Chapter One

I Am Famous

My English teacher asked me for an autograph.

It was June 12, exactly two weeks before the end of the school year. The sixth-period bell had just rung and I was reaching into my bag for a notebook and a pen when a shadow fell across my corner of the grimy cafeteria table. Startled, I looked up. Then I blinked. Twice. Old Mrs. Gallagher was standing over me, stylishly dressed in one of her usual calf-length checkered dresses buttoned tightly at the neck. And she was smiling.

“Ruby, would you do me the honor?” she asked in a shockingly sugary tone.

I glanced down and saw that both of her arms were outstretched; her left hand held a black ballpoint pen, and in her right was a hardcover copy of my first novel, The Heart Stealer. It was a sobering sight, because the book had landed in stores only a few days earlier. I didn’t think anyone aside from the members of my immediate family had bought it. Yet. There had been a few ads in magazines and a mention of the book on one of the early-morning talk shows, but I wasn’t expecting instant recognition.

“Oh,” I replied. I think I even gasped. “I . . . uh . . . of course. Yes. Sure.”

“Take your time with the inscription,” she said gently. “I’m sure no one will mind if you get to your next class a little late today.”

I reached out and took the pen. I laid the book—my book, complete with a glossy cover and my name in bright block letters across the top—down on the table. I felt my cheeks blush. All around me, the cafeteria went silent. Students who would have otherwise bolted for the double doors were