l8r, g8r - 10th Anniversary update and reissue , livre ebook

PRAISE & ACCOLADES FOR THE

INTERNET GIRLS SERIES

New York Times bestselling series

San Francisco Chronicle bestselling series

Publishers Weekly bestselling series

School Library Journal:

Both revealing and innovative, this novel will inspire

teens to pass it to their friends . . . nonnarrative

communication can be a great way to tell a story.

Publishers Weekly:

Myracle s approach is creative . . .

an engaging quick read . . . readers will cheer.

Booklist:

Myracle cleverly manages to build rich characters

and narrative tension without ever taking the story outside

of an IM box.

Kirkus Reviews:

A surprisingly poignant tale of friendship, change, and

growth. Perfectly contemporary. ROTFL.

Teen magazine:

Changing the way you read.
OTHER BOOKS BY

LAUREN MYRACLE

ttyl

ttfn

bff

The Infinite Moment of Us

Shine

Bliss

Rhymes with Witches

Luv Ya Bunches

Violet in Bloom

Oopsy Daisy

Awesome Blossom

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Thirteen Plus One

Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks

Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

(with John Green and Maureen Johnson)

How to Be Bad

(with E. Lockhart and Sarah Mylnowski)
AMULET BOOKS NEW YORK
PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents

are either the product of the author s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any

resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales

is entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Myracle, Lauren, 1969-

L8r, g8r / Lauren Myracle. - [10th anniversary edition]

pages cm - (The Internet girls)

Originally published in hardcover in 2007 by Amulet Books,

an imprint of ABRAMS.

Summary: Throughout their senior year in high school, Zoe, Maddie, and Angela continue

to share instant messages with one another about their day-to-day experiences as they

consider college, sex, the importance of prom, and the inevitable end of their inseparable

trio.

ISBN 978-1-4197-1143-5 (pbk.) eISBN 978-1-61312-622-6

[1. Instant messaging-Fiction. 2. Friendship-Fiction. 3. Interpersonal relations-Fiction.

4. High schools-Fiction. 5. Schools-Fiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Later, gator.

PZ7.M9955Laad 2014

[Fic]-dc23

2013038414

Text copyright 2007, 2014 Lauren Myracle

Book design by Maria T. Middleton

Page 239 : Blackbird 1968 Sony/ATV Tunes LLC.

All rights administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing,

8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203.

All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Quotations from Big Bunny used with permission from Amy Winfrey,

www.big-bunny.com copyright 2006 Amy Winfrey.

Originally published in hardcover in 2007 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS.

This edition published in 2014 by Amulet Paperbacks. All rights reserved. No portion of

this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by

any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written

permission from the publisher. Amulet Books and Amulet Paperbacks are registered

trademarks of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums

and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be

created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the

address below.

ABRAMS The Art of Books 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007 abramsbooks.com
For all the real live Zoes, Maddies,

and Angelas out there.

Never stop loving your buds!

1

Tues, Feb 7, 4:49 PM E . S . T .

zoegirl:

maddie!!! i m so excited, i can t sit still! i can t

believe i m going to see doug in 2 hrs!

mad maddie:

i hear ya-even i m kinda excited to c the guy.

i wonder if he s changed?

zoegirl:

do you *ever* check his instagram? he s gotten

tanner. his hair is longer. he is even more

handsome than he used to be, which seems

impossible.

mad maddie: deeper changes. like, changes on the inside.

zoegirl:

it s been SIX ENTIRE MONTHS. *6 months* of

no doug!

zoegirl:

aye-yai-yai-what if he doesn t like me

anymore?

mad maddie:

oh, please. doug is doug is doug, and no semester

at sea is gonna change that.

mad maddie: anywayz, haven t you guys been skyping every

single day?

zoegirl:

that s true, but it s still different from being with

someone in person.

zoegirl:

what i liked even more than skyping-maybe-

were the snail mail letters he sent. well, snail

mail postcards, mainly, from all the different

places they docked. sooo romantic.

mad maddie: speaking of romantic, what s doug gonna say

when angela and i show up at the airport with

you?

zoegirl:

er . . . hi, maddie? hi, angela?

mad maddie: he s not gonna be pissed?

zoegirl:

why would he be pissed?

mad maddie: that it s not just the 2 of you

zoegirl:

course not. 1st of all, his parents are going to be

there. and 2nd of all, i m way too nervous to go by

myself.
2

zoegirl:

i have to have my maddie and my angela-he

knows that!

mad maddie: how s he gonna feel, waltzing back to school

in the middle of our senior yr? is that gonna be

weird for him?

