SATURDAY A Slice of Night I perch on the bench in the planetarium staff room and take out my phone, with its smooth black-and-gold star-spangled case, and read all the messages from today while I wait listening to the silent room, checking it's empty before I get changed. There's a message from Dad and a ton in the chat with the girls called PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY (the only thing any of us can make). Dad I will be the one in the white ford behind the trees at five past zero hundred hours. D x I think he's being funny , but I don't get it. He's on another planet. At least he's agreed to pick me and Harriet up out back, and not INSIDE the ice rink, like he wanted to. I open PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY. Harriet Just getting ready!! Bethany Remind me why we're going to an *ICE-RINK* birthday party. Are we ten again? Leylah Apparently it's free cuz Jackson's on the ice hockey team, but it's totally so he can show off to everybody. Harriet He can show off to me. Apparently he's amazing. Bethany I thought you liked Lee? Harriet I can multitask. Bethany Ha. I'm secretly into it. Marie I'm openly into it. It'll be fun. Harriet What you all wearing? Leylah Shorts and a crop top . . . And a giant hoodie, to get past the parental police. Marie Erm . . . Ley, *ICE* skating . . . I'm wearing two pairs of leggings and three shirts under my sweater. Leylah Ugh. Changing now. Warm clothes are so unflattering on me. At least I'll be allowed out. Harriet You always look lovely. Has anyone heard from Frankie today? Me I'm here! Just finishing work. Tell me when you're there. XX I finish typing, then take off my uniform and let my dress slink down over my not-completely-flat (but also not-yet- satisfactory) chest. A dab of concealer, a pump of face mist: I'm good to go. Jackson Twigger's Sweet Sixteenth at the ice rink. (Although . . . Jackson Twigger. Sweet ? LOL.) While I wait for the girls, I scroll through my phone. Harriet's posted a photo of herself in our tree house. #GettingReady #InstaMakeup #Starlight #StarGazing #NightsOut She looks really pretty, her eyes all smoky, but I know the photo is from ages ago. It shouldn't annoy me, but we're not getting ready in our tree house tonight, and I hate when she's being fake. Under the photo Jackson's replied, "ur hot." Harriet's written "thanks babe" and added a winky face. (Does she actually like him or does she just like flirting?) Harriet We're here! Bring it, beeatch. I pull on my sneakers, then open the door to the atrium, where Vidhi is putting away a wooden box of sparkling meteor rocks. I wish I'd waited here talking to her about astronomy instead of looking at what Harriet's posting. "Have a good time," Vidhi says. "You were great today. You're clearly really into this." "Thanks," I say, her compliment blazing inside me incandescently. "Don't forget to send me your application for the summer program. Or you can just bring it next Saturday. I'll make sure Elaine gets it." "I won't forget," I say, a flutter of nerves at the thought of her and the director of this whole place reading my essay. "Thanks, Vidhi, see you Saturday." "I'll be rooting for you!" she says, which means the world to me. (Vidhi did the exact same summer program when she was sixteen, and now she's got a PhD in Astronomy. #LifeGoals) I push open the double doors and breathe in the streetlight night. Over the buildings, the crescent moon is a sharp, bright slice of otherworldly light. I snap a quick picture. The moon comes out tiny, all of its majesty lost by my phone's complete inability to take a picture of something so far from me. I know Harriet will find it funny. Me Took this and thought of you. #ShitPicturesOfTheMoon Harriet LOL. Get your ass in here. Skating's starting soon. Sweet Sixteen "Frankie!" Harriet screams, waving at me, bracelets jangling, as I walk into the chilly and unnecessarily brightly lit room. The music is loud, and our crowd spills out of a booth near the rental skates. I climb over the back of the seats and slide in between Harriet and Marie. Jackson is already strutting in front of the group, talking loudly, as though we're his own personal audience. There's Bethany, Leylah, Marie, Me, Harriet (laughing loudly), Dev, Lee, and Charlie. Jackson is telling everyone how last weekend he got a new mountain bike on his actual birthday. Then went out riding and met two girls who were all over him because babes love bikes. Then he tells us how he ended up banging them both as a birthday present. (Yeah, right.) He shows us all a picture of him straddling his bike, with two girls kissing him, one on each cheek. "How long do we have to listen to this?" I mutter to Harriet, but she doesn't answer me, and Jackson is still going, gesticulating grotesquely with his overmobile groin. Harriet grins at me and fans her crotch, then rolls her eyes like she's about to faint. I whisper to Marie, "Is it just me, or is Jackson disgusting?" but Marie's not listening. Then Jackson looks at me, scathingly. Maybe he heard me. I hope he did. I don't care if he hates me. Harriet's eyes stay fixed on him. Then she laughs at something he says, and throws back her head, like a wolf howling at the moon. As she does, her tilted-up chin leaves a gap and I notice someone I hadn't previously seen: Benjamin Jones. He's sitting between Dev and Lee in a leather jacket, looking explosively hot. He turns his eyes to me, and right then something physical happens down below. He's so good-looking I can feel the photons bouncing off him and colliding with me. #InstantCrush Excerpted from Blood Moon by Lucy Cuthew All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.