Before Read online

  I’m proud of the difference I make in local teenagers’ lives with my fund-raisers for the community center. I’ve met thousands of people whose lives were affected by my words on pages. I fought for so long to keep everything in, but once I let go, my heart opened up. It would have been selfish for me not to share my experiences, not to help teens who suffer from addiction and mental-health disorders. Through the years, I learned not to focus on the past, but only look toward the future. I’m aware of how cliché and just flat-out fucking sappy my thoughts sound, but it’s my truth.

  I lived in darkness for so long; I want to help bring light to others.

  I’m blessed with a family that I couldn’t have dreamed of, and I’m raising kids who will be better than I ever was.

  Tessa’s head falls to the side, and I brush her hair away from her sleeping face. She’s been my calm, my fire, my breath, my pain, and no matter what we’ve gone through, every second was worth getting to the life we have now.

  I dragged Tess and myself through hell and back, but here we are—After everything, we made it to our own version of heaven.

  Acknowledgments

  I feel like all of my acknowledgements for this book are exactly the same as the last, but the same wonderful people helped me with them—so thank you all!

  Adam Wilson: Once again, I thank you for working so hard with me. I learn so much from you and your patience with me. We’ve had five books (that are really the length of ten) in one year, and that’s just fucking nuts. I can’t wait for the next three .

  Kristin Dwyer: You’re the bomb, dude. You keep me organized (as much as possible, since I just started to actually save dates in my calendar). Thanks for everything!

  Wattpad: Thank you for still being my home base and staying organic and giving millions of people a place to do what they love.

  Ursula Uriarte: It’s so crazy to think that you came into my life as a blogger who happened to like my books and now you’re one of my closest friends. Even though I still can’t spell your name, you are so, so important to me and to Hardin and Tessa. You love them like I do, and that means a lot to them. (They told me!)

  Vilma and RK: I love you both and appreciate your friendship so much. You talked me through the stages of writing this book and listened to my freak-outs. I love you both.

  Ashleigh Gardner: Thank you for being the best agenty friend I could have!

  Thanks to the copyeditors and production staff, who worked very hard under such tight deadlines.

  A huge thank-you to all of my foreign publishers, from the editors to the publicists and everyone in between. You all work so hard to translate and market my books across the globe, and it means so much to me and the readers. I’ve had the best time visiting so many places and meeting so many readers all over the world.

  AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY J.D. WITKOWSKI

  ANNA TODD is a writer spending her days in Austin, Texas, with her husband. She has always been an avid reader and boy band and romance lover, so now that she’s found a way to combine the three, she’s enjoying living a real-life dream come true. She now knows what life is like when you get to do what you love. She also has a thing for things that begin with T’s: Tom Hanks, TOMS, Target . . .

  Find her at AnnaTodd.com, on Twitter at @imaginator1dx, on Instagram at @imaginator1d, and on Wattpad as Imaginator1D.

  FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/Anna-Todd

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  SimonandSchuster.com

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  BOOKS BY ANNA TODD

  After

  After We Collided

  After We Fell

  After Ever Happy

  Before

  We hope you enjoyed reading this Gallery Books eBook.

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  Gallery Books

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Anna Todd

  The author is represented by Wattpad.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Gallery Books trade paperback edition December 2015

  GALLERY BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Cover design by Damonza

  Cover photograph by alevtina/Shutterstock; infinity symbol courtesy of Grupo Planeta, Art Department

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  ISBN 978-1-5011-3070-0

  ISBN 978-1-5011-3069-4 (ebook)