Optimize for joy and make money doing it.

I sat at lunch in silence, staring off into space. Frank prattled on about one thing or another: school, movies, video games, some test he took.

Yva and I woke to darkness, neither of us wanting to move. We lost ourselves in the woods. Yva droned on and on about her ship.

I woke up in the E.R. Yva sat by my side, hands cupped in mumbled prayer. Mom stormed in like a bull in a china shop, almost crushing Yva in the process.

It was the end. A fitting end to a terrible year.

They say my father killed himself. I don't think so. He would never do that to us. I just know it, and I'll prove it, too, even if I lose everything in the process.

You’re completely sure honesty is the thing you want, huh? Because I’m going to be honest. If I get in trouble, I’m blaming you.

I had unfinished business with the fool that ran my father’s case.

I catch glimpses of the most random memories. Today I was fourteen, sucking on a lollipop.

I did it!!!! I found a clue that could break this case wide open!

Mom’s flight lands in a week. I’m so excited, I’m shaking.

I’ve been following Jeremiah around for the better part of three weeks. I’ve ditched school, I haven’t eaten, and I’ve barely slept.

The police haven’t interviewed us about what happened to Frank yet. I’m on pins and needles waiting.

It took me four days to see Delilah. I guess they keep you on a 72-hour suicide watch when you go crazy.

I was worried they weren’t going to do it. I worried that he was going to walk free, or that he was going to read my diary and flee the country.

Aliens are invading. The Earth is doomed. The end of the world is a bad time to fall in love.

This was the first time he’d been on a date with a girl that wasn’t a school function in, well, forever.

Meanwhile, half a campground away, Leslie had taken out her contacts and laid down in her overly extravagant queen bed.

A week ago, Joshy Carter didn’t know aliens existed. Two days ago, he thought there were only a few aliens on his planet.

The sun was peeking over the horizon by the time Joshy, Debra, and Leslie crept around the back of the house to avoid the reporters and hopped over the fence into Maddie’s backyard.

The walls were decorated with smiling police officers receiving medals and community events they sponsored.

Tara dropped into the Globorian embassy without a sound. Houston was still reeling from the effect of Hurricane Harvey a year before, and the city was having a hard time getting back on its feet.

It took the rest of the evening to deconstruct the laser weapon and load it onto trucks for transportation to Tara’s base in France.

Debra made her way into her mother’s cell after the horde of aliens fled toward the battle.

Anna cannot escape death. It follows her everywhere. First with her aunt, then her father, and now her best friend Katie has died after a long battle with cancer.