“Paparazzi,” Chloe whispered. I could almost hear her heart hammering in excitement.
We waited.
And waited. For what seemed like an hour. The crowd around us ebbed and flowed as people grew weary and left, and then new onlookers joined the line. All I could think about was how good the river would feel after a day like this, the cool water tingling my tired feet.
“Oh my God!” Chloe shrieked. “It’s him,” she hissed, marking my arm with her viselike fingers. She pointed spastically, her body having some sort of celebrity-related seizure.
The cameras all lifted in unison. The bystanders took a collective intake of breath.
And, yes. There he was, emerging from the door of a shop, in a full wool coat, designer jeans tucked into Sorels, his hair the same honeyed muss as in all those pictures on Chloe’s wall, his eyes bright even from a hundred feet away.
Adam Jakes.
He turned toward us and gave a sort of half wave, half shrug. Chloe let out the kind of squeal a five-year-old makes on Christmas morning and tried to get the zoom function to work on her iPhone. I studied him as he talked with the man Chloe claimed was his manager, the British Pisces. Adam Jakes frowned at something Parker Hill was saying and gave a little neck roll like he was prepping for a boxing match.
“We love you, Adam!” screeched a woman far too old to be screeching at teen actors; she leaned into the rope, waving madly.
Ignoring her, Adam Jakes disappeared back into the shop, like one of those lions at the zoo that makes a quick appearance before going back into the cave to lunch on some sort of severed piece of meat.
Sweat trickled down my back. “Can we go now? You saw him.”
Chloe’s eyes were fixed on the door Adam Jakes had disappeared behind.
“Chloe?”
She didn’t take her eyes off the set. “I’m going to see if he comes out again.”
“Then I’m going to the river,” I told her transfixed frame. “Blink twice if you can hear me.” No blinks. Shaking my head, I left her standing there. I’d grab a drink at Eats and head to the river to meet Alien Drake. That was enough celebrity sightings for one day. Or for one life, for that matter.
The First Wonder: This book would not be what it is without the unwavering love and support of Tanya Egan Gibson. She knows why. The same is true for my incredible agent Melissa Sarver White. I am lucky to have you in my corner. In fact, every author should have an agency like Folio in their corner—with a special thanks to Molly Jaffa for all things foreign rights related.
The Second Wonder: Scholastic, as a whole, is a true wonder. Countless people there support and love my books—I am so grateful. I want to especially thank my editor Jody Corbett for her enthusiasm for this novel. Thanks also to David Levithan, for his continuous support, and for chiming in early on to encourage this book. Thanks to Yaffa Jaskoll for her gorgeous design. Also, Brooke Shearouse, Anna Swenson, Ann Marie Wong, and the entire Sales department.
The Third Wonder: I tend to be a big-picture, global kind of thinker. So when I decided to write a book with seven distinct locations, six of them European, in under a year, I became increasingly grateful for Ari Rampy and Marija Kopic for their Berlin research and input, and Michelle and Alex Ogaidi for all the help with Florence. I am also deeply grateful for Google and the wondrous Internet, which led me to the informative sites of National Geographic, History, and the Travel Channel. Any errors are my own.
The Fourth Wonder: I am truly grateful to be surrounded by such an incredible writing community. My writing group—Kirsten Casey, Ann Keeling, and Jaime Williams—has been meeting twice a month for over ten years (and I’m hoping for at least ten more, ladies!). Thank you to Michael Bodie, Sands Hall, Jessica Taylor, Josh Weil, Mark Wiederanders, and Gary Wright, who always seem to say exactly what I need to hear.
The Fifth Wonder: This is fundamentally a book about friendship, and I couldn’t write without the encouragement of my friends and family. There are too many to name here, but I’m particularly grateful to Archna Sharma, for her insight and for loaning me her beautiful name, and to Erin Dixon for an early read of this manuscript (and constant support). My daughter has been blessed to grow up with so many incredible families; this book wouldn’t exist without you and your amazing kids whose antics, dreams, challenges, and hilarity inspire me daily.
The Sixth Wonder: Over the years, I have received a treasure trove of letters, emails, and comments from readers—both young and not-as-young. I am genuinely honored when a reader takes the time to read one of my books (a wonder in and of itself!), so thank you to all my readers. And to the ones who write to cheer me on—an extra thank-you. You have no idea how much your kind words mean to me. I cherish your letters and emails and comments.
The Seventh Wonder: Peter and Anabella, you are my dearest wonders.
Kim Culbertson is the author of The Possibility of Now; Catch a Falling Star; Instructions for a Broken Heart, a Northern California Book Award winner; and Songs for a Teenage Nomad. She lives in Northern California with her husband and daughter, her favorite travel companions. For more about Kim, visit www.kimculbertson.com.
Copyright © 2017 by Kim Culbertson
All rights reserved. Published by Point, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, POINT, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Culbertson, Kim A., author.
Title: The wonder of us / Kim Culbertson.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Point, 2017. | Summary: Riya and Abby were best friends in their small California town, but Riya and her family moved to Berlin for Riya’s junior year and it was hard to stay in touch; so now that the year has passed, Riya purposes that they take a two week Grand Tour and travel around Europe to reconnect—but the trouble is that they have both been hiding secrets, and those secrets threaten to push them apart forever.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016030403 | ISBN 9780545731515
Subjects: LCSH: Best friends—Juvenile fiction. | Friendship—Juvenile fiction. | Interpersonal communication—Juvenile fiction. | Grand tours (Education)—Juvenile fiction. | Secrecy—Juvenile fiction. | Europe—Travel—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Interpersonal communication—Fiction. | Voyages and travels—Fiction. | Secrets—Fiction. | Europe—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.C8945 Wo 2017 | DDC 813.6 [Fic]—dc23
First edition, May 2017
Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll
Cover photography by Michael Frost
e-ISBN 978-0-545-73152-2
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
The Wonder of Us Page 27