zoegirl:

PAST the middle of the year. i was *supposed* to

have him back at the beginning of the semester.

mad maddie:

i m still reeling from the unfairness of that, btw.

let s pretend i was the lucky 1 who jaunted off to

Sea the World. would the administrators let ME

take an extra month off to travel with my parents?

i don t think so.

zoegirl:

but you don t have straight As like doug-no

offense.

mad maddie: none taken. i m proud of my Bs.

zoegirl:

doug s mom called it cultural enrichment.

that s the excuse she gave the school. but i say

he s seen enough of the world. now he needs to

see ME!

mad maddie:

ah yes, now it s time for him to be enriched in

OTHER ways, nudge-nudge, wink-wink.

zoegirl:

maddie!!!

zoegirl:

i m just glad we re going to be together again. i

mean, he had a great time, and i m proud of him

for doing it, but he s definitely ready to be home.

mad maddie: god, and i am definitely ready to NOT.

mad maddie: seriously, if i could graduate tomorrow, i would.

i d be like, hasta la vista, baby! g-bye, atlanta-

hello, santa cruz!

zoegirl:

*if* you get in. which you will. i hate that you want

to go so far away, though.

mad maddie:

blame angela. if we hadn t gone to california with

her over the summer . . .

zoegirl:

too ironic. she escapes california to move back
3

to atlanta, and now all you wanna do is escape

atlanta and move to california.

mad maddie: U.C.S.C., here i come. go, banana slugs!

zoegirl:

is that honestly their mascot?

mad maddie:

it honestly is their mascot. it s 1 of the many cool

things about them-their whole who-gives-a-

damn attitude about typical college stuff like rah-

rah football teams. that and the fact that they re

3,000 miles away, heh heh heh.

zoegirl:

oh, wow

zoegirl:

maddie . . . i just realized something

mad maddie: what?

zoegirl:

things really are changing, aren t they? we re

seniors, we re going to graduate in 3 months,

we re all going to go our separate ways . . .

mad maddie: and this comes as a surprise?

zoegirl:

no . . . i just don t know if i m ready

mad maddie: i sure as hell am

mad maddie: repeat after me: change is good

zoegirl:

omg-no *way* did you just say that!

zoegirl:

if angela were here, she d be rolling on the

ground.

mad maddie:

pardon me, but all i said was that change is good.

why is that funny?

zoegirl:

oh, mads. aren t you the one who was outraged

when they switched brands of soap in the girls

bathroom?

mad maddie:

the old kind was better! it smelled like lavender!

zoegirl:

and you have a fit if you can t start the day with

your pop-tart and dr pepper. i thought you were

going to stage a riot that day the drink machine

was out!

mad maddie: i m a growing girl. i need my caffeine.

zoegirl:

and every time facebook changes its layout,
4

you swear you re going to shut down yr fb page

forever

mad maddie: your point?

zoegirl:

my point is that you *hate* change

mad maddie: no i don t

zoegirl:

yeah, you do

zoegirl:

it s cute

mad maddie:

i thought we were talking about marching off into

the big bad world, not what kind of soap comes

out when you squirt the thingie in the bathroom.

and all I was saying is that we can t stay in high

school forever, even if we wanted to.

zoegirl:

i know that. but it still feels huge.

mad maddie:

anywayz, no reason to get worked up about it

now. there ll be plenty of time for weeping and

gnashing of the teeth before it s over.

zoegirl:

i already gnash my teeth-that s why i wear a

mouth guard at nite. my dentist says it s the curse

of being an overachiever.

mad maddie: an overachiever? YOU?

zoegirl:

haha

zoegirl:

hey, can i tell you something stupid that s totally

not worth dealing with, but at the same time i m

kind of disturbed by?

mad maddie: shoot

zoegirl:

it has to do with jana. still wanna hear?

mad maddie: oh god. not THE J-WORD.

zoegirl:

you and jana have a past. i m just trying to be

sensitive.

mad maddie:

you might have to excuse me while i retch, but

other than that, go ahead.

zoegirl:

well, right before i left school today, i ran into

terri. now, normally we wouldn t have even

exchanged hellos, because of the fact she s
5

jana s best friend. but terri had been crying-

her eyes were red and her face was all puffy-

and i would have been a complete jerk to not say

anything.

mad maddie:

if i d seen terri and she d been crying, i wouldn t

have said anything.

zoegirl:

yes you would ve

mad maddie: and if the situation were reversed, i wouldn t

want HER to say anything, either.