Find the oldest book in the Green Bank High School Library.
Hidden inside are the secrets that are being left behind forever. If you're smart enough to figure out the message, then you have a right to know why a small town in the-middle-of-nowhere West Virginia is the center of intelligent life in the known universe.
August 15, 2016
I found your note, and this is definitely the oldest book in the Green Bank High School Library, but there is no trace of your secrets that I can find. The only thing worth finding in this library is a stack of old magazines that are up for grabs. Making strange collages out of "National Geographic"s from the '80s is the only way to get through this boring-ass study hall. That and writing to you, I guess. Why would you be so cryptic with hiding notes and keeping secrets in old library books? I guess this is how you entertained yourself when you were bored? You were always a little different, so that would make sense. I miss you.
August 22, 2016
don't you think that your mother has sad eyes? She took me to a yard "sail" yesterday (I kid you not, that's how "sale" was spelled on the sign). She couldn't hit the brakes fast enough when she saw that people were selling piles of random crap on their lawn. I did manage to score a mini Polaroid camera for five bucks. It's the kind that instantly prints pics. YOur mom says they don't "sail" the film anymore, but I guess she hasn't heard there's a retro resurgence. Anyway, I need this camera because there are plenty of incredible photo ops in West Virginia that deserve an artistic lens. My first project is to capture all the misspelled signs. I know you'd laugh with me if you could be here to see them all. I still don't know why I'm writing to you like this. I know you're not here, but it just feels like you are sometimes, especially when stuff is funny and I need someone to laugh with. I haven't laughed with anyone in a long time.
August 24, 2016
HEre are a few highlights from Green Bank High School--I'm sure plenty has changed since you were last here . . . Did you know that one can enroll in a masonry class? That's right. Learning to lay bricks is just the tip of the intellectual iceberg. Also, there's a poster hanging in the hallway to educate us about all the poor defenseless animals that residents are invited to hunt (aka kill) year-round in Pocahontas County. They include skunks, opossums, woodchucks, weasels, and English sparrows. Why would anyone need to kill an English sparrow? It just seems cruel. And . . . there's a pepe rally for the football team every Friday. We don't have to go back to class after lunch on Fridays because the rest of the afternoon is devoted to pepping and rallying. It's OK though, there's nothing particularly educational happening at the other times of day, either, so it doesn't seem lik emuch is lost. I really do hate it here.
Copyright © 2025 by Jessica Walker. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
