The Thrashers

by Julie Soto

It was called being Thrashed. That’s what the Thrashers did. Get too close, and you’ll get Thrashed.

It was something Paige had warned him about often. Don’t encourage her. Don’t make her feel like she’ll always have you in her corner.

“That we were supposed to stay away from each other, and then the one time we all get together, we almost die?”

Was Zack right? Were they being punished for hanging out again?

I JUST DON’T GET HER. IT FEELS LIKE MAYBE … LIKE IF SHE CAN BE A THRASHER, MAYBE I CAN, TOO.

I THINK I COULD BE HER IF I TRIED.

Emily is very pleased about something.

For the first time, Jodi realized what it was like to live inside Paige, Lucy, and Julian’s heads, knowing that this girl had to go. She had to be Thrashed.

She wants you to go to Rosa’s.

“It’s called getting Thrashed. They’re the Thrashers, and what they do is they choose someone to take under their wing, hang out with, cheat off their homework—whatever, and then they Thrash them.”

I can’t die. I can’t drown like my mother.

She reached for Emily’s hand, laced their fingers together, and closed her eyes.

“I never wanted her to die. I wanted her to disappear.”

“I don’t think of it as a loss. I think of it as … a chance to find each other again. You’re going to the East Coast, I’m staying here. It’s impossible to stay what we were, so let’s just see what else we can be.”