Chapter 1

My roommate, Shirley Fitzgerald, forced me to go out with her, which ended up with us in a car wreck.

She walked away with nothing but a few scrapes, while I lost all feeling in my legs—and now could only get around with prosthetic limbs.

I was stuck in the ICU for over a month, and Shirley didn't even care enough to ask how I was doing. She just kept flaunting her perfect life online, posting pretty pics and showing off how happy she was to be back at school.

In the end, I was crushed by depression—condemned to a lifetime in a broken body—while Shirley breezed through life, happy, lucky, and living it up.

But when I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on that fateful day Shirley dragged me out the door.

*****

Two years had gone by since the accident.

Even after all that time, I still couldn't come to terms with the fact that I was crippled.

Just after my twentieth birthday, I waited until my mom had drifted off, and then downed an entire bottle of sleeping pills.

That was how I put an end to my ridiculous, painful life.

Two years ago, I finally got into my dream college.

I thought that was the start of something great—my life was about to take off.

But one accident was all it took to wipe out everything I'd ever hoped for.

It was a winter afternoon.

The final exams had just wrapped up, and everyone was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

There were only two days left before winter break, so my roommates and I had planned to go out and have some fun together.

We were supposed to head out at two in the afternoon.

We'd just finished lunch and were planning to take a quick nap before heading out.

I had no idea what got into Shirley, but she kept insisting we head out at noon.

She just wouldn't stop pestering me to tag along.

I flat out said no and looked to the other girls for support.

My roommates, Andrea Joseph and Robin Bowman, both tried to talk her down. "Let's just wait until two and go together," they said.

But Shirley was stubborn as a mule and refused to budge.

She even went as far as to threaten me about those hometown treats I'd eaten, practically forcing me to go with her and not taking no for an answer.

But I still wouldn't budge.

When that didn't work, she switched tactics and started acting all pitiful, claiming she had to go to the hospital to see a doctor.

In the end, I gave in.

It was dead cold out—temperatures way below freezing. I'd freeze my hands off just stepping outside without gloves.

There was a bus stop and subway right by the campus, and the hospital was close enough to just walk.

Out of all the ways to keep out of the cold, she went straight for an electric scooter, the one parked at the curb with snow piled all over the seat.

I tried talking her into at least taking the bus or grabbing a cab. I even offered to pay for the ride.

But she just shot down every suggestion I had.

Back when I was a kid learning to ride a bike out in the village, a dog came after me and scared the crap out of me. Ever since then, I've had major issues with biking.

So even now, I still haven't figured out how to ride one of those electric scooters.

I scanned the ride code, and Shirley hopped on first. I just squeezed onto the back seat behind her.

We'd barely pulled up to the hospital entrance when a truck came screeching through a red light, tires skidding out of control as it hurtled straight at us.

I got thrown from the back of that scooter, and those giant wheels that were up to my waist crushed my legs.

Shirley only ended up with a few faint scrapes on her face, but she was wailing louder than me, sobbing her heart out as if she was the one suffering most.

My phone screen was smashed to pieces, so I couldn't even call for help.

Lying there in a pool of my own blood, my vision started to blur, and all I could do was weakly call out to her for help.

But Shirley didn't even glance my way. She was frantically checking the front camera on her phone, freaking out over whether her face was messed up.

At the same time, she kept texting her friends and parents, pouring out all her fears and worries.

A few minutes later, I'd lost so much blood that everything went black. I passed out on the spot.

Luckily, a good samaritan happened to walk by and called an ambulance for me.

Since the crash happened right at the hospital entrance, the doctors rushed out and got to me fast. They literally snatched me back from the jaws of death.

When I finally woke up, the doctor told me I wasn't just knocked out—I'd gone into full-blown shock.

He even joked that if I'd shown up just a few minutes later, he could've clocked out early because I'd have been a lost cause.

I was stuck in the ICU, with Shirley laid up in the bed right next to mine.

The nurse just dabbed some ointment on the two light scratches on her face.

But Shirley wasn't having it—she acted all high and mighty, practically ordering the nurse to make sure they were completely bandaged up.

I asked Shirley if she had any other injuries, but she just rolled her eyes at me and barked, "It's all because you can't ride an e-scooter. If I were by myself, I could've gotten out of the way no problem.

"You're such a jinx. Just don't talk to me!"