If you tap on links we provide, we may receive compensation.

In it, Ivy starts to ask Chloe questions, particularly about Chloes relationship with her boyfriend.

Things I Should Have Knownis available now.

High res cover - THINGS I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN[1]

Credit: HMH Books for Young Readers

Its dark and quiet downstairs, which means everyone else has gone to bed.

James whispers in my ear.

All I am to you is a body you might use.

Do you have a problem with that?

The noise he lets out in response suggests that he doesnt.

And then were blinded by a sudden and brutal flood of light.

I fling myself off of James so fast I fall on the floor.

I say, because shes standing by the light switch.

She switches the light off.

Oh, for Gods sake, I snap.

Just leave it on.

She flicks it back on.

Im sorry, she says again.

I heard some noises and didnt know what you were doing.

Its okay, James says.

Dont worry about it.

He glances at me ruefully.

Im sure my heart will start beating again any minute now.

He reaches down for his shoes.

I need to get home anyway.

Are you mad at me?

she asks, her hands cycling anxiously through the air.

I probably shouldnt have turned on the light.

And she didnt do anything wrong.

She just has this talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What were you doing with the lights off?

Come on, Ives, I say.

You know what we were doing.

And Ivy watches tons of TV.

Theres no way she doesnt know what goes on between a guy and a girl in the dark.

Were you having sex?

You dont just ask stuff like that.

She clutches the collar of her pajama top and tugs down hard like its choking her.

Just dont ask stuff like that in front of other people, okay?

And we were making out, thats all.

Thats different from sex, right?

You dont go as far.

What do you mean?

Im too tired to talk now, Ives.

I want to go to bed.

How do you know what to do?

she asks, raising her head to stare briefly at me before sliding her eyes away again.

When youre with James?

Its not something you think about.

You just kind of know.

What if you dont?

I walk past her into the hallway and up the stairs.

What if Ivy isnt asking questions just because shes curious about my life?

What if its not all aboutme?

What are you watching?

Ten Things I Hate about You.

Thats the one with the two sisters and Heath Ledger?

You dont usually watch movies.

Ivys more of a TV show fan.

Especially police proceduralsshe eats that stuff up.

I like this one, she says.

Ive seen it before.

Shes not only watching this movie; shesrewatching it.

If Mom made that rule, you couldnt go out with James because I dont have a boyfriend.

I dont know how to respond to that.

Its a good thing Mom didnt make that rule, she says.

I probably wont ever have a boyfriend.

Sure, you will.

I dont think so.

I want to watch my movie.

She leans over the screen again so her face is partially veiled by her hair.

Shes absorbed by what shes watching.

Curiousthe way she was curious about me and James.

Excerpted fromTHINGS I SHOULD HAVE KNOWNby Claire LaZebnik.

Copyright 2017 by Claire LaZebnik.

Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.