyway, once I recovered from my near heart attack, I turned to see who’d given it to me, but then oh! I almost had another one because I found myself face to face with Justin North. Justin North! He’s