by Shay Bravo
A fork I know too well.
Ethan catches me staring and laughs.
While my life is far from perfect and there are many things I still have to figure out and do on my own, things are fine right now. I’ll take it a day at a time and keep my eyes on the present. Right now, I’m exactly where I want to be. Where it all began: in the same place, with the same fork, and most importantly, next to the same boy.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost I’d like to thank my Wattpad readers for making this happen. I was a young high schooler with the need to express myself, and Wattpad offered me a platform. I did not know at the time that it would completely change my life. Thank you for your support and your comments, they have helped me out through the difficult parts of life.
I’d like to thank my publishing director, editor, and overall awesome person Deanna McFadden for helping me along the way to publishing. Thank you for reading this book over and over and helping me polish it; I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. Marcela Landres, who had to read through the first draft and who was incredibly nice to point out ways I could improve this story. Rebecca Mills for her incredible work and eye to spot details I would have never found. Gwen Benaway for her insights and suggestions. Also an incredibly big thanks to Monica Pacheco, Samantha Pennington, Robyn Cole, and everyone at Wattpad Books and Wattpad HQ who has made this book possible. I cannot tell you all how much I danced in my living room, jumping around when I was told Historically Inaccurate was getting chosen to be published. It was truly a dream come true.
There is no way I’d be writing this without the help of my parents, whom I will be translating this for, but whom I love with all of my heart. They did what they could to raise three girls in Mexico, and when hardships struck they decided a life in the United States would be the best path to take. They inspire me every single day with their hard work and the love they have given me and my sisters, and I have nothing but respect for them. My sisters are two chemists, who are way smarter than I am, but who have both aided my journey as a writer. Jenny, when you lived in Mexico while our residency situation was being fixed, I sent you a letter with very badly written fan fiction about my favorite video game characters, and you sent back a response saying I’d become a great writer one day; that really touched my little thirteen-year-old heart. Naila, you were the first member in our family to read anything I uploaded to Wattpad, and you actually liked it. As embarrassing as the story might be to look back on, I’ll always remember you asking me about my characters and for updates.
I must also thank my friend from across the world, Theodora Cristea, because we met through Wattpad, and now we’ve been friends for almost eight years (time flies)! Thank you for being honest about my writing and helping me out whenever I asked for constructive criticism. Thank you for the book recommendations and the late-night texting. I promise I’ll finish writing that secret project one of these days, and you’ll be able to hold it in your hands like this book. We also do need to do a road trip through the Romanian countryside; don’t think I’ve forgotten.
I’d like to thank Louis, my partner, who jumped up and down shouting “Yeah!” when I told him that I was getting published, and who keeps my life filled with joy and entertainment. Whether it’s bingeing an entire series on a streaming site all afternoon, napping the day away, or going out for a cup of coffee in the warm Texas sun, I wouldn’t change you for anything. Thank you for helping me with American idioms, for giving me tips on my pronunciations, and for keeping me sane while I went through the editing process. Be it Texas, Iowa, or Tennessee, as long as I’m by your side I know I’ll be happy.
Thank you also to my college professors: Elizabeth Garcia, Philip Zwerling, as well as Amy Cummins, for aiding me in my journey as a writer.
Finally, I want to give a quick round of thank yous to all my writer friends who have helped and inspired me along the way. Anna Sophia, Nessa Brown, Wendy Perez, Heather Provost, Ashley Lovie, Zulema Paredes, Dennis Kim, Kell, Patty, Donovan, and simply the entire Twitter group that started as a one-thousand-word-a-day challenge, my NaNoWriMo cabin-mates and buddies, and all of my other writer colleagues at Wattpad. Thank you all for being an inspiration for young writers, and for following your dreams.
Lastly, I want to thank you, whether you bought this book or e-book, borrowed it from your local library, or found it at a random thrift store, thank you for reading Historically Inaccurate.
About the Author
Shay Bravo is a Mexican-born author who has now lived half of her life in the United States. She began sharing her work online through Wattpad when she was fifteen years old and has connected with over 114,000 followers. Historically Inaccurate won the 2019 Watty Awards and is her first novel. Shay currently resides in Houston, Texas.
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Sheila Bravo. All rights reserved.
Published in Canada by Wattpad Books, a division of Wattpad Corp.
36 Wellington Street E., Toronto, ON M5E 1C7
www.wattpad.com
No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the express written permission of the copyright holders.
First Wattpad Books edition: September 2020
ISBN 978-1-98936-537-3 (Trade Paper original)
ISBN 978-1-98936-540-3 (eBook edition)
Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric intent, is coincidental.
Wattpad, Wattpad Books, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Wattpad Corp. All rights reserved.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication information is available upon request.
Cover design by Laura Mensinga
Cover illustrations ©Oscar_Ghost via iStock and ©Moschiorini via shutterstock
Typesetting by Sarah Salomon
About the Publisher
About Wattpad Books
Wattpad Books, a division of Wattpad, is the leader in data-backed publishing. Leveraging billions of daily insights from Wattpad’s global community of 80 million book lovers, Wattpad Books combines the best of art and science, using human expertise and story DNA machine learning technology to identify the trends, voices, and stories that are the future of publishing. By elevating the stories of diverse communities around the world, Wattpad Books is creating new space for writers and fans of every genre.
Wattpad Books
A division of Wattpad Corp.
36 Wellington St. E.
Toronto, ON M5E1C7
www.wattpad.com
