by Tim Federle
When I first came home, I thought high school was going to be straight-up brutal. But mostly, the thing I’m picking up about getting older, and semi-taller, is that all the stuff you think you won’t survive ends up being pretty okay. It’s the side-swipey junk you don’t count on—like, your school cutting the arts program . . . or the first boy you ever kissed, just totally ghosting you—that guts you.
But honestly, that’s what best friends and emergency lemon squares are for.
And, yeah, if you’re wondering: I erased Jordan’s contact info. Because I like Ben more than I love drama. It’s sad when stories end, when shows close, and when people leave you. That’s . . . a thing that’s real and true and sucks about being alive.
But Homecoming is in a month.
And my brother is coming back for Thanksgiving, and secretly makes the best stuffing in the family.
And Mom and Dad, who still fight but recently not quite as often, are putting in a hammock out back. Not that hammocks are inherently romantic, but they’re an investment, right? Like, your parents aren’t going to put in a hammock and then get divorced, right? So that’s something.
And also, Mom said we’re going to go to Home Depot to choose the hammock, after Christmas, when they go on sale—and that Ben could come help pick it out too, if he wants. She said it super casual—“Tell that sweet boy Ben to come,” she said, “if you want. I like him.” If you can believe it. Because I couldn’t.
And Aunt Heidi is flying home for Christmas, and we’re going to go to The Nutcracker downtown, just her and me. And she said we could eat at any restaurant I want. And if there’s one theme Aunt Heidi taught me—even before she bought a billion self-help books—it’s that, whenever you feel lost, plan your day around meals. Everybody has to eat. So schedule your life and goals around eating times. So logical, but kind of inspired, too.
My stomach rumbles. I want chicken adobo. It’s my go-to comfort food now.
I’m only halfway through the first book of my life, which I’ve decided will cover the crazy period right up until I got hired for E.T. That feels like a good birthday, right? Happy Birthday—you’re on Broadway, you little weirdo. Ya big doof.
I think I’ll call the story of the day I was born
Better Nate Than Ever
Mostly because Mr. English kind of hates puns—and, tough luck for him, you know? This isn’t his story, or anyone else’s.
It’s mine.
About the Author
© 2018 Justin Patterson
Tim Federle is “a prolific scribe whose breezy wit isn’t bound to a single genre” (Huffington Post). Tim’s award-winning novels include the New York Times Notable Books The Great American Whatever and the Nate series—which Lin-Manuel Miranda called “a wonderful evocation of what it’s like to be a theater kid.” Tim cowrote both the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Tuck Everlasting and the Golden Globe– and Oscar-nominated Best Animated Feature Film Ferdinand, starring John Cena and Kate McKinnon. A native of San Francisco who grew up in Pittsburgh, Tim now divides his time between New York and the Internet (@TimFederle).
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Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster, New York
Also by Tim Federle
Better Nate Than Ever
Five, Six, Seven, Nate!
The Great American Whatever
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
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This book 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 author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2018 by Tim Federle
Jacket illustrations copyright © 2018 by Rex Bonomelli
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Federle, Tim, author.
Title: Nate expectations / Tim Federle.
Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2018] | Sequel to: Fix, six, seven, Nate! | Summary: When E.T.: The Musical closes, Nate reluctantly returns home to begin high school and, with his best friend, Libby, makes a project of turning Dickens’ Great Expectations into a musical.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017046573 | ISBN 9781481404129 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781481404143 (ebook)
Subjects: | CYAC: High schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Musicals—Fiction. | Theater—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Gays—Fiction. | Famly life—Pennsylvania—Fiction. | Pennsylvania—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.F314 Nat 2018 | DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017046573
