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PART ONE

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow—

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has floay

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream

—Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”

SINCE I WAS a little girl, I’ve loved fairy tales And I’ve believed in true love It was easy for h, because I fell in love at six years old NotCrawford and I believed ere special That fate shined on us and gave us each other early so we’d have a lifeti Not one day ofthe life ere both born into But e didn’t expect were the sharp turns in life you don’t see cos that coe it all forever We hadn’t been prepared for that

OUR STORY ISN’T an easy one The charrown up as pulled away from us so quickly, we didn’t have time to prepare for it But no one ever does That’s the dark side of life

CHAPTER ONE

THE SMELL OF suirl, it was the re in the lake, playing basketball with my older brothers, and of course our annual family vacation However, this year itFor me and Crawford

I glanced over at hiht of hiether since ere kids First as friends, and then it grew into e stage set in the center of our high school football field and received our diploraduates Finally

“Still seeh school,” I added for clarification Although I was sure he would understand what I meant

He cut his eyes toward h for his eyes to sparkle the way they did when he was a, V Our life will be exactly like we planned it”

I wanted to believe that We were going to the sae Crawford had a scholarship for football A full ride It wasn’t my first choice for school but I wanted to be where he was We had never been apart

“Everyone see and partying to forget the fact we’re adults now This is it”