Extra Life (38 page)

We wanted show business, but not as sidekicks in an exploitation flick. Okay, I
did
have to talk Russ out of offering to write and shoot the TV movie.

Savannah, on the other hand, she flew with it. Jumped that plane first-class to Hollywood, riding on the attention she got from the video of her and Bobby. You probably saw her in
Think Tank 2
with Mark Wahlberg, where she plays his daughter in one scene. She’s also been in a couple Polar Ice Caps music videos, and I guess she’s dating the drummer. I would’ve warned Russ, but some things you have to learn for yourself.

Let’s face it, nobody watches our short video because of our virtuoso film making. It’s not even edited or finished. The allure is the same as rubbernecking at the car crash, fixing to catch the crazy in Bobby’s eyes, just about to burst loose. Sometimes I imagine a world where Bobby quietly ate his burger, flirted with Savannah, and went back to his life. Maybe in that life, he kept his rage locked away. Maybe he channeled it into his art instead.

In a way, I took that away from him. But there’s nothing you can do about regrets except look ahead.

E
VERY NOW
and then there’s a blip. A quirk. My laptop freezes more than it should. My new cell phone makes random calls to strangers. A shadow in the corner of my vision isn’t really there. I know what my “brother” will say even before he steps in the room.

Maybe your life’s not so different, but you’ve always been a grounded part of this reality, while I’m still getting used to it. The small adjustments. Popcorn doesn’t taste quite as good here, but Silver Bullet burgers are even better.

I’m still wrapping my head around
the fact that
Wall-E
, one of my favorite movies, now only exists in my imagination. You’ll have to take my word for how great it was. Then again, there’s the brilliance of Heath Ledger’s encore performance in the third Christopher Nolan Batman movie, which was way better than the one from my world. Most people here still pay for their music. And poor Miley Cyrus… man, oh, man.

I’m stranded, and somewhere I’m missed, but I like to hope I’ve found a new life that’s just as real and unpredictable. Don’t get me wrong. In the basement of my mind, I know if something happens to Russ first, then I’m a goner. Just a
poof
and a pile of clothes, like I never existed. Freaks me out to think about it sometimes.

But, you know, that’s life for everyone. You don’t know when your fade out is coming. Russ will leave behind a shell when he’s gone, but otherwise we’re the same. We’ll both be memories some day. How we live before the end is how you’ll tell us apart.

Read other works by Derek Nikitas

My wife and children always deserve the biggest thanks for giving me time and encouragement while I hide in the office to write. I love you, Nikitases.

Invaluable feedback on this book came from my son Gavin (I know, I know, a divided worm does not actually become two worms, no matter what Russ thinks). Also Craig Renfroe, David Hale Smith, Lizz Blaise, and Ryan Doody, who helped to shape the book. And especially Andrea Coleman for her YA expertise. Her extensive comments were a huge help.

Many thanks to educator Liz Prather and her team of beta readers in the SCAPA writing class at Lafayette High School in Lexington, Kentucky. They read an early draft of
Extra Life
and gave some great tips from the teen perspective, including which of my pop cultural references were the most egregiously out-of-date. Those students were Mattie Graff, Kirk Hardy, Jackie Knight, Shelby Lawhorn, Maura Reilly-Ulmanek, Anna Smith-Sargent, Gram Welch, and Aidan Ziliak. I wish them all the best of luck as they enter the wacky maze of adulthood.

For their inspiration and advocacy throughout the writing of this book, I want to thank Christopher Rowe, Russell Helms, Michael Mau, Josh Russell, Roger Jones, Travis Roman, Bill Mullen, Doug Brewer, Ashley Mullins, Tyger Williams, Gwenda Bond, Jeff Parker, Julie Hensley, Robert Dean Johnson, Young Smith, Maureen McHugh, Jim Keller, Peter Covino, and Mary Cappello.

For help in delivering
Extra Life
to readers, I thank my agent Yishai Seidman at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner, and the mastermind behind Polis Books, Jason Pinter. I’m deeply grateful to everyone on Jason’s team at Polis, including Lauren at The Cover Collection; Sara Rosenberg, David Ouimet, Kim Wylie, Tara Marsden and David Dahl with PGW; Emily Tippetts; and Carol Thomas for some sharp copyediting.

I won’t pretend to understand all the science I glossed over in this book, but if I’ve sparked your interest in the possibilities or impossibilities of time travel, I highly recommend the pop physics books of Brian Greene and Michio Kaku, which were important resources for me.

Derek Nikitas is the author of two thriller novels,
Pyres
and
The Long Division
. His debut novel
Pyres
(St. Martin’s Minotaur) was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and
The Long Division
was a
Washington Post
Best Book of the Year.

His short stories have appeared in
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
,
Thuglit
,
The Ontario Review,
Chelsea
,
Plots with Guns,
New South
, and more. He has written stories for the
Killer Year: Stories to Die For
anthology (St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008) and for the zombie anthology,
The New Dead
(Griffin Books, Feb 2010).

Derek was raised in New Hampshire and Western New York. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and PhD in English from Georgia State University. He teaches creative writing at the University of Rhode Island.

Extra Life
is his first novel for Young Adults. Follow him at
@DerekNikitas
. Visit his website at
www.dereknikitas.com
.

The following is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in an entirely fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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