Parallel

look at him, and for a moment, yes, I am shaken. Unnerved by the notion of beginning again, alone in the knowledge of the ways things were. Of the way things should be.
    But then, I look at Josh. And I remember.
    More real than real.
    I’m not alone. Josh is right here beside me. He doesn’t know what I know, but what I know is enough.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    Thank you first and most to the creator of the universe, the author and perfecter of every great idea, and to his son, for the gift I can never repay. I am blessed beyond measure.
    Thank you also:
    To Kristyn Keene at ICM, for finding me and reading my story and believing in it, even when there was work to be done. Besides being one of the loveliest human beings I have ever encountered, I honestly believe that you are the best agent in this universe or any other, and I feel incredibly lucky to have you by my side.
    To Sarah Landis at HarperTeen, for saying yes, and for getting it. From the beginning, you knew implicitly the kind of story I was trying to tell and where this peculiar not-quite-sci-fi book of mine fit into the crazy landscape of YA lit. And to the wonderful team at Harper, who gave me the rad cover I never get sick of looking at.
    To Garry Hart and Jill Arthur, for seeing the promise in my complicated concept back when it was a TV pilot, and to the television networks that passed on making Parallel into a TV show, which is the reason it became a book.
    To my L.A. family—Sarah, Ryan, Suzanne, Brian, Mia, Francois, Katherine, Jay, Cat, Alan, Kelli, and Matt—you’ve inspired me and challenged me and taught me the meaning of grace, and to my women’s discipleship group who prayed for a sense of urgency when I couldn’t get my ass in gear to write.
    To Tyler, for reading every single draft of this book, even the crappy ones, and for fixing my ellipses and mocking my improper use of quotation marks and pointing out every annoying “and yet” and for always using correct syntax in our g-chats. But thank you most of all for being real and true and you. This book and my life are better because of the part you’ve played in shaping them.
    To Rachel, for practically writing the query letter I never actually sent because your blog roll had already done all the work for me (and, on that note, for giving new meaning to the phrase small world). The only thing that would make me love you more is if you moved to L.A. so we could hang out all the time and do yoga and drink green smoothies and procrastinate about the books we’re supposed to be writing.
    To my early readers and dear friends Bobbi Shiflett, Lindsey Mann, and Amy Carter, for your encouragement and feedback.
    To SK, for being the prototype of Caitlin, which made her so easy to write.
    Last, but certainly not least, to my family.
    To Mom and Dad, for so many things—your love, your faith, your wisdom—but most of all, your unceasing presence in my life. You’ve always been there, not just for me, but with me, reminding me that no matter what, you’re on my team. So much of who I am is because of who you both are. Plus, I like you better than I like most other people, so there’s that. And to Stacy, my best friend and my biggest supporter, the one person who never questioned my decision to quit my job to write (not even when I asked to borrow $300 to pay my electric bill), and to Gregg, for reading my blog when no one else was, and to Hannah, for helping me come up with character names when I was stuck.
    To Donny, my husband and partner in all of this, thank you for taking this leap with me and for believing that it would bear fruit. The journey we are on together is the greatest adventure of my life, and I wouldn’t change a moment of it. I love you.
    And, finally, to sweet Eliot Bea, my Lil Mil. Were it not for your unexpected conception, this book would not exist. You were my writing partner from page one. Thank you for teaching me to embrace the detour and for filling my life (and our house) with laughter and infectious joy.
    Thanks dpgroup forum.

CREDITS
    Cover photo © 2013 by Paul Vozdic/Getty Images
    Cover design by Sarah Nichole Kaufman

COPYRIGHT
    HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
    Parallel
    Copyright © 2013 by Lauren Miller
    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of