Spontaneous. Aaron Starmer

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      Aaron Starmer is the author of numerous novels for young readers, including The Only Ones and The Riverman. Spontaneous is his first YA novel, and is being developed into a film. He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.

       @AaronStarmer

      AARON STARMER

      Published in Great Britain in 2017 by Canongate Books Ltd,

      14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE

       www.canongate.co.uk

      This digital edition first published in 2017 by Canongate Books

      Copyright © Aaron Starmer, 2016

      First published in the USA in 2016 by Dutton Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

      The moral right of the author has been asserted

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library

      ISBN 978 1 78689 061 0

      eISBN 978 1 78689 062 7

      To the ones who feel like it could all come apart at any moment . . . and to the ones who comfort us and keep us together

      Call the death by any name Your Highness will,

      attribute it to whom you will,

      or say it might have been prevented how you will.

      It is the same death eternally—inborn, inbred,

      engendered in the corrupted humours of the vicious body itself,

      and that only—Spontaneous Combustion,

      and none other of all the deaths that can be died.

       charles dickens

      Bleak House

      Contents

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

       How it started

       Let’s be clear

       How you feel

       Sorry

       What was wrong with us

       In case you were wondering

       Other stupid things that were done

       As you might have guessed

       You’ve got a friend

       A trilogy

       Back to the action

       Fun and games

       The thing about comebacks

       And wouldn’t you know it?

       What we were dealing with

       It will come as no surprise

       Again, sorry

       A little further in the future

       Drugs

       What to do on a second date

       You’re probably wondering

       The benefits of cyberstalking

       Another part of the story

       A meeting of minds

       Hate to break it to you

       At the edge of dodge

       What you have to understand

       Sorry, not sorry

       Because of that

       At 10:31

       Where our world was headed

       The calm

       The storm

       Making an impression

       What they did to us

       Before we knew it

       The showdown

       The revelation

       Just so you know

       Thankful

       Even more honesty for you

       All the feels

       What we did

       Phew

       Passing time

       Well, not all of them

       Let’s stop right now

       Marigold and memoreasi

       If only

       Party hardy

       How we got home

       How we got it done

       School redux

       Evolution

       Picture day

       A stranger comes to town

       The benefits of cyberstalking, part 2