Ethan chimes in. “To my little brother—”
“By eleven minutes—”
“—and his secret dorky hobbies.”
We all cheer, and Pooja looks up from her now-empty waffle plate and says, “Okay, okay, that’s enough cuteness for one night. Turn on Mean Girls before we all get diabetes.”
Paige does the honors of pulling it up on the TV, and I look around the room at the happy, mismatched lot of us — Pooja in her Stanford Swimming sweats, Paul in a bowtie, Stephen with his face full of waffle, Ethan making fun of him, Paige watching it all with an amused kind of exasperation — and Jack, already staring at me when I look for his eyes, the same way he always seems to be. He smiles one of those half smiles, the kind I return without thinking. Of all the unexpected recipes this “weird dessert brain” of mine has ever come up with, I doubt I’ll ever create anything as perfect as the one right in this room.
This may have started with a war, but whatever it is now, there isn’t an end in sight — not as long as we’re both still winning.
Acknowledgments
First, holy guacamole, thank you to my agent, Janna Bonikowski. I can only describe the last few years as “everything happens so much,” but you were never once fazed by any of it, with the kind of counsel and support that goes way beyond the agent call of duty. This book may have been inspired by a tweet, but it happened because of you — I never would have written it without your encouragement and insight. Basically, my dreams came true, and it is all your fault.
Thank you to my editor, Alex Sehulster, who gave me the best advice of my life before we were even working together, and told me I was supposed to be writing YA. I am a much happier writer for it, and now I am also a writer who knows the ridiculous joy of getting to work with you and learn from your ideas, both plotwise and dessertwise. Thank you also to Mara Delgado-Sanchez and the Wednesday Books team. I could not be more excited to be making my debut with you guys.
Thank you to Gaby Moss — may every overexcitable green bean who moves to New York immediately meet someone who so fiercely takes them under their wing and teaches them how to savor the good things and laugh at the scary ones. To my writers-in-crime: Suzie Sainwood, who has held my hand through every step of this journey; Kadeen Griffiths, who is too pure for this human world; and Erin Mayer, the spooky teenage witch of my heart. Thank you to Yumee Cho, who taught me that your organs don’t spontaneously fail if you read each other’s work. May we all be swapping ideas and mopping one another off the floor until pen do us part.
Thank you to the women of Bustle—my coworkers, my friends, my guides. I hope we are all still fighting about the best kind of potato until the Earth flies into the sun. (It’s tater tots, and I just got this published, so I’m right.)
A massive, dweeby thank-you to the fanfiction community that raised me and made me the writer I am today. From the day I posted my first fanfic at eleven years old, y’all have taught me, supported me, and watched me tank at more dreams than I can count, but never, ever, ever let me give up on this one.
(Thank you also to the girls in the back row of my college stats class for not tattling on me for updating my Spider-Man fan fiction during lectures. Lol, math.)
Thank you to my teachers, Lori Wagoner Reiner and Eleanor Henderson — you both gave me a place to write, but more important, a place to belong.
Thank you to the stone-cold pack of nerds who share my DNA and have pulled me out of more plot holes than I can count. Thank you to Evan, the big brother who tried to teach me to read with way too many books about wolves, and has been teaching me ever since. To Maddie, the little sister who helped me post my first fanfic, and always has the answers to life’s hardest questions and the patience to give them. To Lily, the littler sister who has read every manuscript my brain has ever churned out, untangles the plots in my books and my life, and thought of me as an author long before I did. I love you guys. Being your sister is the best thing that ever happened to me. (Aside from cake.)
Finally, and most important, thank you to my mom and dad. You raised us to believe we could turn every if into a when. Watching you made me brave, but knowing you support me in everything I do makes me braver. I am a girl built on Minnie Mouse cheese and made-up swing-set songs and handmade superhero costumes, on sparkles and show tunes and more ideas than I’ll ever have the time to write, because you always gave my imagination room to grow. I’ve had a big, exciting life both inside my head and outside of it, but so far the best part has been getting to call you to tell you about this book. I hope one day I can be half the parent to my own kids that you are to us.
About the Author
EMMA LORD is a digital-media editor and writer living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting out show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fanfiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, grilled cheese, and a whole lot of love. Her sun sign is Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor rising. Tweet Cute is her debut novel. You can find her geeking out online on Twitter. Find Emma there and on Instagram at @dilemmalord and on emmalordwriting.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by Wednesday Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
TWEET CUTE. Copyright © 2019 by Emma Lord. All rights reserved.
For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.