Hannah Harrington - Speechless

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can’t keep a secret

Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learnto keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she’s ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.

But there’s strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way— people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she’s done. If only she can forgive herself.

Awards and praise for Hannah Harrington’s debut novel Saving June

A VOYA Perfect Ten title

Gold medalist in the Moonbean Children’s Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction—Mature Issues

“Saving June should become a movie someday—it even includes its own soundtrack.”

—VOYA

“Harper’s voice rings true, and readers looking for a mildly steamy romance (with more than a splash of alcohol, smoking and sex) won’t be disappointed.”

—Kirkus

“An incredible debut. Like the best of songs, it brings tears to your eyes and makes you smile. Like the best road trip stories, it takes you on a vivid journey that you don’t want to end.”

—Stephanie Kuehnert, author of Ballads of Suburbia

“With a powerful story, characters that truly come alive and a romance worth swooning over, Saving June is a fresh, fun and poignant book that I couldn’t tear myself away from.”

—Kody Keplinger, author of The DUFF

“Hannah Harrington weaves a fast-paced and heartfelt story about first loss and first loves. Readers will adore following a protagonist as real and raw as Harper Scott…a tender, funny and moving debut. I couldn’t put it down!”

—Courtney Summers, author of Cracked Up to Be and Some Girls Are

“Wow. This novel truly blew me away…a beautiful coming of age story.”

—Reading Lark blog

“We both absolutely loved this book. It was realistic, it was heart-wrenching.”

—Books to the Sky blog

Speechless

Hannah Harrington

www.miraink.co.uk

For Paula

Contents

In Which National Geographic Inadvertently Changes My Life

Six Hours Later

Three Days Later

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

Day Seven

Day Eight

Day Nine

Day Twelve

Day Fifteen

Day Eighteen

Day Twenty

Day Twenty-One

Day Twenty-Four

Days Twenty-Eight & Twenty-Nine

Day Thirty-One

Day Thirty-Two

Day Thirty-Three

Day Thirty-Four

Day Thirty-Five

Acknowledgments

Speechless Reader Guide

Questions for Discussion

Q & A with Hannah Harrington

in which

national geographic

inadvertently changes

my life

Keeping secrets isn’t my specialty. It never has been, ever since kindergarten when I found out Becky Swanson had a crush on Tommy Barnes, and I managed to circulate that fact to the entire class, including Tommy himself, within our fifteen minute recess—a pretty impressive feat, in retrospect. That was ten years ago, and it still may hold the record for my personal best.

The secret I have right now is so, so much juicier than that. I’m just about ready to burst at the seams.

“Will you stop the teasing already?” Kristen says. We’re in her bedroom where I’m helping her decide on an outfit for tonight—a drawn-out process when your wardrobe is as massive as hers. “It’s annoying. Just tell me.”

Kristen is not a patient person. I realize I’ve been pushing it by alluding to my newfound information over the past twenty minutes without actually divulging anything. Of course I’m going to tell her; she’s my best friend, and I can’t keep it to myself much longer without truly pissing her off. A pissed-off Kristen is not a fun Kristen. Still, it’s rare for me to have the upper hand with her, so I can’t help but hold it over her head just a little.

“I don’t know,” I say innocently. “I’m not sure you can handle it....”

She turns around from where she’s digging through her closet and chucks a black leather sandal at me. I shield my face with both hands, laughing as the shoe bounces off one arm and onto the mattress. Kristen props a hand on her narrow hip and cocks her head at me, her glossy, shoulder-length blond hair swaying with the motion.

“You’re building this up way too much,” she says. She yanks out a shimmery red top from her closet before facing me again. “I bet whatever it is, it’s completely lame.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll keep it to myself.” When she glares at me, I just smile in return and say, “Don’t wear that. That baby-doll cut looks like something out of the maternity section.”

She hangs the top back up and comes over to the bed, flopping down on her stomach next to me. “Spill,” she whines, the previous iciness dissolving into borderline desperation. This is as close as Kristen ever gets to groveling. “Otherwise I’m uninviting you from the party.”

The threat can’t be real—Kristen knows I’ve been looking forward to her New Year’s Eve party for over a month now. She even helped concoct the cover story necessary to convince my mother to let me come over to her house despite the grounding I received after my parents saw my latest report card. Like I’m ever going to need geometry in real life anyway.

Even though Kristen can be…touchy, she wouldn’t uninvite me from the party over something like this—but I decide it’s better to cave already than to test her on it.

“Okay, okay,” I relent. “I’ll tell you.”

She breaks into a grin and scoots closer to me. I like having her attention like this; Kristen is easily bored, so when I do get her full focus, it makes me feel like I’m doing something right. She is, after all, one of—if not the—most popular girls in the sophomore class, if you keep track of that sort of thing, which I do. She’s used to people fawning all over her to get on her good side. I’ve been on her good side for almost two years now, and I intend to stay there.

I’d better make this good.

“So I met up with Megan today because she wanted me to help her pick out new shoes, right?” I start. “She also wanted to bitch to me about Owen, because he totally blew her off last weekend and they’ve been fighting a lot, and she’s wondering if she should break up with him.”

Kristen’s mouth tugs into a frown. “Um, yawn. I already know this.”

“I’m not done yet,” I assure her. “Anyway, so Megan brings along Tessa Schauer, which…whatever. She’s annoying, but I can deal. We shop for a while and everything’s fine, and then I remember I need to call my mom about picking stuff up from the dry cleaners, except I’m an idiot who didn’t charge my phone and the battery’s dead. I ask Tessa if I can borrow hers since she’s right there, and she hands it off and walks away. I call my mom, and then I’m about to give it back, but I decided to look through the pictures on the phone because I’m nosy like that, and…” I pause for a moment, just to draw out the anticipation.

“And…?” Kristen prompts. She’s totally hanging on to every word.

“And,” I say, “the first one I see? It’s of Tessa. With Owen. Looking very…shall we say…friendly.”

Her eyes widen. “How friendly?” she asks.

I dig my phone out of my pocket and toss it at her. “Look for yourself.”

I watch in amusement as she fumbles with my phone, scrolling through my text messages. “Shut up,” she gasps, looking back up at me. “You forwarded the pictures to yourself?”