Into the Beyond Books 1-3

“Entry #5: You need to get Landon to beat up Prime. He didn’t see that little kiss Kenzie gave you during lunch. He saw the big makeout session you are going to plant on her outside the cafeteria right before lunch, directly in front of Landon! You need to be good enough that she comes back for seconds. You should practice with Josie.”

Lewis didn’t think it could get worse than lighting his room on fire, but the journal’s tasks were not getting any easier. The last thing he wanted to do was kiss Kenzie, especially not after falling for Josie.

A note in black ink added: “Don’t tell Josie about any of this, it will only hurt her.”

The second day of school commenced with Josie and Lewis arm-in-arm, but upon reading the troubling journal entry, Lewis was worried Josie would start asking him questions about what the next task entailed. If he could make it to lunch without her asking him, he could simply read the next passage after that and never mention having to kiss Kenzie at all.

Lewis waited in one of the restrooms while Josie went to her first class. They were supposed to meet up during the period break, and then Josie would go to P.E. with Prime. It was just as the gym was letting out that Lewis was supposed to kiss Kenzie. Josie and Prime would still be in the locker rooms getting changed back into their normal clothes.

The restroom filled with students as the first period of the day ended. Lewis lingered in the restroom a little longer to cut down on the time he would have to distract Josie from the obvious question. What’s next?

Lewis couldn’t stay in the restroom any longer without it being weird. Josie was waiting for him just outside the door with her arms crossed and lips pursed. “What took ya so long?” she asked.

Lewis gestured behind himself dismissively. “Oh, it was nothing… there was just a guy… and you know he was sayin’… anyway how was class?”

Josie narrowed her eyes. “Fine.”

Lewis began walking towards the gym. Josie followed close behind.

“So…” she asked, “what do we have to do next?”

Lewis cringed. He just knew she was going to ask. “Um…” he said, “we are supposed to meet after school in the green belt on the other side of the field and then read on.”

Josie grabbed Lewis’s shoulder and spun him back towards her. She put a hand to his neck before pulling away with a disgusted look on her face. “You’re sweating!” she said accusatorially. “You’re lying to me!”

Lewis didn’t know what to say.

“Let me see that,” she ordered, yanking the journal out of Lewis’s hoodie pocket.

Lewis didn’t resist. That would only have made matters worse. Josie flipped through the journal to the last entry they had read together and then continued reading until she was completely caught up.

“You were lying to me…” she said, “using me to practice kissing for Kenzie….”

Lewis’s jaw dropped. “No! It’s not like that. I didn’t even read that part until last period. What we did wasn’t practice!”

Josie’s scowl didn’t lessen.

My past selves were a bunch of morons!

Lewis didn’t understand how everything could get so messed up when he was doing his best to follow the instructions.

“Whatever,” said Josie. “Just kiss Kenzie.” She stormed off towards the gym without looking back.